Hi all, I'm looking for a bit of help selecting speakers. My great room is about 15 X 27 including the open dining room behind it with a 12' ceiling. The house was prewired for all in ceiling speakers but I will use bookshelves and a center channel in the front. What is a decent low to moderate priced in ceiling for surrounds and rears? ANY suggestions will be helpful.

you might start your search with Parts Express...their Dayton brand in-ceiling units are quite good for the money. Make sure the unit you choose has an "aim-able" tweeter so you can attempt to target the listening area...otherwise an in-ceiling unit is just firing towards the floor.

http://www.partsexpress.com/webpage.cfm?webpage_id=3&CAT_ID=43&ObjectGroup_ID=379

for your large area, I would recommend 8" units and definately no smaller than 6 1/2" units.

Is there anything in Canada anyone can recommend?

Instead of in the ceiling, what about mounted on the ceiling? A much better speaker can be used.

It will look like shite. Gotta have WAF, but want decent sound. It is our main living room and not a dedicated room.

The Mirage Omnican's might make nice in-ceiling surrounds.

http://www.amazon.com/Mirage-OMNICAN-6-In-ceiling-speaker/dp/B000FBPH3O

that looks good, but would 5 1/2" enclosed be big enough for my space? Would it be ok to use for surrounds and rears in a 7.1 setup?

Not sure...I haven't heard the Omnican's myself.

I have Sonance in-ceilings for surrounds in a 5.1. They sound good, and certainly meet the aesthetics of the room, but they have a tendency to call attention to themselves a bit--i.e. sometimes it's easy to pick out where the rear sound is coming from.

If I were doing it over now, I would put in the Omnicans. I'm assuming they would provide a more diffuse and enveloping surround sound.

You're better off going with in-wall surrounds over in-ceiling in terms of positioning but if that isn't an option and it was my living room, I'd go for the Mirage's.

it is definitely not an option, but thanks foir the advice. here is a pic of the room so you guys can see what I am dealing with.

TRIAD (http://www.triadspeakers.com/)

Is there anything in Canada anyone can recommend?Several Canadian speaker manufacturers. Not sure who makes in-ceilings or not. Paradigm does (I think).

Don't think Triad's in my price range, see post 1

they don't have to be canadian made, just available here as shipping can be pricy.

Nice place....

I am considering either ORB or A_Gallo for in-ceiling speakers. Just not sure which ones just yet.

what bookshelf's and center are you going to use?...just curious.

I have Niles Audio 8" in-ceilings for my surrounds and my in-ceilings throughout the house. The tweeters are aimable which allows them to be aimed towards the primary seating area. Niles makes 6", 7", 8" & 9" in-ceilings. I also use their intellipads, IR recievers and other components and have never had a problem with any of their products.
http://www.nilesaudio.com/product_detail.php?recordID=Ceiling%20Mount%20Loudspeakers&categoryID=Speakers&catcdID=1

Try to keep them 18" or so away from the walls, and it's preferable to install them into an enclosure in the attic or crawl space, although for surrounds that's not as critical as it primarily serves to tighten up the bass.

Sonance also makes good in-ceilings.

I'm using the Mirage Omnican 6 for side and rear surrounds. VERY pleased with them.
Also, keep in mind that you may need speakers that have an enclosure, or back box. I have attic space above that has a thick layer of blown-in insulation. The Omnicans have an integrated back box.

I haven't picked out the bookshelfs or center yet. Using Bose cubes right now , but they are going ( not soon enough) What would compliment the omnicans?

It will look like shite. Gotta have WAF, but want decent sound. It is our main living room and not a dedicated room.

There are just too many posts lately with men living in the the shadow of fear known as "WAF", to the point that "WAF" has seemingly become a perfectly acceptable and reasonable term in discussions between grown men in HT forums now.

Howsabout we start talking about MAF - MAN ACCEPTANCE FACTOR?

That's what I practice. It's MAF that built my media server and is building my new HT in the living room now. I realize it's OT, but I've read "WAF" in too many posts today.

I haven't picked out the bookshelfs or center yet. Using Bose cubes right now , but they are going ( not soon enough) What would compliment the omnicans?

I wouldn't worry too much about matching your L/C/R's with the Omnicans or whatever in-ceiling surrounds you go with.

From your picture, I'm assuming that the L/C/R speakers are going to go into the built-in shelves, yes? If so, I would look at speakers that have some sort of boundary compensation.

with that size and type of room should I bother with 7.1 or should I just run a 5.1 set up?

it is definitely not an option, but thanks foir the advice. here is a pic of the room so you guys can see what I am dealing with.
Your space looks great... nice and neat and tidy and I'm sure your WAF keeps it that way. I'll bet you even have a beautiful view out those large, expansive windows. That's a really cool space, and I'm sure the envy of many.

However it totally sucks from an acoustics perspective. You'll never achieve high quality sound in that room.... waaaay too many reflective surfaces.... glass, hard walls, stone, wood floors... waaaaay too much echo and reverb to allow you to even begin to hear the speakers.... and the listening position is all wrong.

There is no point in buying better speakers. Stick with your Bose cubes. You won't improve your sound much by spending mega-$$$ on speakers. The only thing you'll hear is your room.

Do you have a basement?

Craig

PS. See my signature:

The Triad OmniRound6 is quite affordable and sounds good in surround configs as well as whole-house audio systems. They are always on the list for recommendation to our clients.

Another great sounding in-ceiling speaker is the Polk Audio LC60i. Just did a system today with them. Turned out quite nice.

that picture was from when it was a showhome, it just showed the room better. here is what it looks like now.

P.s. there is a dedicated room in the basement , but my mother in law lives down there.

P.s. there is a dedicated room in the basement , but my mother in law lives down there.

Ouch! :D

that picture was from when it was a showhome, it just showed the room better. here is what it looks like now.

P.s. there is a dedicated room in the basement , but my mother in law lives down there.
Well that's a little better with the cushy furniture and the area rug, but you'll still have lots of reflections and echo's. You might want to check out the "Official" High WAF Acoustical Treatments thread:
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=14260553#post14260553
Also, the listening position looks to be improved.

The Mirage Omnicans are a good option if in-ceiling speakers are required. They have good dispersion and they're enclosed. I have two friends who use those speakers, one in an HT as you're considering, and another in a distributed audio system for music. They sound decent in both installations. I am not a big fan of the overhead imaging, but that can be said about any in-ceiling installation.

In terms of 7.1 vs. 5.1, you should only consider 7.1 if the rear speakers can be placed behind the primary listening position. If they are directly overhead or only slightly behind, the "effect" won't be compelling and there will be very limited extra effect. Here is the Dolby recommendation:
http://www.dolby.com/consumer/home_entertainment/roomlayout2.html

Good luck. (BTW, your best option is to kick the mother-in-law out and put a dedicated room in the basement!):D:D:D

Craig