Who has input on ceiling mount speakers?

[Kai]

Hi all,
Merry Christmas and Festivus for the Restofus to you all.

My wife wants me to make my Paradigm Atom surrounds disappear. In place she wants ceiling mounts, wall mounts will not work, and has given me an open budget. She also didn't "side eye" me when I told her I wanted to buy my LG 50PC3D plasma 3 weeks ago so it is easy to say yes to her request.

I am a Paradigm fan but not locked in so a timbre matched speaker by a different manufacturer is fine.

I have read a bit about these on the Paradigm site and am leaning towards the AMS300 or AMS150R, for my living room, above the sofa, and a pair of these, PV 50R, for the bedroom, wife suggested this WOW.

http://www.paradigm.com/Website/SiteParadigmProduct/ParadigmModels/InWall/CS_Series.html

http://www.paradigm.com/Website/SiteParadigmProduct/ParadigmModels/InWall/AMSSeries/AMS_Specs.htm

What are your experiences, thoughts, suggestions and comments.
Thanks,
Kai

 

[racquetman]

I have a friend who was using ceiling mounted surround speakers but recently took them out in favor of towers. His speakers are all from the Klipsch reference line.

I brought a pair of bookshelf B&W speakers (602 s3's) over to his place and we switched back and forth between the ceiling speakers and the 602s. The ceiling speakers just didn't have the response in the midrange and the lower frequencies - he described the ceiling speakers as sounding "thin" compared to the 602s, which I think was a good descriptor. Like I said, he ended up buying a pair of RF-62s (which he put in the front), and he moved his RF-3s to the back for surrounds.

My friend likes to listen to his music in 5 channel stereo mode, and he was looking for a more even tonal balance from all the speakers. I can see why he wasn't completely happy with the ceiling speakers. They are definitely a compromise between sound and decor.

I guess the point is that you may have to sacrifice some sound quality if your setup is on par with my friend's setup. That is what I have found with my extremely limited dealings with ceiling surround speakers.

 

[AVRat]

I have the CS-60Rs in my office & bedroom and can say they offer excellent quality sound. I also recommend Def Techs and Polks as viable options.

BTW, sorry to hear you’ve a green Christmas, heard from my uncle this morning just west of Drum.

 

[emorphien]

I don't care for in-ceiling speakers because they sound like they're coming from the ceiling. I don't know how else to describe it, probably good for background music but I would never choose it for actual musical enjoyment or a home theater.

 

[Kai]

Thanks for the kind words.
It is 43 degrees F here right now AVRat and no snow in sight lol.
But still a very merry Christmas.

 

[Cavediver]

I have two of the AMS-150R's in my ceiling as surrounds. Because of the layout of my living room, I didn't have much of an option for wall mount surrounds. I've often had guests ask me where the rear surround sound was coming from since they couldn't see any speakers on the rear wall and there are no side walls. All are amazed when I point out the speakers in the ceiling to the sides of the sofa. They are mounted about 10" from the wall and about 18" on either side of the sofa. I rarely can tell the surround sound is coming from the ceiling. Most of the sound comes from the fronts and center channel.

 

[kgb540]

A model that I install in essentially all my whole-house systems is the Earthquake IQ series. Check them out, they are incredible for the price.

 

[Taskmaster]

At my wife's request I have all ceiling mounted speakers. I went with PolkAudio TC80i which is a 8 inch speaker. This speaker is at the ~$275 price point and they have a LC80i at a ~$399 price point. They also have several lower end models and smaller sizes. I like the way the woofer is slanted so it allows you to lots of options with positioning. The tweeter is also adjustable. I have them set up with a RX-V2500. The speakers have switches to adjust for wall distance and tweeter attenuation.

If my budget was bigger I would have did 5 LC80i but I have been very happy with the TC80i.

TC80i - 8 ohms
http://www.polkaudio.com/homeaudio/products/tc80i/

LC80i - 4 ohms
http://www.polkaudio.com/homeaudio/products/lci80/