Are ceiling rear speakers good?

[cdye]

I'm about to take my first stab at purchasing a home theater system, and a local shop is recommending a 5.1 system with a pair of Niles CM6HD FX flush ceiling speakers in the rear.

Since most of the information on this site pertains to standard bookshelf/surround speakers, I'd like to know about your experiences with these types of speakers.

As a bit of additional info, our couch is against the back wall and we really don't want to pull it out for the surround speakers.

Thanks for your help!

 

[df4801]

I use back ceiling speakers (paradigm's) and think they are fine.
You would be surprised how small the amount of sound coming from the surrounds is.
ie, definately worry more about the fronts, center (especially the center)

 

[racquetman]

One of my friends has a pair of Klipsch in-ceiling speakers he uses for surrounds. He was worried about doing it at first because, like most of us, he didn't know anyone who had a setup like this. He is very happy with the sound and I thought they worked out very nicely also (I'm more demanding than he is).

 

[Geno]

I like 'em

I, too, use ceiling mounted rear surrounds (Klipsch). They mostly produce ambient "fill", so aren't a major source like the front/center/side surrounds, but they sound fine.
My main listening spot is also against a back wall, so it's important to get the levels set properly using a SPL meter.

 

[mike c]

my sofa is also to the back wall, but I refused to use ceiling speakers otherwise I'd get that 'what if' feeling.

 

[bigpapa]

A speaker is a speaker...

Whether inwall or enclosed, there's good ones and not so good ones.

I'm against a wall. I put in-ceiling speakers in. I'm happy. I don't see this as that critical a decision

 

[cdye]

Thanks for the advice, everyone. I definitely feel more comfortable buying the ceiling surround speakers now.

I really didn't want to mess with rear speakers (wall or floor standing) nor did I want to give up floorspace by moving my couch.