Architectural audio is a discipline that intersects engineering and interior design in ways that most speaker categories do not. The goal is not to fill a room with impressive-looking equipment. The goal is to fill a room with sound while the room itself remains visually intact. Sonance has been building toward that goal for longer than most of the alternatives have existed, and the product lineup reflects it.
The Invisible Series
Sonance’s Invisible Series speakers are installed behind drywall. Not flush-mounted with a grille. completely concealed behind a finished wall surface. The driver assembly mounts to a structural frame, the wall is finished over it, and the speaker is painted along with the wall. There is no grille. There is no indication that a speaker exists in that location. For clients whose interior designers have specified a specific wall treatment, paint color, or wallcovering, the Invisible Series is the only architectural speaker that does not force a visible compromise. This is the kind of invisible integration we describe in our post on acoustic treatment as the invisible upgrade.
The technology behind this is not intuitive. A speaker mounted behind drywall has to move the wall surface itself to produce sound. which means the coupling between the driver and the panel has to be engineered precisely, and the panel has to be properly treated to avoid resonances that color the sound. Sonance’s Invisible Series addresses both: the driver coupling is optimized through a proprietary exciter design, and the installation instructions specify the finishing compound characteristics and application method to ensure the panel behaves as intended. A properly installed Invisible Series speaker sounds like a real speaker. An improperly installed one does not, which is why the installation process matters.
Standard In-Ceiling and In-Wall Lines
For spaces where invisible installation is not required but design integration still matters, Sonance’s standard architectural lines offer grille designs that are notably thinner and less visually intrusive than the competition. The SONARRAY SR1 in-ceiling speaker system, for example, uses multiple small drivers arranged in a proprietary array to produce even coverage across a large room from a ceiling mount. a fundamentally different approach than a single large in-ceiling driver that creates a “sweet spot” directly below it.
Cinema Systems
Sonance also produces a dedicated cinema speaker line for home theater applications. The Cinema Series speakers are designed for integration with a dedicated home theater room where proper speaker placement in the wall and ceiling surfaces is possible during construction. For projects where Grimani Systems acoustics are specified for the room treatment and speaker positioning, Sonance Cinema speakers are a frequent pairing for the surround and overhead channels, complementing Grimani’s front stage performance.
“The clients who care most about interior design are often the ones most skeptical about audio. What Sonance gives us is a way to deliver serious audio performance without asking the designer to compromise anything. That conversation is much easier than defending a traditional speaker.” __EMDASH_PROTECT_0__
Why Not Polk, Klipsch, or Others
Polk and Klipsch both manufacture in-ceiling and in-wall speakers. At lower price points and in less design-sensitive environments, they are legitimate options. The performance and design integration of Sonance’s architectural lines. particularly the Invisible Series. does not have a direct equivalent in those catalogs. When the client and designer both need audio that does not disturb the visual design of a room, Sonance is the correct answer. For a project where Sonance Invisible Series was deployed in a high-constraint Manhattan penthouse, see our post on the penthouse AV system on the Upper West Side.
The right speaker for each zone depends on the specific application, the room finish, and the performance requirement. Our Partners page covers the full audio ecosystem we work within, and a consultation will help determine the right solution for each space in your project.