[Technology] Ceiling speakers

Poojah

Well-known member

Nov 19, 2010

1,881

Leeds

• Jun 29, 2020

• #1

I’m in the market for some ceiling speakers, but have no idea what I’m looking for. I know the main brands like Bose and Sonos, but beyond that I wouldn’t know if I was looking at some uber-cool sound specialist or an unknown Taiwanese rip-off.

I’m just looking for something with decent sound quality, easy install, middle-ground price point and ideally compatible with Amazon Echo.

Any recommendations? Taaa!

 

Justice

Dangerous Idiot

Jun 21, 2012

18,611

Born In Shoreham

• Jun 30, 2020

• #2

Flush or surface mounted?

 

Goldstone1976

We Got Calde in!!

Helpful Moderator

NSC Patron

Apr 30, 2013

13,783

Herts

• Jun 30, 2020

• #3

I’ve recently put some in a place. There are a number of things to consider:

The quality of sound: ceiling speakers tend to be ‘tinny’, missing mid- and (particularly) low-frequency responsiveness. That’s because they tend to be not very physically deep (to fit in narrow voids).

Do you want to cable them, or use radio to transmit the signal? If the latter, is Bluetooth good enough to achieve the sound quality you want, or will you need Wi-fi?

How are you going to power them? Separate amp(s) or built-in?

How concerned about aesthetics are you? You can get plenty that blend in to the ceiling line - at the cost of sound quality generally.

My advice would be to answer these questions first (starting with how deep your void is - if small you’ll cut out a large part of the higher sound quality ranges anyway).

After a bit of research, I went with Monitor Audio. I went with the C380-IDCs, but the lower range models also sounded good.

 

wellquickwoody

Many More Voting Years

NSC Patron

Aug 10, 2007

13,621

Melbourne

• Jun 30, 2020

• #4

Poojah said:

I’m in the market for some ceiling speakers, but have no idea what I’m looking for. I know the main brands like Bose and Sonos, but beyond that I wouldn’t know if I was looking at some uber-cool sound specialist or an unknown Taiwanese rip-off.

I’m just looking for something with decent sound quality, easy install, middle-ground price point and ideally compatible with Amazon Echo.

Any recommendations? Taaa!

Click to expand...

If you but expensive stuff it will probably have been made in Taiwan. The cheap muck will come from mainland China, Thailand India etc

 

Poojah

Well-known member

Nov 19, 2010

1,881

Leeds

• Jul 2, 2020

• Thread starter
• #5

Well, basically the responses on this thread have essentially taught me that I don't have a clue what I want. To try and narrow it in a non-technical way, the only way I'm able to frankly, I want something that:

• Sounds reasonably
• Will last a few years
• Can be split into zones around the house
• Can be controlled via an app and Alexa
• Isn't mega expensive (though I'm not necessarily talking bargain basement either)
• Won't set the house on fire

Thinking about it, that last one should really have been first on the list, but you catch my drift. My plan was to buy some off the internet and have my sparkie fit them, but do I perhaps need to seek the advice of a specialist?

 

L

lost in london

Well-known member

Dec 10, 2003

1,782

London

• Jul 2, 2020

• #6

What's the advantage of them? Unless you don't have any shelves I don't really see it myself. Standalone speakers are great, building speakers into the ceiling just seems like they'll be expensive to install, and a nightmare when technology moves on or they go wrong. If they also don't sound that good then I'm struggling to get onboard!

 

Knocky's Nose

Mon nez est en Valenciennes..

May 7, 2017

4,137

Eastbourne

• Jul 2, 2020

• #7

Monitor Audio. A great combination of quality and price, and they're a British company.

I fitted out the bar area of the Kensington Roof Gardens about 5 years ago with these. When the installation was complete and I was having the job signed off I fired them up and the Manager said to his lacky "can we turn the disco speakers off please, I'm trying to listen to these new ceiling speakers!"

 

Bry Nylon

Test your smoke alarm

Helpful Moderator

Jul 21, 2003

19,844

Playing snooker

• Jul 2, 2020

• #8

Poojah said:

I’m in the market for some ceiling speakers, but have no idea what I’m looking for.

Click to expand...

It's the flat bit across the top of the room.

 

Poojah

Well-known member

Nov 19, 2010

1,881

Leeds

• Jul 2, 2020

• Thread starter
• #9

OK, so I think the best option I've found are these:

https://www.kitchenbathroomradio.co...ll-in-one-6-5-bluetooth-ceiling-speakers-pair

I can get six of these, plus firehoods for less than a grand, and it at least sounds like I wouldn't need an amp. They're blutooth rather than wi-fi, so I don't know if that's an issue with respect to getting multi-room audio, but if it's just a minor impact on sound quality (as opposed to not working at all) I think I can live with that.

The reviews at least seem good.

 

seagurn

Well-known member

Feb 19, 2007

1,971

County town

• Jul 2, 2020

• #10

I had a pair of Linn diskreets in my cieling they where ace.

 

Poojah

Well-known member

Nov 19, 2010

1,881

Leeds

• Jul 2, 2020

• Thread starter
• #11

Bry Nylon said:

It's the flat bit across the top of the room.

Click to expand...

I see you’ve been in the Airplane thread. You begrudgingly get a thumbs up for your pisstakery. You did raise wry smile, to be fair.

 

mikeyjh

Well-known member

Dec 17, 2008

4,486

Llanymawddwy

• Jul 3, 2020

• #12

I'm not sure what you want exists - Ceiling speakers have compromises even if they are just classic speakers, ie. Not smart or anything like that. If you have to get ceiling speakers, I suggest you put your technology at the amplifier end and let the speakers be speakers. I've got chromecast audio (no longer being produced) plugged in to amps or speakers throughout the house and it works wonders...