Monoprice THX Certified In-Wall Speakers
We knew it was only a matter of time before Monoprice extended their THX Certified in-wall speakers offerings. That day is today. With new THX Certified Select and Ultra offerings, there is no reason why every speaker in your theater couldn’t be THX Certified. Does that mean you can hang a “THX Theater” sign above your home theater door? Well, no one could stop you. Let’s take a closer look.
Similarities
Before we talk more about the specifics of the Monoprice THX Certified in-wall speakers, let’s talk about how they are similar. Both feature a paintable grille and come in any color as long as you want white. The grilles are “floating” and are held firm to the speakers by magnets. They both include the common dog-ear mounting system which is very easy to work with. The Monoprice in-wall, on-wall, and in-room speakers all share the same drivers and crossover components. This means you can mix and match to fit your needs and room. Now that we’ve got that out of the way, let’s look at each speaker specifically.
Monoprice THX Certified Select THX-275IW In-Wall Speakers
The smaller of the two speakers is the THX-275IW in-wall speaker. As mentioned, the Monoprice THX-275IW has the Select certification. THX Select means that the speakers can hit reference volume in rooms up to 2000 cubic feet (57m3). It sports a 1″ tweeter, a 2″ midrange, and a 6.5″ woofer. Interestingly, the tweeter and the midrange both share the same silk-dome design. The woofer is constructed out of long fiber pulp.
The Monoprice THX-275IW speakers are rated down to 43Hz -3dB and 4ohm nominal. While this impedance rating might scare some, the THX certification indicates that any commercial AV receiver should have no problems powering these speakers provided you follow their room size guidelines. The Monoprice THX-275IW THX Certified in-wall speakers are only 16.5″ x 11.1″ x 3.7″. These should fit within a 2×4 bay without an issue. The THX-275IW runs $350 each.
Monoprice THX Certified Ultra THX-465IW In-Wall Speakers
As you might expect, Monoprice isn’t going to stop with just THX Select Certified in-wall speakers. The (much) larger THX-465IW bumps that Certification up to Ultra level. This means that they can fill a room that is up to 3000 cubic feet (85m3). They are rocking all the same drivers as the THX-275IW except instead of a single woofer, they sport four! At first, we thought some of these drivers must be passive radiators, but they are all active drivers. This extends their extension down to 37Hz and increases the sensitivity by one, up to 88dB (2.83V/1m).
As you’d expect, these additional drivers make the speaker much larger. The 16.5″ height is extended to 36.3″. The other two dimensions (11.1″ x 3.7″) stay the same. This means that if you decided to upgrade from the 275IW to the 465IW, you could fairly easily. You’d simply need to extend the hole in your drywall slightly. Pretty handy. The Monoprice THX_465IW retail for $700/each.
Our Take
Monoprice now has a full suite of THX Certified speakers from in-walls to in-room offerings. They’ve got a whole lineup of subwoofers. What was missing from their lineup was in-wall offerings that could fill larger rooms. No more. Now they are pretty much your one-stop-shop for THX speakers.
