In-ceiling speakers for rear speakers in 5.1?

[DaveGravox]

Hi there.

My parents are building a new house and I'm in the process of installing the home theater. The living room is open plan with the kitchen so there's not an obvious place to put the rear speakers. The rear wall is also out. My mother is not keen on having speakers hanging from the ceiling.

So, I was thinking about in-ceiling speakers. I guess they tend to be omni-directional, which wouldn't be ideal, and they'd be pointing down rather than toward the listener. However, I am looking for a set-up that is unobtrusive as possible. Does anyone have an experience with this? I'm not looking for top-end just something that sounds OK.

Any advice would be appreciated.

 

[yepimonfire]

imo in ceiling speakers sound rediculously unnatural, the only time i would advocate them is for PLIIz height channels, big no for fronts and centers and surrounds. in-wall would be better, keep in mind that unless the speakers have their own "box" the volume needed to control the bass frequencies will be random at best so i would not expect sound below 80hz to be accurate if even there. you will need an out-of-the -wall subwoofer to pick up the low end. as far as how to go about it correctly i cant say cause i havent messed with them nor do i ever plan to. someone else will have to help with that but personally i do not recommend in ceiling speakers unless you want you home theater to sound like wal-mart's intercom (maybe exaggerating but you get the idea)

 

[AVRat]

http://www.amazon.com/Polk-Audio-RC60i--Ceiling-Speakers/dp/B00005T3BD/ref=sr_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1283276671&sr=1-1

 

[MDS]

http://www.amazon.com/Polk-Audio-RC60i--Ceiling-Speakers/dp/B00005T3BD/ref=sr_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1283276671&sr=1-1

Those are pretty good in-ceiling speakers. I actually bought a pair a little over a year ago (when $99 each) but had to return them because the builders put a j-box attached to the ceiling beams and if I removed them and cut-out a circular hole for the speakers, the grill wouldn't cover a portion of the rectangle left from the j-box. I'll get around to it eventually, but basically I have to remove the j-box, patch the hole, and then cut-out a new hole a little bit further back in the ceiling.

I guess they tend to be omni-directional, which wouldn't be ideal, and they'd be pointing down rather than toward the listener.

They won't be omni-directional, unless you actually buy a pair of omni-directional speakers such as Orb. Different people have different impressions on using in-ceiling for the surrounds (many threads in the past) but the main complaint is that in some instances it can sound weird because 'surround' info sounds like it is coming from above (which it is. )

I believe the Polks linked by AVRat also have aimable tweeters so that gives you some flexibility in where you want to point the sound. In my living room, the in-ceiling speakers would be almost directly above the seating position, so I wanted a pair with aimable tweeters to direct the sound slightly behind the listening position.

All in all, I think it would work out just fine. Perfect? No, but nothing ever is...