Which ceiling speakers?

[Ow]

Hi,

My dad's having a new orangery (conservatory) built, and wants to incorporate a new music system into the room. He's all but decided on a Sonos system, but we now need to decide on what speakers to go for.

I'm not sure on the exact measurements, but from memory it will be around 4x6m in size.

Will a pair of decent speaker suffice, or would we need more than two?

Richer sounds recommended a pair that were around £250 (will find out which ones!), but he's also seen the Bose 791 speaker that are £500 (!) for a pair.

He doesn't want to buy a cheaper set, and once it's all been wired in wish he'd spent more money, so he's happy to spend more on a decent set-up.

Does anyone have any recommendations?

Thanks

[oola]

Ow said:

Hi,

My dad's having a new orangery (conservatory) built, and wants to incorporate a new music system into the room. He's all but decided on a Sonos system, but we now need to decide on what speakers to go for.

I'm not sure on the exact measurements, but from memory it will be around 4x6m in size.

Will a pair of decent speaker suffice, or would we need more than two?

Richer sounds recommended a pair that were around £250 (will find out which ones!), but he's also seen the Bose 791 speaker that are £500 (!) for a pair.

He doesn't want to buy a cheaper set, and once it's all been wired in wish he'd spent more money, so he's happy to spend more on a decent set-up.

Does anyone have any recommendations?

Thanks

I'd recommend a pair of C165 monitor audio's which retail about £200 per pair. They're a 6.5" in ceiling speaker which will be more than sufficient for the space ... you'll only need one pair.

We're a monitor audio dealer so if you're interested drop me a pm and I'll do you a deal! ;-)

[gbbird]

Anthony Gallo Micros can be ceiling mounted, and they are a great speaker. Around £140 a pop

[Driller]

I hate those Anthony Gallo things with a passion, they look like little toys IMO . The Monitor Audios mentioned above sound very good and good VFM too.

[aberdeeneuan]

I have recently fitted some of these monitor audio speakers, the 165 and the 180, albeit the single speaker versions. The sound is good, the 180 more bassy (as you'd expect) but the sound good. The issue with single speakers is spread of the music, but for us they are in 2 bathrooms so not really an issue.

Was also recommended the b&w range but much more expensive. Sounded brilliant though and had I not been doing multiple rooms would have been where my money went. Really happy with the ma though, good value for the sound, I don't have any complaints.

[Ow]

Thanks all for the suggestions. I will have a proper read through tomorrow, and have a look at some of the options.

Thanks oola. I may well send you a message tomorrow.

Does anyone have any opinion on bose speakers? I've always thought they were generally overpriced for what they were, but I would have thought a set of £500 speakers would be pretty decent!

[aberdeeneuan]

Just a thought - does he have the depth in the ceiling for the speakers? Not sure on the design for the building but these are pretty big units so check the measurements.

4x6 would be easily filled by 2 I'd have thought - our bathroom is 2mx2m square and we have a single 180-t2 in it and it's plenty - the MA go really loud and are very clear.

[cinque]

Have you looked at the Speakercraft range?

I've got them fixed flush in my walls and ceilings and they look discreet, but pack a real punch.

[rhinochopig]

anonymous said:

[redacted]

I have set of Gallo Ti in a 7.1 set-up and they do need to work with a sub. They are superb, given their size, though when coupled with a sub but quite poor without.

[Ow]

Not had much chance this weekend to do much research on the above suggestions yet, but does anyone have any other recommendations?

Thanks

[aberdeeneuan]

As has been said, b&w for sheer quality, budget option go for monitor audio.

Won't go wrong there.

Kef is an alternative but was advised that they are not as suited to reflective type rooms as they don't have as much bass. For what he was looking at spending, spend it on the b&w and enjoy. Awesome speakers.

[oola]

Ow said:

Not had much chance this weekend to do much research on the above suggestions yet, but does anyone have any other recommendations?

Thanks

There are hundreds of ceiling manufacturers out there ... I could spend 7 days a week meeting reps from different distributors and manufacturers wanting us to sell/install theirs. At this level they're all very similar in terms of performance and unless you're prepared to spend literally days travelling to different locations to listen to a range of speakers, then I would take the advice of people on here who have first hand experience of owning or installing speakers.

We've been using Monitor Audio for a couple of years after previously using SpeakerCraft ... but after their UK distributor went into administration we took the decision to go with MA and haven't been disappointed ... and neither have our customers. With hundreds of installs, we've not had ONE product failure.

[VEX]

+100 odd for Monitor Audio over the past year.

Great performance, price and range to fit all budgets, shapes and styles.

V.

[johnoz]

Ow said:

Hi,

My dad's having a new orangery (conservatory) built, and wants to incorporate a new music system into the room. He's all but decided on a Sonos system, but we now need to decide on what speakers to go for.

I'm not sure on the exact measurements, but from memory it will be around 4x6m in size.

Will a pair of decent speaker suffice, or would we need more than two?

Richer sounds recommended a pair that were around £250 (will find out which ones!), but he's also seen the Bose 791 speaker that are £500 (!) for a pair.

He doesn't want to buy a cheaper set, and once it's all been wired in wish he'd spent more money, so he's happy to spend more on a decent set-up.

Does anyone have any recommendations?

Thanks

Which speakers did you go for in the end??

[V8OW]

johnoz said:

Which speakers did you go for in the end??

He went for a pair of Bowers & Wilkins CCM65 and they seem great.

Not sure if they are still made though. http://www.bowers-wilkins.net/downloads/product/in...

I picked up a cheaper pair of B&Ws for my small kitchen, and the sound quality is noticeably inferior.

[johnoz]

V8OW said:

He went for a pair of Bowers & Wilkins CCM65 and they seem great.

Not sure if they are still made though. http://www.bowers-wilkins.net/downloads/product/in...

I picked up a cheaper pair of B&Ws for my small kitchen, and the sound quality is noticeably inferior.

Cool thanks for that, will look into those as well.