Ceiling Speakers recommendations/help

14 years ago

Not sure this is the correct form for this, but thought I'd give it a shot.

For a new build I'd like to install ceiling speakers in our kitchen and in the living room. We are not ultra serious audiophiles but i'd like some fairly decent speakers for music listening.... I looked at Moderno 6.5" speakers, M6R model and some 6.5" Speaker Craft models. The Modernos were not hooked up so I couldn't listen to them. The Speaker Craft sounded pretty good. Can anyone suggest any other brands to look in. If you have any experience with either of the 2 I mentioned, how do you find them... any other suggestions would be appreciated. thanks.

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Comments (8)

angnrog
14 years ago
We are getting the sonos system to use in our house. Each room will have their own zones.
Bedroom/Bathroom Zone
Living Room Zone
Kitchen Zone
Computer can play its own music and use Rhapsody

But we will need ceiling speakers in our master bathroom and master suite area. We are going with Polk Audio RC80i 2-Way In-Ceiling Speakers, which are about $128.99 over at Amazon..for a pair..They have got great reviews and work with the Sonos.

Good Luck!
Brent B
14 years ago
The better ceiling speakers have a "back box", which is an enclosure that encompasses the back of the speaker, concentrating the sound down, improving bass response and reduces bleeding into above floors.
I've tried PSB, they sounded pretty good but didn't hold up much past four years.
I am now replacing these, when they crap out, with Sonance.

Both of these ceiling speakers have 6 1/2" woofers with around 3/4 or 1" tweeters.

Yeah, ceiling speakers are hard to audition.
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Coincidentally I have exact same rooms wired for sound. Family Room is also our main movie area - couldn't dedicate floorspace to a media room. Main channels and center are free standing, prewired for upper front surround (frivolous to most but I dig them - newer surround modes utilize front 'height' channels) and RBH ceiling speakers in the rear. Didn't bother with side channels. The ceilings are adequate and unobtrusive visually but I wouldn't put them in near the same league in terms of sound quality as my other speakers. Powered REL sub is off to the side. Master has in-wall front channels, no center (prewired for a free standing one) and in-ceiling surround. All RBH. Powered sub is off to the side. The system sounds surprisingly good after Audyssey calibration. Good room calibration software makes a tremendous difference and provided proper initial speaker positioning, can help correct all sorts of room-related response anomolies. Basement playroom is pretty similar to Master but I've never actually used it. In-wall speakers will always be a compromise - the wall acts as a huge baffle and causes response issues that are difficult to address through speaker driver/crossover engineering. But we live in the real world where wives matter and budgets rule so that's why I have them. Also be sure you run network to TV locations as well as receiver/processor locations. I store movies on a Network Attached Server and can essentially feed movies/shows to any location in the house. Good luck! Good sound is good for the soul. Bad sound may land you in Bose purgatory.
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Yes that's a sub! Everyone here has their own favorite ceiling speakers so you may want to read some reviews from audiophile and ecoustic's to name a few. If you are looking for better than good (not best as they might be a little more) at a low price.Follow the link below for some reviews on the ones I bought, HD-R80 high definition in-ceiling with 8" drivers. They sound real nice, are cheap and have lots of great reviews. Reviews Here... www.buzzillions.com/reviews/htd-hd-r80-high-definition-in-ceiling-speakers-reviews
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As part of my kitchen remodel, I lost space for my beloved floor standing Monitor Audio speakers. I replaced them with ceiling speakers from Niles, model CM963. I paid $750 for the pair. They are 3-way speakers with a 9'' woofer. The tweeter sits on an adjustable member to allow directional adjustment up to 20 deg. Although the base response of these speakers is pretty good, I decided to finally add a subwoofer to my system. I knew I would prefer to place the SW in my bookshelf so I wanted a speaker that was no deeper than 13''. After some auditions, I bought a Monitor Audio VW8 for $365. It is a powered amplifier (so it needs to be plugged in to an outlet). Cross-over frequency can be adjusted, and it has a separate volume control. I found this small subwoofer did a very nice job of adding some needed base without drawing attention to itself. I have only had these speakers installed for a few days now, and so far I find them a pleasure to listen to. I would not go so far to say they are as good as the floor standing speakers they replaced. When I listen to music, I'm typically moving around the house, so perfect speaker placement and quality isn't as important (unlike my younger days!). When watching movies, a hefty portion of the sound comes from the center speaker, so if you have a good one the left/right ceiling speakers are not as critical. Sorry for this last bit if I offend anyone, but I really dislike the Bose brand. I think they are way over hyped. Jon
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Cost wise take your pre-wire cost and multiply it by 2.5 to 4.5 depending on the length of the run, wall materials, paint or other finishes, etc, etc. During a pre-wire you drill the size whole you need for the wires in the project scope to save time and you money. Adding more wire means bigger holes and/or new holes. Also depending on the thickness of the stud/joist you are going through you may have to drill other holes. If you are talking prefab beams, you may not be able to drill any more holes at all. If you want honest advice-- pay the pre-wire cost and move on to other parts of your home build. If you go too cheap on your prewire there will be corners cut that you won't realize until construction is done. For a LV pre-wire there are minimal requirements per code and nothing unsafe, so no basis on which to pursue contractors afterwards if you didn't feel like you got what you paid for. You will then end up paying 2-5 times more to get it the way you want it.
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creek_side
14 years ago
Ceiling speakers in rooms with a conventional vented attic above, instead of another living floor or a conditioned attic, can be a source of air leaks. The air leaks can drive up your heating and cooling costs, as well as adversely impact indoor humidity.

Something to keep in mind as you do your planning.
dyno
14 years ago
I bought a case (6 speakers) of RBH A-615's for $210 locally. They are not the marketing machine speakercraft is and offer a highly engineered product at a fair price if you don't mind delving into the grey market. I would take sonance over speakercraft as well.
robin0919
14 years ago
I've purchased speakers from here......

http://www.htd.com/MP-R65-ceiling-speakers
mdev
14 years ago
We sprang for higher end Polk in the kitchen and living room and love them. Went with slightly more cost effective Polk models in the rest of the house and they are fine.

If you are going to wire the whole house, don't forget the bathroom! I love the Kohler speakers we put in (OEM of Polk as well) and they are the best. It is great to sing to myself in the shower and drown out my awful singing voice :)
twolabs
14 years ago
Posted this in the speaker system advise thread, but you should really check out monoprice.com in-wall and in-ceiling speakers. I actually don't have any, or even heard any yet, but i'm planning on using them for my surround sound in the living room. I've read many good things about them, and monoprice.com is a great company.

Plus, they aren't very expensive at all...$50 a pair.
insijs
14 years ago
Regarding air bleeding through...What I did was before the sheetrock went up I fashioned a box from flat cardboard for each speaker location, open to the bottom, and mounted it flush to where the speaker would go then ran my wires to it. After the sheetrock was up they cut a small hole to pull the wires through into the room.

Then when it was time to spray closed cell sprayfoam insulation they could totally cover the box from the top side and put loosefill on top of that for a tight seal.

Ceiling Speakers recommendations/help

Comments (8)

angnrog

Brent B

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