The main determinants here are 1) How many rooms do you want to have the speakers in 2) What kind of controls do you want - local (keypads in the walls) or 'virtual' - i.e. smartphone, tablet, alexa 3) Your budget.

I like the unobtrusiveness of the in-ceiling speakers as opposed to the regular Sonos speakers. We have a mix in our house - I only wired in the main living areas + master bathroom and deck (and for those I use the Connect). Then I picked up some of the Play 1 when they had a black friday sale - they are very good for areas I don't mind them being visible - like my kids bedrooms, their basement lounge and my home office.

Sonos may not be audiophile sound, but for whole home audio they are quite good, reasonably priced, very easy to use, integrated with most every streaming service, and very easily scalable. They are about to (finally) introduce their Echo integration, and most likely some new alexa-integrated speakers, so you'll likely have new options once it comes down to actually installing your system in a few months.

Thank you both. I think that we are going to go with a mix of the two. Somewhat similar to what you describe Freeoscar. I figured that since the walls will be open we might as well go for a cleaner look in the living room and master and install speakers there.

In between listening to a transistor radio and true audiophile sound from equipment costing tens of thousands of dollars, there is a range of mid-level equipment and sound quality. The differences from top to bottom of mid-range equipment are significant and matter to some people and don't matter to others. Quality is pretty proportional to price.

Most streaming audio from internet sources is low quality - lower bit rates, more highly compressed sound that can't sound "very good" no matter what kind of equipment it's played through. From the other perspective, unless you're thinking of better built-in speakers, starting at maybe $400 a pair and moving up from there (which most people don't go for), even a high quality sound source isn't going to sound all that good going through mediocre speakers.

While the differences are dramatic, most people don't pay enough attention to music to know or discern what's good and what's not. If you have one spot where you might be or sit to listen attentively to music, that would be where I would put really good stereo speakers (not built in) and make sure you have a wired speaker connection (using heavy enough gauge wire) to there from wherever your sound equipment is (for CDs, records, or whatever the source). For the other more informal areas, even the essentially monaural Play units might be adequate for some. Where you want better sound, even for a remote, non-wired connection, use a Sonos Connect and an amp and speakers or a good quality pair of moderately priced powered speakers. Audioengine A5 or something similar are what I'm thinking of for this category.

Or, if you're like most people that some sound and convenience is better than none at all, I think the direction you're going in will serve you well. Audio happens to be one of my hobbies and I understand that most people aren't as picky about it as I am. Good luck

Interesting discussion.

I'm interested in mid range sound quality, better in the living/dining area than anywhere else. Wired (not ceiling) is fine for those areas. Wireless is good for the rest of the house, and maybe a couple of speakers on the back deck.

I don't care about streaming services, but would want to connect up my iPod, CDs, and a turntable. Ideally, I'd be interested in controlling the music from two or three locations in the home (likely more possible when connecting to the iPod or a computer, of course!). No need for different rooms to play different things, although it would be a good idea if some rooms could be muted.

Ideas of where to look?

I went to a high-end audio store and asked essentially the same question. I said, "If I compare a pair of Sonos speakers with conventional wired speakers at the same price point, which will sound better?" The conventional speakers were clearly better, but they don't have amps built in. If you already have an amp or receiver, then I would use wired speakers for my main system, and wireless ones for other locations where sound quality is less important than convenience. Which kind of wireless speaker system (Sonos, Bluesound, Bose, etc.) is another question.

mtvhike, there's at least one other approach, very inexpensively priced, for those who want to listen to internet-sourced sound that the audio store didn't mention.

A small device called Chromecast Audio ($35) will stream audio from a long list of the usual popular sources. The output can be connected either to powered speakers (a speaker pair with an internal amp, ) or to a small amp. Pyle makes several amp models, all good, most under $75 and one at $35. One of their models has bluetooth reception, so you can use a smartphone as the signal source instead of a Chromecast device. The purpose of using a small amplifier is to drive standard speakers. I set up a number of stations like this for one of my kids and the sound quality is surprisingly good. Very good.

Chromecast Audio is controllable from a smart phone so that a cheap, sub-$100 system all-in (not counting the speakers, he had built in ones) can be very cool to use and produce very acceptable sound quality. Most of these amps, including in powered speakers, have signal sensitive on/off functions. Meaning, if there's no signal to the amp, it turns itself off, and when a signal appears, it turns itself on. So, no need to access or switch the amp for use.

If you're building, wire in the speakers. Even as the technology changes, the speakers will still be good. I had a GE home audio system but they don't make it anymore so when I expanded my house I just spliced the wires from that hub to the new system. If that ever becomes obsolete, it will be easy to change again.

+1 to Ron’s comments. Even if you choose to go Sonos now, you may decide later to go a different direction. Sonos’s market share is going down with Apples flavor coming out, and with Chromecast Audio being much cheaper, who knows where Sonos will be in 5 years. I would at least pre-wire now so you always have the option to easily change direction down the road.

If you decide to pre-wire, carefully consider your desired usage. If you just want background music, then ceiling speakers are fine. But, if you want audiophile-level sound quality, then you will probably want your speakers closer to the floor, maybe in-wall or free standing. Also, make sure you use heavy enough wire. Long runs to low impedance speakers require at least 16 gauge; 14 or 12 is better, especially if you want home-theater sound levels.

I'v installed both and I can tell you a Sonos system would sound better and be much more flexible and expandable in the future. But you realize you have to still have AC going to each speaker! So don't forget that. You might also look into the Denon Helios system which would save you some money and are great sounding systems.
Will Home Theater Enthusiast

Really, a Sonos speaker will wound better than quality speakers? Not doubting you, just would not have expected that?

Sonos are quality speakers. They'd better be for how much they cost! They sound good but Of course you can buy many other higher end speakers that sound way better.....the question was in-ceiling speakers, which I never advocate unless absolutely necessary. But there are some very good in-ceiling to. You just have to make sure they resonate well with drywall and insulation. It just depends on the situation.

We decided to go with Sonos. It was a better fit for us.

The way most people listen to music, the convenience and reliability of the Sonos ecosystem products are far more important factors than the quality of the speakers and sound systems. Which, everything else considered, are average at best.

When it comes to the quality of the sound produced, remember most users use their Sonos systems to listen to low quality streamed lossy sound sources or, less frequently, equally mediocre and equally compressed lossy MP3 files. All very much sub-CD quality, which itself is a compromised sound source. When the sound source itself has limited bandwidth to provide, what it plays through doesn't matter that much. And most people don't know the difference. It doesn't mean there isn't a huge difference, there is. It's just that most people's ears aren't accustomed to discerning the difference.

I agree with Elmer.

Elmer is completely right about the Sonos system. We also decided to use Sonos in our house. Usually, many people meet problems with choosing a sound system for the house, for cars or speakers/microphones for PC.

I also met this kind of problem, I'm don't have enough knowledge to choose wisely when it comes to technological specification. I solved it with this site. At this source you can find much info about specifications and it may simplify your searching about choosing a proper sound system or microphone, etc.