Ceiling speakers for living room

[noobwithaquestion]

Hi all,

Sorry in advance for what might be a bunch of silly questions.

I'm installing a false ceiling in my living room/dining room and would like to install some ceiling speakers.

The living room is rectangular in shape about 7m long by 4.5 meters wide. On one end, we have the TV and the sofa on opposite walls (hence, about 4.5m apart). Then, on the other end, we have the dining area with a table that runs perpendicular to the sofa.

I'm in two minds between installing 2 or 4 speakers. My partner and I aren't audiophiles, but would like to have better sound quality than what we can get from the TV alone (The TV is a 5-year-old LG C9) or from our Alexa speaker (which we use for music).

We are thinking about spending max €500 (buying in Portugal).

On one hand, we thought about installing 4 speakers pointing at the sofa, but then we were worried if the quality is bad if sitting at the dibing table and wanting to hear some ambient music. On the other hand, we thought we could have two speakers pointing at the sofa and two at the dining area, but were wondering if we will have some wierd sound artifacts because we would have the right channel speaker of the dining table close to the left channel of the sofa area.

Looking for suggestions on how to solve the above as well as suggestions for the right speakers to install given our budget. One thing to note is that the false ceiling is a total of 7cm from the wall, so it will likely have to be a low profile speaker.

 

[Mr Peabody]

Hi all,

Sorry in advance for what might be a bunch of silly questions.

I'm installing a false ceiling in my living room/dining room and would like to install some ceiling speakers.

The living room is rectangular in shape about 7m long by 4.5 meters wide. On one end, we have the TV and the sofa on opposite walls (hence, about 4.5m apart). Then, on the other end, we have the dining area with a table that runs perpendicular to the sofa.

I'm in two minds between installing 2 or 4 speakers. My partner and I aren't audiophiles, but would like to have better sound quality than what we can get from the TV alone (The TV is a 5-year-old LG C9) or from our Alexa speaker (which we use for music).

We are thinking about spending max €500 (buying in Portugal).

On one hand, we thought about installing 4 speakers pointing at the sofa, but then we were worried if the quality is bad if sitting at the dibing table and wanting to hear some ambient music. On the other hand, we thought we could have two speakers pointing at the sofa and two at the dining area, but were wondering if we will have some wierd sound artifacts because we would have the right channel speaker of the dining table close to the left channel of the sofa area.

Looking for suggestions on how to solve the above as well as suggestions for the right speakers to install given our budget. One thing to note is that the false ceiling is a total of 7cm from the wall, so it will likely have to be a low profile speaker.

You would be better off addressing the two areas separately. Sounds like you are on a budget, maybe a sound bar for the TV to help when on the sofa. For dining perhaps a wireless set of speakers, Audio Engine, Edifier for budget.

If you are talking about a drop ceiling that would seem problematic for ceiling speakers, rattling etc. In addition you mentioned space.

Another option might be something like the Bluesound streaming amplifier by the TV, either narrow speakers beside the TV or in-wall. Then add the Bluesound network speakers for the dining area. Other brands may have similar I'm just familiar with the Bluesound. For a budget in-wall and for TV viewing I'd look at Klipsch. You'd have an app for streaming which is built into the integrated amplifier then the same app would operate the speakers in the dining room.

Either a soundbar or speakers by the TV would emanate the sound toward you which I feel would be much better than from over your head somewhere.

If your heart was set on in-ceiling I use something like Niles speakers and a four channel amp that can be mono. That's the only way in ceiling would sound right at both places, mono.

 

[noobwithaquestion]

I would like to avoid subwoofers or speakers by the team. The TV will be wall mounted and the wife wants as clean of a look as possible. Hence the idea to ceiling mount speakers.

Pity regarding ceiling mounted would need to be mono. If I were to just have over the sofa, will the sound be terrible over the dining table?

 

[Bones13]

Depends on the room, and what you can manage for the ceiling mounted speakers. I think it would be possible to have a set of 4 speakers above the TV area, and use them for front and rear speakers, perhaps using the TV for center channel. This probably would sound good enough for ambient music at the dining area.

Not everyone needs a 5.1 surround system to watch TV. TV watching in mono works fine too.

What type of amplifier are you wanting to use? And it has to go somewhere too. That’s why so many people mount a sound bar to the wall under the TV. Many TVs have a matching sound bar.

I appreciate your issues though. Getting any TV mounting in a location that’s not specifically pre-wired for power, cable, Ethernet, and speaker cables to wall/ceiling speakers can be quite a headache, as the expectation is always the TV, cleanly on the wall, with no wires visible, and inconspicuous speakers, yet have immersive sound, and perfect remote control functionality.

 

[Mr Peabody]

I would like to avoid subwoofers or speakers by the team. The TV will be wall mounted and the wife wants as clean of a look as possible. Hence the idea to ceiling mount speakers.

Pity regarding ceiling mounted would need to be mono. If I were to just have over the sofa, will the sound be terrible over the dining table?

There are soundbars with no subwoofers.

You realize the speakers can't be hooked up directly to the TV?

In one of my rooms I have a TV on the wall and put in-wall speakers on either side. I used a center channel as well on mine with a home theater receiver.

If you used ceiling speakers for TV it should sound alright in the dining room just for background music. You won't get sound stage, of course, but the sound should be alright.

If your wife agrees I encourage in-wall opposed to in-ceiling. It would seem odd to me watching TV with the sound coming from above head. They may be out of your budget Monitor Audio even has in-wall that look like pictures. No matter brand the grills come in many colors to match walls.

There are amplifiers you could hide away that turn on automatically when a signal is sensed.