In-ceiling Speaker questions

myke

So I moved into my new home and I was hoping some one here has installed some in-ceiling speakers and can offer some advice. Its for the living room (1st floor) and I'm considering insulation (spray or the simple kind at lowes) wondering if its helpful from an audible perspective as well as a echo'ing concern for the second floor room directly above.

I thought the amount of air running through the joist could lessen the quality of the sound (vs. an enclosure) and last night when I was going to bed I heard the tv slightly as I laid my head down (my head board is close to the wall and my bedroom is directly above the living room where the tv is).

My living room which is pre-wired for in-ceiling speakers will get some late night viewing, but no movies since that is going to be in the bonus room with my real gear.

Side-note....

The sub is pre-wired in the wall too.... and i've never seen or heard that before. Its in the front wall (tv wall) close to the corner of the room but the side wall only goes out four feet out before access to the kitchen begins. Any thoughts??

Thanks in advance

txcoastal1

http://www.dynamat.com/products_architectural_dynabox.html

I use these, speakers were installed a few days without but there was definitely improvement after installation. If you go this route do the speaker cut outs the stick them in a hot car so they flex better installing them.

myke

thanks tex, it looks good but some reviews still say the sound travels through the walls which is still concerning. After reading more i'm starting to think I should run these wires to the wall and try to make them into in-wall speakers (maybe that will reduce more traveling noise).

Syndil

In-wall speakers will sound better anyway. In-ceilings are OK for ambient music, but for TV watching or movies they are a huge compromise.

Both in-wall and in-ceiling speakers are designed to be free-air speakers and are not meant to be placed in an enclosure.

myke

Thx but I think in-ceiling is my only option as the living room is already pre wired and the walls are a few feet away from the wires so moving wires will force me to go through some joist and I'd rather not. Ambient music will beatbe 15% and tv will be the rest, movies are upstairs with my real gear. Any thoughts on Polk(not expensive ones) vs mono price ceiling speakers?

Syndil

Very happy with my Monoprice speakers. If I was in your situation, what I would do is buy a pair of Monoprice speakers and try them out as your mains. Then if I didn't like them, I'd move them to the surround channel and buy different speakers for the mains. They should still be fine for surrounds.

myke

Syndil, I noticed your signature says monoprice rc-65i......isnt that a polk speaker model?

myke

so i guess i was thinking of something similar too, but 2 pairs of the 15 degree angle, one for the center and two for the fronts. I would buy regular 8" in ceiling speakers for the rears.

Mike Kozak

I have proficient audio speakers installed (4) Kevlar cones , sound is fantastic though I was over charged for them.

myke

what kinda sub are you using mike? ever tried a in-wall sub? my house is prewired for one as mentioned above. Kinda surprised and also concerned given the openness on my living room and hard woods....makes me worry about how it will carry and fill the room

wingnut4772

Syndil wrote: »

In-wall speakers will sound better anyway. In-ceilings are OK for ambient music, but for TV watching or movies they are a huge compromise.

Both in-wall and in-ceiling speakers are designed to be free-air speakers and are not meant to be placed in an enclosure.

I have to disagree. I have in ceiling surrounds from Totem and in the beginning, I was absolutely dreading having to go in ceiling. They sound great. While In ceilings are not ideal but they don't have to be a huge compromise. My current HT incarnation is my best yet. The most common compliment I get is that the sound comes from everywhere and you can't tell where.

mufsoman

Myke - back when I had a couple of in-ceiling speakers I purchased some sheets of 2" thick fiberglass insulation that the local HD had prepackaged and cut the sheets such that they could be folded into a 5 sided box. I pushed these through the openning in the ceiling prior to installing the speakers and positioned them so the the open side of the box was face down. This created a sound chamber for the speaker. Worked great for echo control and sound creep to upstairs. Ideally, you would want a more robust box, but the soft fiberglass is great to push through the hole, then unfold vs. cutting drywall to install a rigid sound proof box.

Syndil

In-ceiling for surrounds are OK, but the OP is using them for everything. I think you will agree that using in-ceilings for your mains/center is going to be far less than ideal.

myke wrote: »

Syndil, I noticed your signature says monoprice rc-65i......isnt that a polk speaker model?

Yes, the Monoprice speakers share the same model number and look very similar to the Polks. There was a thread about this earlier which ruffled a few Polkie's feathers, as I dared to suggest that perhaps the Monoprice speakers were just as good or even better than the Polks, despite the far lower cost. A statement I still stand by, but I'm not getting into that again. I say that for the price of the Monoprice speakers, they are very low risk to give them a shot.

myke

Just for closure I thought i'd f/up with what I did. Bought 9' thick insulation rolls. Rolls b/c I could cut them better than batts and fold them to fi into the holes I cut. 2ft - 3ft sections folded down the middle really worked well when sliding them through the joist cavities and still left room for the speakers since the cavities were 11'. I purchased the monoprice 8' 15degree angle in ceiling speakers and a set of 8' for the rears. I still have to do the center and cant decide on cutting-in another in-ceiling speaker (8" w 15degree angle like the R/L) or a center to sit on my mantle (tv is closely above the fireplace mantle with little room for a center and there is no room for an in-wall speaker).

From playing around with the speakers I think it'll be descent in the end. Not ideal but still much better than a tv, but i am comparing it to my real setup now in the bonus room. The insulation has woorked very well, I even stuffed in extra during the instal to fill the cavity more, and around the speakers which I think helped extra. Overall, a rather cheap experiment that has worked out.