Ceiling speakers

[BJ James]

In the midst of a basement rec room reno. Room is about 18'x 28' or so. 60" Plasma will be on the 18' wall, seating in the middle. Wet bar in the rear. Suspended ceiling, so I am thinking of ceiling speakers for the rears. Saw some Yamaha's at Futureshop. Wouldn't mind doing in wall fronts too, not sure on that yet. Receiver will likely be one of the new Pioneer units (VSX922?). What do you all think of the Yamaha speakers? What would you suggest for a decent center unit? In walls? Also, Besides a couple HDMI, and a Cat5 what you you run to the TV for future expansion?
Cheers,
BJ

 

[ack_bak]

In the midst of a basement rec room reno. Room is about 18'x 28' or so. 60" Plasma will be on the 18' wall, seating in the middle. Wet bar in the rear. Suspended ceiling, so I am thinking of ceiling speakers for the rears. Saw some Yamaha's at Futureshop. Wouldn't mind doing in wall fronts too, not sure on that yet. Receiver will likely be one of the new Pioneer units (VSX922?). What do you all think of the Yamaha speakers? What would you suggest for a decent center unit? In walls? Also, Besides a couple HDMI, and a Cat5 what you you run to the TV for future expansion?
Cheers,
BJ

I would definitely stay away from in-ceiling for your front mains. In-ceiling for your surrounds is not a bad option but I usually recommend in-wall or on-wall unless your room dictates otherwise. For your mains in-wall speakers are not a bad option, but I would recommend buying in-walls that have an engineered enclosure vs the open baffle style. Is there a reason you want in-wall vs floorstanding or bookshelf?

Your center speaker should match the main left and right speakers for timbre, meaning it is recommended you buy from the same manufacturer and product line.

As for futureproofing, I would recommend a couple Cat6, a couple HDMI, and some smurftube if you are opening up walls. I would buy from Monoprice or BlueJeans cable and I would buy a good highspeed HDMI cable certified for 1.4 standard.

 

[mazersteven]

Use the same spealers for your L,C,R mains

 

[r_malvia]

That's a huge room for your entertainment. I'm guessing it's open to other areas? Have you considered having a projector (or both). I built my basement just last year and I ran Cat6, 2 HDMI's (just in case one craps out), and AVI to the projector in the ceiling. I also ran power to behind the projector screen for a future 60" or larger tv. Behind the walls, I ran another Cat6 and speaker wires. All finished with wall speaker plates from Monoprice. I didn't bother running ceiling speakers since i dont' think they will sound very good. Dont' be fooled when it comes to ceiling speakers. I bought the Yamaha NS-IW360 from Amazon.com. I live in Vancouver, so I know that FS is a ripoff for ceiling speakers. Anyways, I just installed ceiling speakers in the common areas such as living, dining and kitchen. They provide background music and that's all. Don't expect high end sound from them (and I think that's for all brands). You have to remember that it's a speaker mounted in between your ceiling joists, so you really don't have a full enclosure for the speaker. Basically, you get nice full range sound, but a bookshelf will blow it away.

 

[mazersteven]

Don't expect high end sound from them (and I think that's for all brands). You have to remember that it's a speaker mounted in between your ceiling joists, so you really don't have a full enclosure for the speaker. Basically, you get nice full range sound, but a bookshelf will blow it away.

Not necessarily true. You can purchase sound enclosures for in-ceiling speakers. There are good quality in-ceiling speakers that product excellent sound quality.

In-wall Speakers for Home Theater Systems and Multi-Room Audio Systems by SpeakerCraft