Attached is picture of my setup pre-wire in new home, Best Buy did it. The home is complete. I'm considering going with AIM8 3's for all seven speakers (can't really afford the AIM8 5's even though I hear great praise). Already bought a Definitive Supercube I (good deal on it).

I am concerned that the three ceiling fronts/center speakers will not angle enough to aim at the couch area in front of the TV (XBR2 70") where we sit. Can't move couch closer as TV screen is too large. Also as you can see the room is open to the kitchen/dinning nook area. The TV room is 20' by 17.3'.

I've heard AIM8's will pack the most power for this type of setup, but if the front speakers cannot be aimed properly that concerns me. I'm new to this and honestly don't know much.

Would very much appreciate any feedback on the entire setup (sub/speakers, etc).

Oh not sure if it matters but receiver probably going with Denon 2807.

From your image, the seating, speakers, and television positions are all wrong. :eek:

Your television needs to be on the wall with the optional door.

Or the wall with the windows. But it looks like the screen wouldn't fit on that wall?

Seriously? Buy a pair of bookshelf speakers and set them next to your TV for all the performance you'll get out of your system is done. Never let BB wire your house. They clearly don't know what they're doing. That's a shame because you could do really well with 5 bookshelf speakers and a sub at ear level. You're wasting your money with inceilings, even good ones. Forget the wiring you have and let it there. Maybe use a pair of rear inceilings if you have no choice.

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=836674

My opinion...

at the very least your front speakers should NOT be in the ceiling. Really, ceiling speakers ,even for the surrounds, will not provide good imaging.

As far as how you have the room laid out, I think it's fine. Make sure to get some curtains on those windows though.

Good luck.

Your sides should be directly to the side of the main seating area, the rears closer together. If you want in-ceilings, the sides and rears are where you can get away with them. For the fronts and center, I'd strongly consider on-walls. If the positions are fixed. stick whatever speakers will fit in the holes: quality will not be very important as the positioning will determine the ultimate (bad) sound quality.

From your image, the seating, speakers, and television positions are all wrong. :eek:

Your television needs to be on the wall with the optional door.

Or the wall with the windows. But it looks like the screen wouldn't fit on that wall?

Haha oh no, well would rather know than be oblivious!

The TV can't really fit well anywhere else due to size (barely would fit on optional door wall, as there is a door there, would be tight), also my wife (and I) like being able to see it while in the kitchen or from the nook dinning area. :(

If I moved the TV now, I'd think that would completely mess up the existing 7.1 speaker layout unless I was prepared to somehow move the pre-wire locations which I believe would be difficult as there is no attic, 2 story home.

Is it wrong because the sound would be aimed out of the room instead of aimed at one of the walls?

I saw your setup Mazer, very nice, I'm also in FL (central).

Assuming I do not move anything (my wife would probably kill me, and it would be trouble with the speaker layout) how can I best minimize the troubles.

My opinion...

As far as how you have the room laid out, I think it's fine. Make sure to get some curtains on those windows though.

Good luck.

It's fine if he doesn't use the pre-wired positions.

I saw your setup Mazer, very nice, I'm also in FL (central).

.

Feel free to come over, and listen to my system. PM me and we can set up a time.

I have a big get together going on next month. See here

http://forums.soundandvisionmag.com/audiovideo/board/message?board.id=37&thread.id=154897

Hey ciner,

Sorry, I was just looking over your sketch again, and just seen the blue dot inside the black television. http://www.hometheatershack.com/forums/images/smilies/duh.gif What a meatball I am. http://www.hometheatershack.com/forums/images/smilies/whew.gif

That is your center speaker position. Your television and seating is fine then. Again I'm sorry I didn't see the dot. I only seen the 6 dots on the side walls.

I am concerned that the three ceiling fronts/center speakers will not angle enough to aim at the couch area in front of the TV (XBR2 70") where we sit. Can't move couch closer as TV screen is too large. Also as you can see the room is open to the kitchen/dinning nook area. The TV room is 20' by 17.3'.

I've heard AIM8's will pack the most power for this type of setup, but if the front speakers cannot be aimed properly that concerns me. I'm new to this and honestly don't know much.

.

Going with 3 AIM8 Three's for the mains will be OK. You should have no problem Aiming them at your seating position.

For the sides, and rear surrounds you could go with AIM8 Three's also. Or the new AIM8 Wide Three's.

http://www.speakercraft.com/#Products:409:AIM%20Wide%20Three

Going with 3 AIM8 Three's for the mains will be OK. You should have no problem Aiming them at your seating position. ]

You mean Aiming™, I think.

No, Ciner, look, do yourself a HUGE favor and buy a nice pair of $200/pr or greater bookshelf speakers and you will get better sound than any inceiling for HT. Get a nice center. Get the "rear" speakers along the side walls behind the couch facing each other.

BTW, tweeters that aim do almost no good in an inceiling. It's largely gimmickry designed to sell product to people who don't know any better. But that's what mass market companies do.

If you HAVE to get inceilings, get Triads. They actually sound good, but still won't give you the same experience as ear level stuff.

Also:

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=832939&page=1&pp=30

If you put a stereo bookshelf near your TV, you'll quickly realize how bad inceilings are. Worst place to put HT speakers ever.

You mean Aiming™, I think.

No, Ciner, look, do yourself a HUGE favor and buy a nice pair of $200/pr or greater bookshelf speakers and you will get better sound than any inceiling for HT. Get a nice center. Get the "rear" speakers along the side walls behind the couch facing each other.

BTW, tweeters that aim do almost no good in an inceiling. It's largely gimmickry designed to sell product to people who don't know any better. But that's what mass market companies do.

If you HAVE to get inceilings, get Triads. They actually sound good, but still won't give you the same experience as ear level stuff.

Wow I agree with half of what you say. http://www.hometheatershack.com/forums/images/smilies/clap.gif

Tweeter only aiming. Right no good.

Triad I agree.

But again, I don't agree with you basically saying in-ceiling don't sound good. With the right speakers, gear, and proper calibration he will get excellent performance from -in-ceilings.

AIM8 Three's and the Denon receiver. Nice Rig.

But again, I don't agree with you basically saying in-ceiling don't sound good. With the right speakers, gear, and proper calibration he will get excellent performance from -in-ceilings.

I know, but "excellent" performance is reserved for proper setup. Decent performance considering the bad positioning? Maybe. The inceilings would sound better in the wall. But not as good as a good $200-$300/pr bookshelf. Not even close, really. Inceiling speakers give you less and often cost more to do it. It's just reality, I can't change that.

I'll tell you what - meet me at the Rocky Mountain Audio Festival and you set up Speakercraft Aims in a ceiling and I'll set up some affordable Eras or NHTs or PSBs and we'll see how it shakes out with the crowd.

No one should do any inceilings in an HT system unless it is *absolutely* the only way *and* 2-channel is out of the question. IOW, almost never.

Tweeter only aiming. Right no good. .

Aiming a 2" midrange also does more bad than good. By design, it would be extremely wide dispersion and it's not in a low diffraction baffle or any position where aiming would help at all even if it did work. Still gimmicky. Aiming a 6" midrange might help in some circumstances. The Triads make more sense how they're designed, especially with their absorbent foam, integrated cabinet, etc. Still puts them in the *wrong* place.

Note that movie theaters have no inceiling speakers even though that would create good coverage. There is a call for a ceiling speaker for special "over head" effects, but that's it.

I really appreciate all the feedback. Believe me whenever I go through this process again I'll probably just plan to stick with bookshelf speakers and save myself some trouble. I'm giving up sound quality by going with in ceiling speakers for my setup, but it just makes more sense to me as they will all look the same up there and also already pre-wired spots in the ceiling. I do realize that the sound would be better though with bookshelves in the front at least but it's all about compromises at this point.

I think I'll probably go with AIM8 three's all around as it looks like the AIM Wide 3's are a little more expensive.

The AIM Wide 3's, are they "more" ideal for say 2 speakers in a large room and you want the sound to go as far around the room as possible??

I also have an off subject question. I just spent the last 2 hours taking the plates off all the Best Buy pre-wire locations and I'm concerned they did not leave me nearly enough wire to go from the plate behind the TV to my receiver. Can I buy some extra speaker wire and just create a little extension by wiring it in or is that going to hurt the quality of the sound going to the speakers?

Thank you again for all the responses!

Aiming a 2" midrange also does more bad than good. By design, it would be extremely wide dispersion and it's not in a low diffraction baffle or any position where aiming would help at all even if it did work. Still gimmicky. Aiming a 6" midrange might help in some circumstances. The Triads make more sense how they're designed, especially with their absorbent foam, integrated cabinet, etc. Still puts them in the *wrong* place.

Note that movie theaters have no inceiling speakers even though that would create good coverage. There is a call for a ceiling speaker for special "over head" effects, but that's it.

Triad's have angled baffle (AIM) that direct the front channel sound to the listener. You can't adjust them like Speakercrafts.

And I agree that a small driver no matter what kind of speaker isn't going to sound as good as a larger driver in a proper enclosure. That is why I recommend the AIM8's over the 7's and 6's.

Triad's have sealed enclosures, most other in-ceilings do not.

I really appreciate all the feedback. Believe me whenever I go through this process again I'll probably just plan to stick with bookshelf speakers and save myself some trouble. I'm giving up sound quality by going with in ceiling speakers for my setup, but it just makes more sense to me as they will all look the same up there and also already pre-wired spots in the ceiling. I do realize that the sound would be better though with bookshelves in the front at least but it's all about compromises at this point.

I think I'll probably go with AIM8 three's all around as it looks like the AIM Wide 3's are a little more expensive.

The AIM Wide 3's, are they "more" ideal for say 2 speakers in a large room and you want the sound to go as far around the room as possible??

I also have an off subject question. I just spent the last 2 hours taking the plates off all the Best Buy pre-wire locations and I'm concerned they did not leave me nearly enough wire to go from the plate behind the TV to my receiver. Can I buy some extra speaker wire and just create a little extension by wiring it in or is that going to hurt the quality of the sound going to the speakers?

Thank you again for all the responses!

AIM Wide Three's retail in-between $900-$999. A little more then the AIM8 Three's.

And with the AIM8 Three's your not giving up sound quality. Have you auditioned them yet? They sound excellent. http://www.hometheatershack.com/forums/images/smilies/dancebanana.gif

ANd the Denon AVR 2807 (Audyssey MultEQ Auto EQ Setup System) will help with your room. I said help, not cure.

I've only heard the AIM8 1's at Best Buy actually. They didn't have anything else as far as AIM8's went to listen to.

I thought the AIM8 1's sounded pretty great though so perhaps my expectations are low (which could help me out, haha). The sound seemed to go down though, and not at the chair which they had in the middle of the room - I'm not sure if they did not have them aimed or if even with the AIM8's that can be "aimed" your going to get more straight downward sound instead of in the direction it's aimed. I should have asked them to take the cover off to see if they were aimed.



Any idea about this newbie question?

"I also have an off subject question. I just spent the last 2 hours taking the plates off all the Best Buy pre-wire locations and I'm concerned they did not leave me nearly enough wire to go from the plate behind the TV to my receiver. Can I buy some extra speaker wire and just create a little extension by wiring it in or is that going to hurt the quality of the sound going to the speakers?"

Never let BB wire your house. They clearly don't know what they're doing. That's a shame because you could do really well with 5 bookshelf speakers and a sub at ear level. You're wasting your money with inceilings, even good ones. Forget the wiring you have and let it there. Maybe use a pair of rear inceilings if you have no choice.

He already had BB wire his house. Can you read? Giving advice like this does nothing but push more of your condescending, elitist attitude regarding home theater on people who are just looking for help. Jackass.

You offer nothing constructive, only your ridiculously transparent adjenda (insulting people's decisions, so you can feel like an expert) disguised as advice. Just go away already.
I thought the AIM8 1's sounded pretty great though so perhaps my expectations are low (which could help me out, haha).
^^Read this and absorb it Alimentallretard. Your detatchment from the reality of the marketplace is astounding.


Anyway-

ciner, yes, the Wides were designed for max dispersion of sound in larger rooms and as diffuse rear surrounds.

After this is all said and done, you will be more than happy with your AIM8 system. I promise. Regardless of what others say, they do in fact sound great for in-ceilings.
Is there better ways it could have been done, sure, but not really worth spending time discussing at this point unless you plan on gutting the room.

You can splice the wires, (it doesn't sound like you have many other options) or better yet, see if they will come out and do it for you since you paid them to wire the room and it's their fault they didn't leave you with adequate wiring. It isn't going to effect the sound quality of this system.

You can splice the wires, (it doesn't sound like you have many other options) or better yet, see if they will come out and do it for you since you paid them to wire the room and it's their fault they didn't leave you with adequate wiring. It isn't going to effect the sound quality of this system.

I would make BB come out and rewire without any splices.

"I also have an off subject question. I just spent the last 2 hours taking the plates off all the Best Buy pre-wire locations and I'm concerned they did not leave me nearly enough wire to go from the plate behind the TV to my receiver. Can I buy some extra speaker wire and just create a little extension by wiring it in or is that going to hurt the quality of the sound going to the speakers?"

Yes, you can splice it, most easily by putting a wall plate with jacks on it there. What did they do for the ceiling? Single gang boxes? Or is there a hole for the speaker?

He already had BB wire his house. Can you read? Giving advice like this does nothing but push more of your condescending, elitist attitude regarding home theater on people who are just looking for help. Jackass.


Well, Max, you certainly seem to have a lot in common with Best Buy.

BTW, the advice not to get wired by BB (or CC) was for everyone else.

"go from the plate behind the TV to my receiver" - Where is the receiver? If it's near the TV, could you just ignore the pre-wiring for the front 3 and run new wiring? You could get a seriously nice set of floorstanders and center to go with that TV. Or wall mount. They don't have to be huge to put out a lot of sound.

Also, FWIW depending on which way the joists run, it might not be that big a deal to move the wiring locations, if you really wanted to.

ciner, if you haven't read something like this you might want to, even if you make no changes it will help you understand how to get the best sound out of whatever you end up with:

http://forum.ecoustics.com/bbs/messages/34579/129023.html

P.S. ciner, as you might have guessed there's really a continuation of another conversation or two from earlier discussions going on in your thread, stuff that isn't necessarily related to your situation, so try to filter a little to get useful info for your situation.

Max and mazer, thank you both for the responses.

I'm going to call Best Buy or the builder of the home and see what is said. Getting frustrated quickly with Best Buy's setup.

You won't believe it but also when I was taking the pre-wire covers off I noticed something else. I had two rooms (the master upstairs and the patio outside) pre-wired as well for 2 speakers each. Behind the patio's volume control plate I found 2 wires going to the speakers but I did not find the 2 wires coming from the receiver area. So it looks like they may have forgotten to wires from the receiver to the patio volume control, sigh. I picture my living room torn up. There are also 2 speaker wires missing from my count in the receiver area pre-wire plate. :(

ALSO for the master bedroom 2 speaker pre-wire they wired a purple cable with two sections, one (bigger) section has 4 wires inside and the other smaller section of the cable has 8 tiny wires inside. This purple cable goes to my master bedroom volume control, and then from there it is regular speaker wire to the two speakers in the room. What the hell does that mean haha? Do I need special speakers or a special volume control?

Thank you again guys

Yes, you can splice it, most easily by putting a wall plate with jacks on it there. What did they do for the ceiling? Single gang boxes? Or is there a hole for the speaker?

Nice! I like the idea of a wall plate with jacks on it, clean look instead of all sorts of cables coming out of the wall.

From what I can remember (when under construction) and what I can make out now it looks like they put orange boxes the size of electrical outlet boxes to each of the 7 pre-wire spots, then they cut a rectangular hole (the size of the orange box) and then covered it with a white circular plate. So assuming I do go with the AIM8's the hole would have to be cut larger and the orange box removed. Not sure why they put the orange box there, maybe for hanging satellites or something?

"go from the plate behind the TV to my receiver" - Where is the receiver? If it's near the TV, could you just ignore the pre-wiring for the front 3 and run new wiring? You could get a seriously nice set of floorstanders and center to go with that TV. Or wall mount. They don't have to be huge to put out a lot of sound.

Yah, it's an option for sure as the receiver is right with the TV. I could just buy some more powerful floor standings/center and it would improve the quality of sound overall more than AIM8's seems to be the overall consensus of what people are saying. But at this point I don't think my wife would let me ignore the pre-wire as she loves the idea of them all tucked away in the ceiling. If I had it to do again I'd just not bother with the pre-wire probably and go with some nice bookshelves but whats done is done. :(

You won't believe it but also when I was taking the pre-wire covers off I noticed something else. I had two rooms (the master upstairs and the patio outside) pre-wired as well for 2 speakers each. Behind the patio's volume control plate I found 2 wires going to the speakers but I did not find the 2 wires coming from the receiver area. So it looks like they may have forgotten to wires from the receiver to the patio volume control, sigh. I picture my living room torn up. There are also 2 speaker wires missing from my count in the receiver area pre-wire plate. :(

One good way of fixing this is to get a Sonos system which is also wireless. www.sonos.com Then attach the Sonos module to the place where the patio's plate is. Or drop the wire down the wall (make them do at at a minimum or refund you money or something) and then put the Sonos unit there instead of at the main system. Works great.

If you start to wonder that BB isn't earning a speaker sale, go look at NHT, PSB, Paradigm, Energy, etc and you'll find nice inceiling made by companies that care about sound quality. NHT's iC2 or iC3 would be a great choice and save you money without costing you quality. Probably better, actually. They are wide dispersion designs, rather than Aimed™ at you, so it doesn't matter where you sit, you're always in the sweetspot. Better than a targeted design because you might not be in that position. Though, I'd still do stereo bookshelf speakers over any number of inceiling speakers. But the smaller NHTs are only $300/pr retail and sound fantastic for an inceiling.

http://nhthifi.com/2006/images/products/prod_large/ic3.jpg




ALSO for the master bedroom 2 speaker pre-wire they wired a purple cable with two sections, one (bigger) section has 4 wires inside and the other smaller section of the cable has 8 tiny wires inside. This purple cable goes to my master bedroom volume control, and then from there it is regular speaker wire to the two speakers in the room. What the hell does that mean haha? Do I need special speakers or a special volume control?

This sounds like Cat5 with 4 conductor. This would be for volume controls that need power or a touchpad. We don't use that cable as we keep them separate, but that's what it sounds like.

From what I can remember (when under construction) and what I can make out now it looks like they put orange boxes the size of electrical outlet boxes to each of the 7 pre-wire spots, then they cut a rectangular hole (the size of the orange box) and then covered it with a white circular plate. So assuming I do go with the AIM8's the hole would have to be cut larger and the orange box removed. Not sure why they put the orange box there, maybe for hanging satellites or something?

If they did it like I think they did, when you pull out the boxes (use a reciprocating saw to cut the nails), you may find that the box is up against a beam. If so, you'll have patch work to do if you use round speakers. Using square speakers is an option if that is the case, to avoid the patching process.

I have some cinema 330's l/c/r and paradigm in-ceilings for the rear and they sound incredible. The rears are the only thing I thought I could get away with.

One good way of fixing this is to get a Sonos system which is also wireless. www.sonos.com Then attach the Sonos module to the place where the patio's plate is. Or drop the wire down the wall (make them do at at a minimum or refund you money or something) and then put the Sonos unit there instead of at the main system. Works great.

Yes, well they already wired the speakers to the volume control it looks, just missing the receiver wires I think... Sonos looks interesting, I was planning to go with 2 Atrium 45's out on the Patio, I suppose I could still, but they'd suffer some quality loss being driven by a wireless 50W amp wouldn't they? I'd heard previously wireless speakers can be bad as the quality isn't great and interference can be a problem. But I guess you are recommending them as an easy solution instead of ripping out my living room walls? Quality loss or ripping out walls... hard question :)

http://www.triadspeakers.com/products/icm8lcr.html

P.S. ciner, as you might have guessed there's really a continuation of another conversation or two from earlier discussions going on in your thread, stuff that isn't necessarily related to your situation, so try to filter a little to get useful info for your situation.

LOL http://www.hometheatershack.com/forums/images/smilies/mooooh.gif

Yes, well they already wired the speakers to the volume control it looks, just missing the receiver wires I think... Sonos looks interesting, I was planning to go with 2 Atrium 45's out on the Patio, I suppose I could still, but they'd suffer some quality loss being driven by a wireless 50W amp wouldn't they? I'd heard previously wireless speakers can be bad as the quality isn't great and interference can be a problem. But I guess you are recommending them as an easy solution instead of ripping out my living room walls? Quality loss or ripping out walls... hard question :)

Actually, no, the Sonos is a lossless digital system. We did a system Friday that solved a whole lot of problems because we wired about 8 modules in the closet, but we were also able to add music to 4 or 5 other areas where there were no wires or the wires were not back to the closet. Sonos doesn't care if its wired or wireless for the most part. Makes life really easy for us and does wonders for the customer. By the time we had the system even partly running, the lady of the home was in love with it.

What about some nice designer (and great sounding) speakers like Era? Or, you could always put in one pair of speakers in the rear position, a pair of nice bookshelf speakers up front, put them on A and B and switch back and forth for your wife and see if *she* doesn't end up wanting the bookshelf speakers.

I'll tell you two things about women that will help you.

1. Most women automatically go for the good looking solution and *assume* that there's no difference in quality. Or they *assume* that guys just want it their way because they're guys. But they will often flip with good information or the ability to listen for themselves.

2. Women inherently distrust their husband's qualifications to make any decision, therefore, they just want it their way to be safe. However, they will often listen intently to a professional that explains why things need to be a particular way. IOW, she may not listen to you, but she will likely listen to a professional that gives her the same exact advice. Funny how that works......

One good way of fixing this is to get a Sonos system which is also wireless. www.sonos.com



Houston we have a first. A recommendation for "Wireless". http://www.hometheatershack.com/forums/images/smilies/raped.gif

http://www.mansat.org/Mission%20Control%20JSC.jpg

Best buy from what I understand doesn't wire your house. It's like Sears putting on your roof. They sub it out to another co that knows how to do it at cost...to you. I believe the subcontractor can or does a fair job???

That's why it's generally not a good idea to use them. They make most of the money, hire out someone for the least amount possible, keep you from being in direct contact for the most part from the guy doing the work, etc, etc.

CC keeps calling us, but we won't work for them on their terms. We're too busy anyway.

Best buy from what I understand doesn't wire your house. It's like Sears putting on your roof. They sub it out to another co that knows how to do it at cost...to you. I believe the subcontractor can or does a fair job???

Dunno, you could be right but pretty sure the fellow who wired it was driving a Best Buy van. Best Buy is doing a lot of low voltage wiring things in the neighborhood so I see the vans all over, though they could be doing security system or something and not speakers... doubt it though.

Well, Max, you certainly seem to have a lot in common with Best Buy.
Lol, how do you figure? Because I happen to carry Speakercraft along with the numerous other lines I carry? Or is it because, unlike you, I have no problem doing installations that might not be perfect for the audiophile, since not everyone's lifestyle revolves 100% around sound quality? I don't even do retail sales. All custom. I would say I am the exact opposite of a chain electronics store.

Good deduction though.
BTW, the advice not to get wired by BB (or CC) was for everyone else.
Sure it was, and knowing that the op had his wiring done from them, choosing this thread to educate "everyone else" about it serves little purpose other than insulting the person that was actually asking for advice. Which was my point.


2. Women inherently distrust their husband's qualifications to make any decision, therefore, they just want it their way to be safe. However, they will often listen intently to a professional that explains why things need to be a particular way. IOW, she may not listen to you, but she will likely listen to a professional that gives her the same exact advice. Funny how that works......

The only women that really think this way are the ones that have morons for husbands. I can understand why you would have this opinion, it's probably how your wife treats you. Again I'm going out on a limb to assume you have a wife. Putz.

No reason to argue, certainly not over my thread... I appreciate all the responses and expected a little condescension anyways as I'm coming to experts with very basic questions. :o

Pretty much decided on AIM8 3's for all 7 speakers in Living Room, just don't want to go back now that the ceiling pre-wire is in, etc and the AIM8's seem like they will be the most powerful within my budget. Trying to decide between NHT ic4's or the AIM Wide 1's (since they are close in price) for a 2 speaker ceiling pre-wire room. Have any experience with both of those? I was considering the AIM Wide 3's but they are going to run me twice the price of the 1's and can't imagine that much of a sound quality difference for a 2 speaker room. The 2 speakers in the room will just be for music of course.

Looks like the ic4's have 1 woofer and 3 tweeters, and the AIM Wide's have 2 woofers and 2 tweeters - but what that actually means and how it would make one sound better overall I have no clue. I do like that both have wide sound dispersion so I can get the sound everywhere.

Lol, how do you figure?......

Not even worth a serious reply.......

Looks like the ic4's have 1 woofer and 3 tweeters, and the AIM Wide's have 2 woofers and 2 tweeters - but what that actually means and how it would make one sound better overall I have no clue. I do like that both have wide sound dispersion so I can get the sound everywhere.

All I can say is that the iC4s are great speakers for in-ceiling speakers and our best selling model because of the solid bass and great overall sound.

Not even worth a serious reply.......

You have no reply. It's ok.

ciner- congrats, you'll love the AIM8s.