I just purchased my first Goldenear speakers and I’m incredibly excited to use them. I’ve got the SPS’s that I got for a great price to use for my front stage. Here’s my question:

Where I want to place the speakers is in a wall with paneling, no drywall behind, but I’m not sure the paneling is enough to hold them. I wanted to check before I started ripping stuff out and drywalling if anyone else has put these weighty speakers in paneling. The paneling is a 1/4th of an inch thick and feels strong enough for me to ask the question if it’ll work. I also didn’t know if a back box would help make the installation more stable.

Any thoughts would be great and I’m excited to finally jump into the Goldenear family

Installing SPS into paneling isn’t ideal, but structurally you won’t have an issue. I presume you have the channel depth of a standard 2X4 wall construction and not Furring strips on a block or concrete wall. If you have furring strips, you’re going to run into an additional challenge of depth. The challenge with 1/4" paneling thickness is that the paneling will vibrate and color the sound. Ultimately, removing the paneling and installing sheetrock would be preferred, but we understand this may not be a viable option. You might consider adding some loose insulation or fiber fill in the wall channel above and below to help with resonances as well as installing a sheet of Dynamat to the backside of the paneling as far below and above as you can reach. This will help allot. ​

Welcome to the world of GoldenEar speaker listening pleasure, JH89!

Moderator Dude is the guy to listen to re best installation.

Re your new speakers, I haven't heard the SPS's, but they have the same technology and layout pedigree as the SuperCenter Reference, and I just love my SC Ref! So sweet, clean, detailed, rich, full.

You're in for some great listening!!!

Please let us know how everything sounds when you get set up. And feel free to ask set up questions as you go. We all go through some adjusting as we bring our systems up and running.

Happy listening!

Rick

Quick Update:

Paneling worked out really well to my suprise. I'm not really getting any rattle or coloring yet, but as a temporary solution for the next year till we move to another house and go full dedicated room setup, it's working. I'll say this, if this is the worst they are going to sound then OH MY GOD. These things are incredible! Over the past seven years I've gone from surround sound that plugs in to the blu-ray player, to the bang for your buck andrew jones pioneer 7.1 home theater, to this and it feels like going from standard definition to 4k. I was worried about the SPS's being in wall and bought them knowing if I don't like them I can turn them into overkill side and rear speakers if need be but these are absolutely glorious. Watched 1917 and the clarity from the tweeters with gunshots literally made me jump. Having the center channel behind the screen rather than below the screen was a game changer. I was on the fence between these speakers and the triton 5's with a supercenter xl and I feel great about my purchase. So glad I made the decision to go Goldenear! If you have any SPS questions I'd be glad to answer what I can.

Thanks for the update. I'm sure this will be interesting information to some out there. I can say that one of the first movies I watched after installing SPS for side and rear surround was a mission impossible movie. At one point in the movie a loud explosion comes from the side (maybe a drone firing on a vehicle? I can't remember which movie it was). It was the most startled I've ever been in a movie. I'm used to most of the sound coming from the front and my Triton References do really well with this. But this experience was incredible due to the impact of these speakers that is caused by both their full-range and there ability to play loud. Previously I had been using SuperSat 3s.

Glad you like them. I don't think they get enough credit.