I have been 'surfing' the AVS forum (as well as other places) for thoughts/ideas on 2 pair of in ceiling speakers to be used primarily for music in my house. Since I have not found a solution to my problem after hours of searching, I thought I’d post my ‘opportunity’ in the hopes that someone could help me out (or at least give me some ‘stay away from that idea’ guidance)
A Bit of background
The wife factor required I remove a 5.x Paradigm solution prior to the start of a living room remodel project. (I have it installed in my home office so all is not lost
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) Compromise to no sound was some in ceiling speakers for music only.
Gear to put in place
New Pioneer 1122 receiver (wanted HDMI ARC and Airplay capability for a decent price)
LR Wall mounted (on brick) Sammy LED TV
Sammy Blue Ray Player
FIOS HD DVR
Here are my needs
Will be 'sending’ sound to three locations
Location 1 - Living room - Cathedral Ceiling, 14x20
Location 2 - Kitchen 8' flat ceiling, 15x15
Location 3 - Patio (already have Paradigm's installed and working)
Thinking I will use some sort of zone 2 line level switch for the Kitchen and Patio (Aton DLA2 or similar). Will run some analog connections from the Cable Box and DVD to the receiver so I can get around the HDMI to Zone 2 issue.
Challenges
I am the only one in the house that cares about HT or for that matter quality sound and I don’t have the option to install 5.x or 7.x. The best I can hope for is good 2.0 'everywhere', so the speakers I am looking for should be thought of as for music only since no ‘real’ HT sound will be used. Also lots of wife factor here – need to be as inconspicuous as possible – hint need thin bezel. Target price is 300 a pair (or less). Max is 400 a pair.
New ceiling (with new batt insulation) going in to the living room so the time is right to pull wire and install some new in ceiling speakers. Given the slope of the ceiling I was thinking that some sort of aimable unit may make sense (HTD R65AIM or Speakercraft AIM7 Two for example). Can’t go over 8’ – would prefer 6 or 7 if I can. This room is ‘hard’ so the ability to attenuate the bass/treble at the speaker seems like it should be important too but of course the tone adj of the receiver should be able to do this too if needed. I have looked (on the web) at Polk, Monoprice, DT (via Baja on ebay), Yamaha NS-IC600 and as time goes on all I do is get more confused.
So far I have listened to 6 pairs of speakers. From top to bottom 2 models of B&W (663 and 664) both sounded very good but are out of budget range. 2 Model s of Speakercraft (CRS6 One and Aim7 Two) – sounded pretty similar/good CRS6 is in budget AIM 7 just over budget. 5 and 6 are Klipsh 1650 (crisp mid and high but no low end) and Polk RC60 very ‘dull’ sound in general. The CRS6 One seemed like a good bet but it lacked any treble attenuation. The Aim7 caught my eye because the woofer could be oriented….but at 210 each I’m not sure it’s in my budget. I keep telling myself there is a killer 300 a pair speaker out there but I have yet to find it….
While I am at it I want to install 2 speakers in the kitchen – traditional flat ceiling so a good sounding (musical) speaker is all I need – Also want to stay at 6 or 7 in with minimal grill trim ring. So budget for speakers is 600 for 4 unless someone can make a good case for making a step up.
Sorry for the long winded story – but I take this seriously and did not want to leave out any relevant fact in case some kind soul takes pity on me and helps out….. and oh yeah I need to order them tomorrow. The ceiling comes down on Tuesday…..
A Bit of background
The wife factor required I remove a 5.x Paradigm solution prior to the start of a living room remodel project. (I have it installed in my home office so all is not lost
Gear to put in place
New Pioneer 1122 receiver (wanted HDMI ARC and Airplay capability for a decent price)
LR Wall mounted (on brick) Sammy LED TV
Sammy Blue Ray Player
FIOS HD DVR
Here are my needs
Will be 'sending’ sound to three locations
Location 1 - Living room - Cathedral Ceiling, 14x20
Location 2 - Kitchen 8' flat ceiling, 15x15
Location 3 - Patio (already have Paradigm's installed and working)
Thinking I will use some sort of zone 2 line level switch for the Kitchen and Patio (Aton DLA2 or similar). Will run some analog connections from the Cable Box and DVD to the receiver so I can get around the HDMI to Zone 2 issue.
Challenges
I am the only one in the house that cares about HT or for that matter quality sound and I don’t have the option to install 5.x or 7.x. The best I can hope for is good 2.0 'everywhere', so the speakers I am looking for should be thought of as for music only since no ‘real’ HT sound will be used. Also lots of wife factor here – need to be as inconspicuous as possible – hint need thin bezel. Target price is 300 a pair (or less). Max is 400 a pair.
New ceiling (with new batt insulation) going in to the living room so the time is right to pull wire and install some new in ceiling speakers. Given the slope of the ceiling I was thinking that some sort of aimable unit may make sense (HTD R65AIM or Speakercraft AIM7 Two for example). Can’t go over 8’ – would prefer 6 or 7 if I can. This room is ‘hard’ so the ability to attenuate the bass/treble at the speaker seems like it should be important too but of course the tone adj of the receiver should be able to do this too if needed. I have looked (on the web) at Polk, Monoprice, DT (via Baja on ebay), Yamaha NS-IC600 and as time goes on all I do is get more confused.
So far I have listened to 6 pairs of speakers. From top to bottom 2 models of B&W (663 and 664) both sounded very good but are out of budget range. 2 Model s of Speakercraft (CRS6 One and Aim7 Two) – sounded pretty similar/good CRS6 is in budget AIM 7 just over budget. 5 and 6 are Klipsh 1650 (crisp mid and high but no low end) and Polk RC60 very ‘dull’ sound in general. The CRS6 One seemed like a good bet but it lacked any treble attenuation. The Aim7 caught my eye because the woofer could be oriented….but at 210 each I’m not sure it’s in my budget. I keep telling myself there is a killer 300 a pair speaker out there but I have yet to find it….
While I am at it I want to install 2 speakers in the kitchen – traditional flat ceiling so a good sounding (musical) speaker is all I need – Also want to stay at 6 or 7 in with minimal grill trim ring. So budget for speakers is 600 for 4 unless someone can make a good case for making a step up.
Sorry for the long winded story – but I take this seriously and did not want to leave out any relevant fact in case some kind soul takes pity on me and helps out….. and oh yeah I need to order them tomorrow. The ceiling comes down on Tuesday…..
