Ceiling speakers - advice

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mloc

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We are in the process of building a large kitchen cum dining room extension and want to put ceiling speakers in which will be hooked up to a system like the SONOS sound system.

Can anybody recomend a really good quality ceiling speaker system and should we include a woofer?? I don't know much about this stuff so advice is appreciated.
The ceiling is approx 25ft x 17ft and is a pitch ceiling. I expect we would need about 4 speakers?
 
Hi mcloc,

B&W do a very good ceiling speaker, the CCM65's. Have had them before and are very good. Try contacting cloney audio in blackrock, they stock a large range of hi-fi products. No affiliation with them.

Otherwise you'll get a cheaper version online or in the likes of peats electronics in Dublin.
 
Ok cheap alternative and it works brilliantly - my husband just installed ours in the sunroom and kitchen ceilings.

He could only get max 12 watt ones for ceiling mounted so he went with car speakers that are 80 watt and cost - 12 EURO a set!!!

Sprayed them white with the paint sprayer when he was doing the ceilings. We've had them on for the last 2 weeks when we've been down there working away and they are excellent. His brother is an electrician and he has the same in his house, works a treat, great sound at a fraction of the price.
 
What a great tip Silvergirl!

Might I ask...what are they fed back to....HiFi system? are they isolated so that either room on or both on? If so how?
 
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ninsaga said:
What a great tip Silvergirl!

Might I ask...what are they fed back to....HiFi system? are they isolated so that either room on or both on? If so how?
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I was wondering the same. I thought about putting speakers in the Bathroom, fed from AirTunes Express and use [broken link removed] on Mobile phone (Nokia E series phone, nice big screen) to control music.
 
depends do you want quality or price. those car speakers will be no match for a decent set of in wall speakers, car speakers are designed to run louder as they have to be audible over the sound of the engine. acoustics in a car are terrible, the performance from car speakers doesn't have to be very good and is terrible. the power is going to be dictated by the amplifier anyway, a decent stereo amp could be running in 40W range max, so where are you going to need 80w car speakers?

save your money, get a decent set of inwall speakers and the performance will blow any set of car speakers out of the water. b&w as mentioned are very good, i have their big floorstanders in my home cinema room. they are pricey though. if you want lots of advice, head over to www.avforums.com and you'll find lots.

just stay away from car speakers. they're cheap for a reason. only go downthat route if price is your ONLY concern, if decent quality is a factor at all you'll go with proper speakers
 
As far as I know the OP is using a SONOS, and imho car speakers will do it a dis-service.
Wexfordman
 
Sounds great to our heathen ears! I think there can be just a little bit of snobbery around sound systems, plasma tv's etc, who has the most expensive, biggest etc. (maybe making up for other lacking areas?!!)

For the ordinary person who just wants good (and it is very good) sound piped into rooms from a single stereo this works great for us as I'm sure it would for others.

If you need anymore info on installing them let me know and I'll ask himself as he put ours in.

They are fed from our sony hifi that is currently in the kitchen and we usually either stick it on random for cd's or radio and it pipes into both rooms at the same time. Remote works from both rooms as they are next to each other separated by an arch. I'm not sure if you could isolate the rooms but I doubt it. For a bathroom you could link the master bathroom and master bedroom maybe? Think that's what he has planned for our house anyway!

Cheers
 
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Silvergirl said:
Sounds great to our heathen ears! I think there can be just a little bit of snobbery around sound systems, plasma tv's etc, who has the most expensive, biggest etc. (maybe making up for other lacking areas?!!)

For the ordinary person who just wants good (and it is very good) sound piped into rooms from a single stereo this works great for us as I'm sure it would for others.

If you need anymore info on installing them let me know and I'll ask himself as he put ours in.

Cheers
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the original poter asked for a really good quality speaker. you put in speakers that are designed to go very loud with not much care given to sound quality. if they sound good to you, then that's all that matters. no snobbery involved here, i don't care how much he spends on the speakers, but car speakers, even good ones, will sound far inferior than a proper set of wall speakers. and at 12 euros a pop they're not even good as car speakers go..

again...car speakers. designed to go loud, but sound poor, but cheap
in walls, designed to sound good, without needing to go as loud..more expensive..

but even a relatively cheap set of proper in walls will blow away a set of car speakers

and sometimes the savings don't justify the loss in performance, and this is one of them
 
If you're going to put in car speakers then don't waste money on any decent sort of hifi equipment - just buy a Midi system from Argos. They're cheap for a reason and their main USP is to go loud.

A good rule of thumb is to split a budget down 35/30/25/10 or so between source/amplification/speakers&stands/cables.

An amplified Sonos ZP100 will set you back £350/€500 or so so you should be looking at £180/€240 for speakers, stands and cable. A good choice in this range is the Cambridge Audio S30 for £120 or so with a decent cable for a quid or so a metre. The Monitor Audio BR2s are a little more (£200). All of these can be wall/shelf mounted. You can get in-wall speakers but these are more expensive and need a deep box.

I've only ever heard one really good ceiling setup and that cost €€€€s - separate tweeters and crossovers balanced to give >1 sweet spot and subwoofers hidden near the floor (low frequency sound is less directional). This cost way more than a standard 2.0 or 2.1 equivalent.

All the other's I've heard were a bit meh unless you were standing right under them or just listened to talk radio.

I'd also say that the Sonos kit is fantastic, but shop around and get decent speakers for them.

SSE
 
Silvergirl said:
For a bathroom you could link the master bathroom and master bedroom maybe? Think that's what he has planned for our house anyway!

Cheers
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can't just keep adding on speakers. what impedance are they? modern amps are designed to drive speakers between 4 ohms and 8ohms. if you keep adding more speakers eventually you drop the impedance too low and your amp will go plop. i'd revisit those plans if i were you
 
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