Question Ceiling speaker layout for extension

[Tom Guest]

Hi,

I'm in the process of going through the design phase of building an extension. I'm starting to think about sound system and could really do with some advice.

Diagrams below show the proposed plans. The blue area is the old building and has a flat ceiling. The green area is the extension and has a pitched ceiling. The red lines are where I might want to place a TV.

I'm thinking about going with some passive ceiling speakers connecting to an amp somewhere in the room that would have a sonos connect and a turntable connected (already own both). The TV would have a sonos soundbar (already own) so I could stream the TV sound through the ceiling speakers and also music through the soundbar.

I completely get that the sound quality isn't going to make an audiophile happy but would love to know what speaker configuration people would go with.

thanks in advance

 

[AmericanRodeo]

That is actually a little tough as where you may put them for general music listening isnt really right for TV watching.

If you positioned the TV in the extension, would it be in addition to the current location or instead of?
and would the soundbar move with it?

If you can give some pointers then happy to help more.

 

[Tom Guest]

Plan is to have the TV in the extension. After posting my original message I have had a read around and there are a lot of people saying ceiling speakers are not the way forward period. I'm therefore thinking that as an alternative I could get some floorstanding speakers next to the new TV and not use the soundbar and then have some bookshelf speakers in the dining room area. If I'm watching TV (mainly kids tv / sports etc) just use the floorstanders and if we are listening to music use both sets of speakers and forego any ceiling speakers.

 

[AmericanRodeo]

Again it depends on use-case.

If you are a music 'listener' and actually sit down to engage with it, then absolutely, but then you also getting into the fact your seating position is wrong for that if you have floor standers and lay the room out as it in the plans.

If you just want background audio, that sort of stays with you as you move around the space, then in-ceilings is absolutely the right solution.

Equally, there are some very good quality in-ceiling / in-walls that are at least on a par with floorstanders.

So again we are looking at how the space is going to be used.

Given the layout, you could have a hybrid, Floorstands in the extension & In-Ceilings above the Dining Room. But then you need to think about delays, if you are using a seperate amp with sonos as a source, and a Sonos box on its own, there will be a delay between the two as they will process at different speeds, expecially if you use Optical connections.

HTH.

 

[Paul7777x]

The simplest and best advice is to ignore ceiling speakers.

You could use floorstanders, or wall mounted speakers, or standmounts, or anything but ceiling speakers.

They always sound simply wrong.

You might consider these for instance.

DALI OBERON ON WALL (Black Ash)

Shop for Dali Oberon On Wall Black Ash Speakers Per Pair with Richer Sounds for a 6 Year Guarantee, expert advice and Lowest Prices Guaranteed

www.richersounds.com

They come in five finishes. They’ll wipe out ceiling speakers and soundboard alike.

 

[Tom Guest]

Again it depends on use-case.

If you are a music 'listener' and actually sit down to engage with it, then absolutely, but then you also getting into the fact your seating position is wrong for that if you have floor standers and lay the room out as it in the plans.

If you just want background audio, that sort of stays with you as you move around the space, then in-ceilings is absolutely the right solution.

Equally, there are some very good quality in-ceiling / in-walls that are at least on a par with floorstanders.

So again we are looking at how the space is going to be used.

Given the layout, you could have a hybrid, Floorstands in the extension & In-Ceilings above the Dining Room. But then you need to think about delays, if you are using a seperate amp with sonos as a source, and a Sonos box on its own, there will be a delay between the two as they will process at different speeds, expecially if you use Optical connections.

HTH.

Thanks for your help,

The speakers will all be driven from a single amp.

I completely get what you are saying about the room layout and the seating position not being correct for actively listening to music. Unfortunately I can imagine most of the time kids TV will be being played through them or as you say it will be ambient music playing in the whole space.

I have a pair of wharfedale 9.1 (you can see the level of hardware I'm buying) that I was thinking of having in the dining area (if I didn't use ceiling speakers) and thought about matching them with some Wharfedale floor standing speakers (e.g. Diamond 230).

 

[AmericanRodeo]

Ok, so my suggestion would be to look at Monitor Audio Radius range, they do some great looking On-Walls, which I think aesthetically they would look best in the type of open plan room you have designed and obviously provide minimal floor clutter as well.

Then you could use bookshelf's or in-ceiling for the dining area.

The only other challenge would be volume, with a single amp as you are obviously tied to the same volume across all speakers rather than have adjustment between the TV and Dining areas.

 

[Tom Guest]

Ok, so my suggestion would be to look at Monitor Audio Radius range, they do some great looking On-Walls, which I think aesthetically they would look best in the type of open plan room you have designed and obviously provide minimal floor clutter as well.

Then you could use bookshelf's or in-ceiling for the dining area.

The only other challenge would be volume, with a single amp as you are obviously tied to the same volume across all speakers rather than have adjustment between the TV and Dining areas.

I'll take a look - thanks again for your suggestions