★Authorized Dealer
Stealth Acoustics · Kansas City.
IntegrateIT is an authorized Stealth Acoustics dealer across the Kansas City metro — the invisible speakers that are mudded and painted like the drywall around them, so a room gets sound with no grille on the wall or the ceiling. We are the people who place them on the drawing, coordinate the drywall finisher and the painter, match the amplification and tune the room once it is finished. Phone: (913) 804-7575 or office@integrateit.tech.
The point of this line is a wall nobody has to look at. That only works if the finish is done properly, so the method matters as much as the model: Stealth Acoustics publishes that the panel is taped and mudded like drywall, with no more than a sixteenth of an inch of compound over the face, and engineered for four coats of latex paint. We hand that method to the finishing trades in writing, before they reach the room.
What we carry and install from Stealth Acoustics
The current families, and where each one goes in a Kansas City home:
- LineaRadiance invisible speakers — LR116, LR224, LR224S, LR324 and LR430. The current eighth generation of the invisible range, full-range models for walls and ceilings, with the LR224S as the stereo model. These carry the music in a living room, kitchen or primary suite on a whole-house audio system where the designer will not accept a grille.
- LineaRadiance subwoofers — LR24W and LR30W. The low end, hidden the same way, for a room where a floor-standing subwoofer has nowhere to go.
- LineaReactor amplifiers — 500.8, 500.4, 125.8, 125.4 and 125.2. Stealth’s own multichannel digital amplifiers with built-in DSP and room correction, with the 125.2 offered with or without Dante. These sit in the rack and drive the invisible zones, which is how the speakers get the processing they were designed around.
- StingRay outdoor speakers — StingRay 6, 8 and 83, and the StingRay 430 subwoofer. Weatherproof speakers for a patio or pool deck, with a StingRay Soffit Kit for the 8 and 83 that puts them up under the eaves, out of sight.
- Patio Theater — SPT Extreme and SPT Megalith. Stealth’s self-contained outdoor television systems; the SPT Extreme has a vertical lift for a below-grade pop-up installation. They belong on the outdoor TV conversation for a yard that wants a screen only when it is in use.
- Back boxes and PlaceSavers. The BX, MBX, MBA and MBC back boxes — including an adjustable metal box and one for masonry — and the PlaceSavers that hold each location during pre-wire. Small parts, and the reason the finished wall is flat.
We specify and install to order — we hold no shelf stock, and the model list on your proposal comes off the room plan and the finish schedule rather than off a catalogue page.
How we design the line in
- The finish schedule comes first. Paint, a light spray texture and wallpaper are fine over the panel; heavy knockdown and trowel finishes are not recommended, and Venetian plaster has limits. We read the designer’s finish schedule before we place a single speaker.
- Locations are fixed at rough-in. In new construction a PlaceSaver marks each speaker during pre-wire and comes out after the drywall is hung, before it is mudded. That belongs in the low-voltage pre-wire, not in a punch list.
- The finishing trades get it in writing. The drywall finisher and the painter receive the manufacturer’s method — mesh tape, feathered compound, the mud limit, the paint coats — because an invisible speaker is only as invisible as the patch over it.
- Amplification is matched, not borrowed. Invisible speakers are designed around their own processing. We specify the amplifier for them rather than hanging them off whatever channel happens to be free in the rack.
- Tuned after the room is finished. Levels and equalisation are set once the paint is dry and the furniture is in, because that is the room the speakers actually live in.
- Documented in your portal. Where each speaker is — which, on a finished wall, nobody will be able to see — goes into the project record with the settings and the wiring.
Where it sits beside the lines we also carry
We carry both invisible lines. We are also an authorized Sonance dealer, and the Sonance Invisible Series is finished over in the same spirit; which one a house gets comes off the construction, the finish, the amplification and the outdoor plan, not off a preference of ours. Where a visible speaker is acceptable, James small-aperture models and Triad painted-to-match grilles are the other routes to a quiet ceiling. In a media room that doubles as a family room, invisible speakers can keep the walls clean when the screen is off; in a dedicated theater we will usually show you a visible design as well.
Common questions
Who sells and installs Stealth Acoustics in Kansas City?
IntegrateIT (Overland Park, KS) is an authorized Stealth Acoustics dealer across the Kansas City metro, on both sides of the state line — invisible speakers specified with the architect and the designer, set at rough-in, finished by the drywall crew to the manufacturer’s method and tuned once the room is done. What the agreement carries on a given project is confirmed on your proposal. Phone: (913) 804-7575 or office@integrateit.tech.
How does an invisible speaker actually disappear?
It is installed flush in the wall or ceiling and then finished like a piece of drywall. Stealth Acoustics publishes the method: the speaker panel is taped with self-adhesive mesh, mudded with the joint compound feathered away from it — no more than one sixteenth of an inch over the face — and painted. The manufacturer engineers the face for four coats of latex paint, and says its speakers do not need a skim coat to get a smooth finish. Once the wall is painted there is no grille, no outline and nothing for a designer to argue with.
Will it work with the wall finish in my house?
Usually, and the exceptions are worth knowing before the speaker is ordered. Stealth Acoustics lists paint as the primary finish and accepts a light spray texture or wallpaper; it does not recommend heavy knockdown or trowel finishes over the speaker, and advanced finishes such as Venetian plaster come with limitations. So if your walls carry a heavy knockdown texture, or the designer has specified a hand-troweled plaster, we say so at design and plan the speaker locations, the finish or the line around it — not on the day the painter arrives.
Can invisible speakers go in a finished house, or only new construction?
Both. The manufacturer’s install guidance covers new construction and retrofit. In new construction the cleanest route is to pre-wire with Stealth’s PlaceSavers marking each location, which come out after the drywall is hung and before it is mudded. In a finished house the speaker goes into a cut opening and the patch is finished over it, which means a drywall finisher and a painter are part of the job. We tell you which trades the room needs before you commit.
Do invisible speakers sound different from ordinary in-ceiling speakers?
Yes, and it is honest to say so up front. A conventional speaker moves air through a grille; an invisible speaker radiates through a finished panel, and it is designed and amplified for that. That is why Stealth Acoustics publishes its own LineaReactor amplifiers with built-in DSP and room correction, and why we pair the speakers with matched amplification and tune them in the finished room. For background music, dialogue and most everyday listening that trade is easy to make, and the wall stays clean. For a dedicated listening room or a reference theater we will usually show you a visible design as well and let you choose.
You also carry Sonance Invisible. How do you choose?
We carry both invisible lines, so the choice comes off the job rather than off a preference. Both are designed to be finished over. The questions that decide it are the ones on the drawing: the wall or ceiling construction, the finish the designer has specified, how many rooms are invisible and how many are conventional, the amplification already in the rack, and the outdoor plan if there is one — Stealth also makes the StingRay outdoor range. We walk the house, then recommend one, and we explain why.
An invisible speaker is decided on the drawing. Bring us the finish schedule.
Or read about how we design whole-house audio · invisible speakers vs in-ceiling speakers · a media room that hides its hardware · Sonance Invisible in Kansas City
Written by Daniel Alon, founder of IntegrateIT LLC, with twenty years in IT and AV integration — Control4 Platinum Dealer, Crestron Elite Partner, Lutron Certified Installer, CEDIA member, HTA Certified. Overland Park, KS.