In-ceiling: Am I wasting my money?


Hi everyone:

Bought and moved into a new home. The builder has in-ceiling speakers installed in the living room. There are 5 speakers, but I have no interest in using them for HT -  just for music. They appear to be 8" Monoprice speakers, I have no additional details on them.

For the short term, I'm thinking of picking up a Sonos: Amp since I'm already invested in that ecosystem. I can use that to drive 4 of the speakers by hooking them up in parallel.

Now, here's the big question - I was toying with the idea of picking up a 200 watt/chan McIntosh integrated amp and replacing the Monoprice speakers with four higher quality in-ceiling speakers - perhaps something like the B&O 10" Celestial (BOC106) which are really made by Origin Acoustics (but with prettier covers).

So - am I wasting my money by doing this and I'm better off just sticking with the Sonos Amp and maybe upgrading (or keeping) the speakers to something better but not as expensive? Or... full speed ahead?

Note / extra info: Unfortunately, the layout of the room and the decor in it has ruled out a floor-standing or in-wall system... so I'm trying to keep this to an in-ceiling system. The living room ceiling is about 14' high and flat.

Thanks.
eisenb11
thecarpathian:  I'm surprised he hasn't yet.  He'd probably suggest removing the roof above the ceiling to create the prefect infinite baffle.
I just moved into a place with speakers in ceilings everywhere, and speaker wire to spots just in case I need more. Volume dials on the walls just to be even more obnoxious. I plan to ignore all of it.
Have you even listened to the Monoprices?

While certainly not state-of-the-art, they may be perfectly adequate for background listening.

I have heard some pretty nice custom installs using higher-end Sonance speakers and another with some older Kefs.

Best of luck.
Do what you want.
i have some speakers not recessed in ceiling, but in corners of my room mounted to the studs with rca’s as hookups. Sound fine for what they are, not every day is critical listening, I like background and some basic speakers will work well.

its nice to have light backgrou Nd tunes.  
  Not a waste. Plus you don’t need to spend a lot for music.
  Any average mountable pair will do.
ive had mine since we moved in about 1993-4 maybe, still sound good and look great. They fit in the room as they are all white and are not easily noticed on. The wall
Ceiling speakers are good for dolby Atmos and rear surrounds.  Have you considered the larger Magnepan On Wall speakers.  Two versions motorized and manual.  Fold flat to the wall when not in use.  Multiple color options for the covers.  I use a small Boston Accoustics in the ceiling for side surrounds and MTX 30 year old speakers in the ceiling for rear surrounds, my room is tiny 12w and 18 deep.  I may put some 12 or 15 woofers in the ceiling to augment my low bass swarm.  I installed car stereos from 1970 to 1990, ceilings are easy.  Made a dust tent for each speaker.