Ceiling Speakers for Music in Great Room

M

MJBlacko

Audiophyte
Hello,

I'm about finishing up renovations in what use to be a kitchen/dining/living room, but is now a roughly 30' X 30' x 8' great room. I'm not planning on a home theatre system in this room (maybe a sound bar in the future),just background music for entertainment, so I am planning to go with ceiling speakers. Mostly, it will be quiet to moderate in volume, but the volume tends to creep up as the whiskey flows, so I would like to be able to accommodate comfortably loud volumes as well. I could use some insight in choosing 4 pairs of 6.5" or 2 pairs of 8" for the best acoustics and also some general guidance on placement. I'm aware of the implications of multiple speakers in parallel and/or series and I am comfortable accommodating that, but I'm not so sure which options would sound better from any spot in the room, as there is no single listening spot. I'm also open to new ideas and any additional insight would be appreciated.

Notes:
15' window in the front center,
7' window and 10' glass slider in the back
Kitchen cabinets in the back/left
9' kitchen island in the center/left
2 sets of stairs on left (fairly open)
exterior wall on wall on the right

Thanks!

Michael
 
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mtrycrafts

mtrycrafts

Seriously, I have no life.
Hi and welcome to AH.:)

As this is for background use, even at moderate volume, you will not get the best acoustics. It is ceiling mounted and for background.

Whether you get 6.5" or 8" I would do at least 4 speakers depending on coverage you need. Maybe a drawing of the room you plan to place this in would help.
Do you want good coverage in the kitchen while cooking, mixer and microwave making noise, you would need one closer in.
 
everettT

everettT

Audioholic Spartan
I'd go with 6 5" over 8" due to typically better coverage over all. Don't over spend on inceiling background speakers, I'd keep it around $100 each as any more your throwing money away. I'd focus on how they are divided up zones and how they will be controlled.
 
M

MJBlacko

Audiophyte
Thanks for the advice. I've included a rough drawing of the room (sorry for poor image quality, had to compress it). I'm not too concerned about kitchen noise, but I would like to be able to hear the music clearly in the kitchen as much as the rest of the room.

As for the controls, I'm still looking for a simple 2 zone receiver with only 2 channels on each zone. The second zone is for future outdoor speakers, though a second amplifier could also do the trick. I'll be using Google chromecast audio paired with Google home app and a Google home hub to control the music.

Thanks again!

Michael
IMG_20181204_204509209.jpg
 
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2

2channel lover

Audioholic Field Marshall
Thanks for the advice. I've included a rough drawing of the room (sorry for poor image quality, had to compress it). I'm not too concerned about kitchen noise, but I would like to be able to hear the music clearly in the kitchen as much as the rest of the room.

As for the controls, I'm still looking for a simple 2 zone receiver with only 2 channels on each zone. The second zone is for future outdoor speakers, though a second amplifier could also do the trick. I'll be using Google chromecast audio paired with Google home app and a Google home hub to control the music.

Thanks again!

MichaelView attachment 27082
If mono, I would go with 3 or 4 8"...if stereo...four 8". (Mono in this environment is not bad, even preferred in some circles). I probably would not use 6.5" especially if the ceiling is higher than 8'.

I put a pair of 8" inceiling speakers in my greatroom and my sunroom...really for whole-house music, but our houseplan is open much like yours and it's an ideal entertaining space. So rethought my intentions and ramped up the quality of the speakers in case we wanted some festive type atmosphere. We recently had 2 dinner parties, and to steal your very appropriate phrase, "after a whiskey or two", the music playlist became much a bigger part of the evening than I anticipated.....I'm glad I did ramp up those speakers.

But...if you're pretty sure that back ground music turned up every once in a while will suffice.

The Polks I use for Atmos will be fine. The RC80i are not as accurate or image as well as my Noble FidelityL85mkii, but they can get pretty loud...3 to 4 in that space should be plenty.
 
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