[Ace Deprave]

I'm in the process of remodeling a former formal living/dining area into a media room with bar, and am looking for some advice regarding surrounds to go with my Veracity STs and SCSC.

I was initially planning for Song Surrounds, but I've blown through more of my budget on the remodel than I expected. That along with the WAF has me, reluctantly, seeking affordable in-ceiling surrounds that will blend well with my Salks. I'm going to be using 4 of them in a 7.2 channel surround system. It's about 50/50 home theatre/music, and any critical music listening will be mostly 2 channel audio, so I'm not super concerned that they are timbre matched...but there will be times when I'm entertaining that I will have "all channel" audio playing, as 2 of the surrounds will be over the bar area.

I know that in-ceiling speakers will likely be disappointing, but it may be my only option. Does anyone have any experience or recommendations?

I'd also like any other inexpensive surround recommendations...after searching a bit, I know that some have used NHT Super Zeros, but I have read mixed reviews.

Thanks!

[milford3]

Ace, give a look at Axioms in wall M3V4's.


http://www.axiomaudio.com/m3-in-wall-speakers

[BobM]

Stay away from in ceilings if you can avoid it at all. They give you something of a rear soundstage, but nothing like what a real speaker will do.

[Russtafarian]

If you have the ceiling clearance, check out the Magnepan MMG-W speakers.  They are designed to mount vertically on walls.  I mount them horizontally on the ceiling and tilt them back so they beam to the listening area.  Kinda hard to explain, but they work really well like this.  At $400 a pair they provide a neutral, coherent presentation that blends with virtually any front speaker.

Russ

[drummermitchell]

I agree with BobM,
Don't even think of installing surrounds on the ceiling(it really sucks)when compared to ear level or a bit above.
I had Revel S-30's ceiling mounted just to give me more room(12x19x7).
I read a pc from Ethan Winer(RealTraps)where ceiling mounting surrounds was way back with prologic surround where in theaters it was used to open up the surround field.
The surrounds never did sound enveloping mounted to the ceiling and couldn't figure out WTF.
After reading Ethan's thread I tried the surrounds on stands and............Hello..Showtime,a HUGE difference in ENVELOPEMENT.
As the S-30's are more for ceiling mount and wall mount,they are a little low as the tweeter is a bit below ear level.
But what a major difference having them closer to ear level than ceiling mounted...............
I can sayImmersion is up by 70% and would be more if the S-30's were taller.

[Saturn94]

Dennis Murphy's Affordable Accuracy Monitors have received very positive feedback, and with his mods they should be voiced much like your Salks;

http://philharmonicaudio.com/folio-me/html/Phil%20Pages/AALS.html

[dB Cooper]

Dennis Murphy's Affordable Accuracy Monitors have received very positive feedback, and with his mods they should be voiced much like your Salks;

http://philharmonicaudio.com/folio-me/html/Phil%20Pages/AALS.html

Heard these at CAF and was floored at the performance for the dollar. They would make excellent surrounds.

[Ace Deprave]

Heard these at CAF and was floored at the performance for the dollar. They would make excellent surrounds.

Well, crap. I looked at Philharmonic's website, but there isn't a link to these from the main page. All I saw were the Philharmonitors.

I ended up ordering a set of the NHT SuperOne 2.1 and the Omnimount brackets. I don't know if they're better or worse than the Affordable Accuracy Monitors, but at least I was able to steer away from the in-ceiling choices.

Thanks for all of the replies!

[Saturn94]

Well, crap. I looked at Philharmonic's website, but there isn't a link to these from the main page. All I saw were the Philharmonitors.

I ended up ordering a set of the NHT SuperOne 2.1 and the Omnimount brackets. I don't know if they're better or worse than the Affordable Accuracy Monitors, but at least I was able to steer away from the in-ceiling choices.

Thanks for all of the replies!

My NHT SB1 bookshelf speakers worked very well with my HT2-TLs.  My NHT AudioCenter 2 center speaker worked very well with the HT2-TLs as well. 

I think you will be pleased with the NHTs.

[Ace Deprave]

My NHT SB1 bookshelf speakers worked very well with my HT2-TLs.  My NHT AudioCenter 2 center speaker worked very well with the HT2-TLs as well. 

I think you will be pleased with the NHTs.

That's good to hear!

Thanks!

[yetis]

Maybe Jim can start the "Atmos" collection, including some upward firing floor standing and and a collection of wall and ceiling mounted units.  Not sure one would want any level of customization for the wall and ceiling units, but it would be nice to have the units tuned to primary fronts.  One thing is for sure, the latest surround tech is speaker count crazy.  I for one think a good policy for speaker manufacturers will be to sell nice fronts but then also sell primed, but not painted sides and ceiling mounted speakers.  These would have covers on the drivers/connections that are ONLY removed once the speakers are positioned and painted in place.