Ceiling speakers or not?

[anonymous-user]

I've had ceiling speakers in my last 2 houses for 5:1 cinema and music.

The first house I bought already installed and the current house I chose ceiling speakers due to lack of floor space.

I'm now planning a self build where I can choose this route again or plan for floor standing or wall installed speakers.

What would be the best route for max enjoyment of cinema and music?

Thanks

[Driller]

Definitely floor standing if space and aesthetics aren't a problem. In walls/ceiling just don't have the oomph or quality/price ratio to keep up.

After that, I'd go with on walls and as a last resort in walls.

In ceilings for the rears but never in ceiling for the LCRs.

IMO of course.

[rex]

I sort of agree with Driller. If aesthetics are not an issue then floor standing speakers will give you the most bang for your money. I found when designing mine that the centre speaker is the most difficult to accommodate. In the end I went for triad in ceiling speakers from Triad. These are sealed units and although flush mounted angle 45 degrees down to the listening position.

http://www.triadspeakers.com/

In terms of performance they really pack a punch with the crossover set to 80 Hz.. They need a decent amp though as they are fairly hard to drive.

If you are designing a room from scratch then look at the acoustics of the room as it makes a massive difference to the sound. Plenty of threads and discussion on AV Forums.

[anonymous-user]

I have directional ceiling speakers now. They are great and I love them 'hidden' in the ceiling. But the thought of improved audio quality is why I'm wondering if floor standing is the way forward.

I'm working with an architect right now on design - maybe once layout is defined it will be an easier choice.

[Adrian W]

http://www.definitivetech.com/Products/products.as...

Or something by M&K

[Driller]

garyhun said:

I have directional ceiling speakers now. They are great and I love them 'hidden' in the ceiling. But the thought of improved audio quality is why I'm wondering if floor standing is the way forward.

I'm working with an architect right now on design - maybe once layout is defined it will be an easier choice.

If you're working with an archi, why not design things so you can have soffit mounted floor standers? You could then hide these behind an acoustically transparent cloth on a frame.

Best of both worlds!

[anonymous-user]

Driller said:

If you're working with an archi, why not design things so you can have soffit mounted floor standers? You could then hide these behind an acoustically transparent cloth on a frame.

Best of both worlds!

Never heard of such things but will now look it up to see if it goes on my wish list

Thanks!

[Driller]

This is how they mount the main monitors in recording studio control rooms, placing a proper "boxed" speaker into a hole in the wall so that the surface of the speaker is flush. Obviously aesthetic but much better for the sound too.

You know the phenomenon where having your floorstanders too close to the wall causes too much bass frequency due to interaction between the sound waves and the wall?

When the speaker is flush in the wall these interactions are entirely removed giving a very clean sound (other room dimensions permitting!).

[anonymous-user]

Very interesting - thanks for taking the time to explain.

[Driller]

Yeah it's interesting stuff isn't it? BTW you can't do this with rear ported speakers obviously!

[anonymous-user]

Driller said:

Yeah it's interesting stuff isn't it? BTW you can't do this with rear ported speakers obviously!

I'm a complete dullard with this stuff so have no idea why not

However, after saying that, the house is very contemporary and will have one large open plan kitchen/dining/living room. My guess is that we'll end up with a design where the living area only has one main wall where the TV will go and the rest of the room will be open so there will be no rear wall anyway. It's for this reason why I MAY still consider ceiling speakers.

All early days though so the more information I have, the better.

[Adrian W]

The speakers I use are isobaric and need the wall to tune the bass,

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isobaric_speakers

[Driller]

Control room or domestic?

[MagicalTrevor]

How about in-wall/free standing speakers for the rear and ceiling speakers for effect channels in a 7.1 system

[anonymous-user]

I'm not having a dedicated cinema room so not sure I'll want 7:1 due to the fact that aesthetics will be important.

Whilst I do want quality of sound it's important that the install has a modicum of subtlety as it will always be on show in the heart of the house