Because my wife is making me, I plan on installing recessed lighting in the ceiling of my home theater. (I will build boxes around each light, though.) I'm searching for a shallow 5 or 6 inch recessed light, and the prices seem to be dramatically different. For instance, this 6 inch, IC, AT light:

http://www.lightinguniverse.com/LineVoltage/-inch-Airtight-Shallow-Housing_3030365.html

is $44/each. Meanwhile, this 6 inch, IC, AT light:

http://www.usalight.com/rx-106sicat-c-112-p-1-pr-1312.html

is about $11/each, or one-quarter the cost! I plan on using 12 lights, so that would be a savings of $400.

What gives? What makes one recessed light four times as expensive as another?

[One difference is that the $44 place includes shipping, whereas the $11 place does not. Real cost including shipping: $528 ($44 lights, free shipping) versus $160.35 ($11 place, including shipping). It's still a $367 difference!]

I bought one of these for a sample: http://www.1000bulbs.com/LED-Ceiling-Lights/38754/ and am totally satisfied with the apparent quality. (It might not be as shallow as you want though, but my point is that an $8 fixture can be completely fine quality.)

I'd never pay $45 for a simple new construction fixture. That's more thhan what I paid for a box of 6 remodel fixtures last week at HD.

Why do you need shallow? The IC rated can can go close to the floor above it.

I would go with the cheap 6" IC contractor pack, then spend the $$ on nice baffle/trim.

I got 17 ICrated 4" line voltage can lights and all my black baffles from http://www.usalight.com ... no complaints from me or my electrician. :)

Most of the cost difference between recessed lights comes down to the number of units sold. H7ICT and IC22 are sold in massive quantities, and as a result are cheaper.

fewer people buy 4" cans, so they cost more.

even fewer than that buy 3", and the price reflects that.

As long as the housing is made by one of the big boys (READ HALO or JUNO), the quality is virtually the same across the range. You will pay more for exotic trim finishes (oil rubbed bronze etc...) as well as mr16 compatability, but unless you just want to throw away money on IRIS level recessed lighting (cnc'd trims etc.), it might as well be the same product from a quality standpoint.

rob

Why do you need shallow? The IC rated can can go close to the floor above it.

I would go with the cheap 6" IC contractor pack, then spend the $$ on nice baffle/trim.


I need shallow because the floor joists are 2x8s, and I plan on installing boxes around the recessed lights. Now, I am going to lower the boxes and their lights to align with the track for RSIC clips, so I should get some additional space above the lights. Even with that though, even if the top of the box is only an inch thick, a 6 inch shallow can would give me a total of seven inches. That should be enough to fit with a little room to spare. Any larger than this, and I'm afraid it won't fit.

Thanks for all the help. I had previously ordered low voltage, 4 inch recessed lights from USA Light and am perfectly happy with them. When I started doing research for this project, though, I couldn't understand the large difference in prices between what appear to be very similar recessed lights.

I happened to use Progress brand Air tight IC cans in my build and the things are built like a tank, each one easily weighs 3x what the HD Contractor special can weighs. They were pricey, put I think I was paying by the pound. I found a Electrical supply house that gave me contractor prices since I was using 35 fixtures for my basement. It was cheaper than HD price (but it was special order at HD) I went with Air Tight at the time because I thought it would help in taming the sound. In hind sight I should have built boxes.


the square ones with model numbers ending with AT here:

http://progresslighting.com/products.aspx?Category=67

Something that intrigued me at the time were another of their housings that came with a layer of drywall installed to give them a fire stop rating. I didn't use but I did give it a thought.

http://progresslighting.com/ProdImages/200/P85_FB.jpg

I imagine it wouldn't take much to make them "sound proof" You could even add another layer with GG.

Thanks. That is an interesting idea, to have the can drywalled.