Questions: 1. Can in ceiling or in-wall speakers be as good as bookshelves or towers? 2. If so, what are some good kinds to get? Polk, Klipsch, Bose (jk...take a deep breath tinman). Idea is to mount a in wall center right above or below the wall mounted flat panel. Then have fronts and rears mounted in ceiling. Budget can get in a couple of g's as I don't have to spend on a receiver or television right now.
1) Not unless the bookshelf speakers suck. But don't worry about it. If you're like 98% of humans, you won't care. 2) I've got generic HTD.com speakers in a 7.1 configuration. The center is a full-size center. The other 2 fronts are bookshelf speakers. The remaining surrounds are in-wall and in-ceiling. I listened to those and listened to Klipsch, Infinity, Sony, etc. at department stores. If there was a big difference, I couldn't tell. They may be better than HTD, but not for the price. I did splurge on my subwoofer a bit, though. AVSForum forums is your friend for research. You can read about how much Bose sucks there, too. lol. I wouldn't put the center out of phase with the other front speakers - there's potential for the sound to sound odd. I've seen someone do this and it didn't sound too bad, but you could tell the action sounds were coming "from above" and the voices were coming "from ahead".
Can they be as good? How picky are you? The average consumer is happy with the sound from a decent pair of in-wall speakers. The picky audiophiles are not. I've done my share of custom home install and have installed a lot of in-wall speakers. Many of them sound very good. Let me tell you right now, however, that putting your front mains in the ceiling is wasting whatever money you spent on them. That placement will have a FAR greater effect on the sound than the 'quality' of the speaker you buy. You might as well get a set of cheapies if you're just going to put them in the ceiling and aim them at the floor, because you're only going to hear reflections of the sound from the floor and walls. Tweeters are directional, and you want those tweeters aimed at your ears or as close as you can. If you're picky about sound, and you're going to put the center under/over the tv anyway, then install the front mains to either side of the tv, with the tweeters located at whatever height your ears will be in the listening position (probably seated.) Same thing for that center channel; in surround sound movie situations, the center carries most of the weight. If the spouse (if you have one) objects to how it looks to have the in-walls there, offer to paint the frame and grille the same color as the wall. (Spousal Acceptance Factor or SAF is a major factor in home audio design. No kidding.) I can't count how many times a designer wouldn't allow us to install (very expensive) in-wall speakers at an optimal height for listening, because they didn't like the look. It was infuriating. I remember doing a supposed "high-end" theater with the front mains almost up by the ceiling. That's just blasphemous. But IN the ceiling? Not worth it, IMO. Might as well use the speakers in the TV. Many in-walls come with tweeters that are in a special housing that allows you to point them in off-axis directions. If you are forced to put your speakers in a non ideal spot, get those movable tweeters so you can try to aim them at your ears in the listening spot.
Spring for some nice floor standers or bookshelf speakers for your fronts. In a 7.1, the sides and rears can be in wall and it doesn't really matter what brand. In fact, the high end monoprice model would probably do just fine. http://www.monoprice.com/products/p...=10837&cs_id=1083703&p_id=4929&seq=1&format=2 For the fronts, center and sub, I think Polk is a great value. You can snag stuff on eBay for way cheap. Polk sells their refurb and closeout stuff on there. Seller ID is PolkDirect. If you're looking for cheaper than that, TheSpeakerCompany.com is supposed to be pretty good. EDIT: Apparently The Speaker Company has ceased operations.
Hmm.... After reading the responses in this thread and doing a little bit or research on AVS, it seems as if in-ceiling is not a good idea. I am no audiophile, but don't want to waste money on a setup either. Now am leaning towards standard towers and center in the front and then ceiling mounted rears. There is no way I get floor standing rears. Still debating between in wall center and fronts vs. floorstandings.
Nice. The reason is that why the hell would you want speakers there? Movies? No Music? Wow nice sound stage. Just mount all three on a wall. Get three nice book shelf speakers you like and hang them on the wall at the same height. These are pretty good. http://www.amazon.com/JBL-L820-Wall-Mountable-Bookshelf-Loudspeakers/dp/B000FYZ9XO but you have to buy them in pairs.
Ceiling mounted rears will probably be about the same as in-wall. Just not the right place for the rears to be but if your room/spouse dictates that then there isn't much of an alternative.
These wall mounts will fit almost any bookshelf speaker. Three bookshelf at the same height for L/C/R is awesome.
