ESSENTIAL LOUDSPEAKERS
SPEAKERS THAT LOOK AS GOOD AS THEY SOUND Let’s face it—years ago, most loudspeakers weren’t designed with aesthetics in mind. They were big, black boxes built to sound great and you just had to work around them. But that’s changed massively, says Charlie McClarron, Sales Director UK, Steinway Lyngdorf. Design is just as important as performance, especially when you’re putting speakers into high-end living spaces. Architects and interior designers are more involved than ever in AV projects and the technology has to work with the space, not against it. That’s led to a shift towards speakers that either blend in beautifully or make a bold design statement in their own right. It’s no longer just about hiding the speakers. It’s about offering solutions that suit the room, the style and the people. One of the most encouraging trends is how many more people care about sound. Whether it’s streaming high-res music or watching films in Dolby Atmos, clients are expecting more from their systems – and they’re often willing to invest. That means loudspeakers can’t just be ‘good enough’, they need to deliver an emotional connection. Great sound doesn’t just fill a room – it draws you in, you feel it, not just hear it. So, it’s not just about power or specs anymore, it’s about balance, accuracy, dynamics and making sure a system works together as a whole. And that goes for every kind of install, from media lounges to dedicated cinemas, to multi-room audio.
SEAMLESS INTEGRATION
Loudspeakers don’t stand alone anymore. They’re part of a much bigger ecosystem that includes control systems, automation, lighting and voice assistants. So, while sound quality is key, speakers also need to fit into a wider world in a way that’s simple and reliable. This is especially true for installers. The fewer headaches they have during setup and calibration, the better. So, speakers that are easy to position, easy to drive and work well with room correction are getting a lot of love. It’s all about making performance predictable and repeatable, without hours of tweaking. This is where our own RoomPerfect comes in – one of the most effective and simplest to use room calibration systems on the market. Good system design also helps avoid the usual compromises with speaker placement. In-wall speakers don’t have to sound secondrate. With proper tuning and solid acoustic design, they can match (or even beat) traditional box speakers.
28 JUNE 2025
THE RISE OF THE MULTIPURPOSE ROOM
We’re seeing fewer ‘classic’ home cinemas and a lot more multipurpose spaces – rooms that serve as family lounges, game zones, music rooms and media hubs. That’s changing how loudspeakers are specified and designed. People want systems that work for background music during dinner and for movie nights. That means speakers need to be versatile, and the system has to strike a balance between impact and subtlety. A lot of people aren’t looking for speakers that just sound good for films, music-only playback is just as important. Installers are getting creative with this. In-wall and on-wall setups are getting better every year and even compact systems can now deliver serious performance. It’s a shift from ‘bigger is better’ to ‘smart is better’. Just look what we can achieve from our small speakers and subwoofers with both Lyngdorf and Steinway systems.
TELLING THE STORY
While the tech has improved, one of the biggest challenges we face is helping clients understand what great sound actually feels like. Speakers
/Essentialinstall
@Install_mag
are often seen as the supporting act to the big screen or the lighting control – but they’re the thing that brings it all to life. When someone experiences a properly set-up system, the penny drops. They’re not buying a product anymore – they’re buying the experience. But to get to that point, they usually need to hear it. That’s why demos are so important. Once people have that emotional response to great sound, the conversation changes. They start asking how far they can take it – not how much they can cut. We’re moving into an era where speakers need to be high-performance, easy to integrate and design-conscious – all at the same time. It’s a big ask, but it’s also a big opportunity. For manufacturers, it means doubling down on innovation – not just in how speakers sound, but how they look, how they install and how they behave as part of a full system. For installers, it means finding creative ways to meet client needs without compromising on quality or complexity. And for clients, it means getting audio experiences at home that were once only possible in the best commercial cinemas or live venues. If these challenges are met, it’s a great time to be in the loudspeaker space.
/essential-install-mag
essentialinstall.com