one new house, 4 sonos amps and how many ceiling speakers?

[mattg]

Hi all,
A good friend of mine is moving into a house in the next week or so and has around £1k to put towards to some ceiling speakers that will all be running off of 4 sonos amps he has left over from previous projects.

He has four zones to run with ceiling speakers
Bathroom (x2?) £200?
Bedroom 1 (x2?) £200?
Bedroom 2 (x2?) £200?
Kitchen and dining room (x2 or 4 from the same sonos amp?) £400?

The kitchen would but used at a variety of levels but the rooms upstairs more for background than out and out sound.

The rest of the rooms can be covered with his existing play speakers.

any suggestions?

thanks, Matt.

 

[PSM1]

I would be tempted to go for a single stereo ceiling speaker in the shower room at least and maybe even for the bedrooms if only going for background sound.
Monitor Audio do a good range of ceiling speakers so worth a look.

 

[mattg]

I would be tempted to go for a single stereo ceiling speaker in the shower room at least and maybe even for the bedrooms if only going for background sound.
Monitor Audio do a good range of ceiling speakers so worth a look.

Hi PSM1,
thanks for following up. I'll take a look. is there something to look for when comparing makes? most look to be 6.5" but it's not obvious where the extra £60 is for these two

Monitor Audio CT165 Ceiling Speakers - Weybridge Audio

Monitor Audio C265 6.5" Ceiling Speaker - Monitor Audio C265 - Weybridge Audio

 

[PSM1]

This was the single stereo speaker I was suggesting:

Monitor Audio CT165-T2 Stereo Ceiling Speaker - CT165T2 - Weybridge Audio

The bass cones are different between the 2 speakers and would suggest the one that is £60 more has a better quality driver in. This may give some gains on sound quality but I would say they would probably be minimal.

 

[mattg]

Thanks for that, Looks ideal for the bathroom. I've shared the link and he looks keen to move forward with that. He's also decided to drop the bedrooms in favour of doing the kitchen only.

the kitchen/diner is 6.25m long by 3.15m wide. Would you recommend 2 larger stereo speakers one for each room, maybe the:
Monitor Audio CT180-T2 8" Single Stereo Ceiling Speaker - CT180T2 - Weybridge Audio

or

better to get 4x speakers, 2 across each room to get a "better" sound coverage:
Monitor Audio C165 6.5" Ceiling Speakers - Monitor Audio C165 - Weybridge Audio
Monitor Audio C180 8" Trimless Ceiling Speakers - Monitor Audio C180 - Weybridge Audio
Monitor Audio CT265 ceiling speaker - Weybridge Audio
Monitor Audio CT265 ceiling speaker - Weybridge Audio
Monitor Audio CT280 ceiling speakers - CT280 - Weybridge Audio

My question I believe is what's the benefit of one stereo vs 2 pair - easier to fill out a room (volume/quality) or better stereo coverage as there's only so much you can do with two tweeters in the same speaker.

Edit:
Last question: are the 265's £100 better per pair than the 260's?

Thanks, MAtt.

 

[PSM1]

Ceiling speakers do not give a good stereo image anyway. I have 4 ceiling speakers in my kitchen which is the same rough size as the one you mention. If I was doing it again then I would get 2 stereo speakers instead. 4 speakers is really too much and makes the sound seem a little messy.

 

[BlueWizard]

I would suspect that the Sonos Connect:Amp (50w/ch) will have no trouble driving TWO speakers (a stereo pair). But I'm not sure how well it will drive FOUR speakers. So, I think two speakers in each location.

However while you can put two speakers in the bathroom, they do make special single speakers that will take Stereo Input. They typically have a transformer attached that mix stereo down into mono to drive the single speakers. These are specifically made for bathroom and other small spaces. I don't have a link, but any place that specialized in In-Wall/In-Ceiling Speakers should have this type of speaker.

The most difficult location would be the Kitchen/Dining area. Trying to get two speakers to cover that area is more difficult, but it will depend on the size of the door opening between the space. I suspect if this is a larger opening, two speakers in either location would be sufficient.

As in the Kitchen/Dining, where you place the speakers in the Bedroom will matter. For casual waking around listening, you probably want them more centrally placed. However if most of your listening will be while you are in bed, then you probably want the speaker more oriented toward the bed. It is likely a subtle difference, I'm simply saying give consideration to how the speakers will be most often used.

Steve/bluewizard

 

[mattg]

I hadn't thought about how they would connect. I can see from this video how both sonos amp L&R channels would plumb into the single stereo speaker:


Monitor Audio CT180-T2 8" Single Stereo Ceiling Speaker - CT180T2 - Weybridge Audio

so for the kitchen to run two stereo speakers from the same amp, you would need to split the left and right channel into both speakers.

Isn't it easier then, just to install a pair of mono ceiling speakers and just run one channel to each? How much would a splitter cost and would it need to be powered?

Thanks again
Matt.

 

[BlueWizard]

No, I don't think so, if I'm interpreting what you are saying correctly. The Single Stereo Speaker is used in locations where you want both channels of Stereo but only one speaker - the bathroom for example, which is typically a very small room.

But in the kitchen and bedrooms you likely want a standard pair of stereo speakers - one left/one right. The bathroom is a unique case.

Steve/bluewizard

 

[mattg]

OK, that makes sense.

so that would be this for bathroom + one sonos amp
Monitor Audio CT180-T2 8" Single Stereo Ceiling Speaker - CT180T2 - Weybridge Audio

then two lots of these and an amp to power each pair and zone management.
Monitor Audio CT280 ceiling speakers - CT280 - Weybridge Audio

the amp requirements on the 280's are 30-120w.

Q. Would the sonos be underpowered for them compared to the 265's at 20-75W's. I'm assuming the big difference is needing to drive an 8" cone over the 6.5, or is that only really a problem if was looking to drive the speakers hard / loud?

Edit:
last couple of questions:
Q. What does the 4" driver bring in real terms for the IDC model over the regular 280?
Q. for £1k would you spend any different to my proposal? I *only* went with monitor audio as that is what he has in his 5.1 set up and I hard to start researching somehere:

ct180-t2 (£170)
2xCT 289 (£740)
total: £910

Monitor Audio CT280-IDC Ceiling Speaker - CT280IDC - Weybridge Audio

 

[PSM1]

I think 4 speakers will be too much in that space. Getting a speaker selector switch and 2 stereo speakers would be the best option IMHO.

 

[BlueWizard]

I was just in chat with Cutomer Support at Sonos, according to them, it is possible for ONE Sonos Connect:Amp to drive FOUR 8 ohm speakers. So perhaps in the Kitchen/Dining area you could install Four speakers; two in the Kitchen and two in the Dining area.

Though it might be possible to put a Sonos Streaming Speaker in the kitchen where I suspect the music demands and room acoustics are not the best. But that is a decision for you to make.

Steve/bluewizard