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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
ebm
9,311 posts
 
Yes your throwing your money away in ceiling is good for elevators.
erik_squires
16,898 posts
 
4  x 8 Ohm speakers in parallel = 2 Ohms, so don't do that! :)

Yes, you are wasting your money with fancy amps. At most, consider something like a Parasound Zone master which will let you drive each and set the volume for each.
eisenb11 OP
33 posts
 
Thanks Erik, oops - just to clarify: Sonos' recommendation for 4x 8 Ohm speakers is to wire 2 each to each of the Amp terminals. So 2 speakers in parallel to the right and 2 in parallel to the left.

Sounds like the consensus is that that in-ceiling speakers are totally no-beuno (surprised because there are a bunch of $$$expensive$$$ ones out there!) for good music.

Unless I hear otherwise - sounds like best bet is to plunk the $500 on the Sonos and move on!
rocray's avatar
rocray
1,448 posts
 
I agree with the above posts. Background music,not serious listening,so why spend serious money?
erik_squires
16,898 posts
 
I'm not saying there aren't degrees of quality in in-wall or in-ceiling speakers, but given they are background music devices, investing in a boutique stereo amp is not going to serve you well.

Loudness or bass and treble controls though, may be ideal. :)
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