The Importance of Directional speakers
In Ceiling speakers are an increasingly popular way to build home theater systems. They are the ultimate in discrete, but to get real performance out of them, a little thought and wisdom is required.
In Ceiling Vs. Traditional Speakers
In ceiling speakers make a couple of compromises that aren’t neccessary in floorstanding or bookshelf speakers. If performance is the only end goal, we always recommend traditional speakers. However, in ceiling speakers are far more discrete and with a little thought, the performance can come pretty close.
In ceiling speakers are typically designed to practically ignore all low frequencies (The Bass) so that your ceiling isn’t destroyed. This means that for home theater a suitable subwoofer is practically a requirement.
Directional Speakers?
Because in ceiling speakers are mounted high, a standard in ceiling speaker will create sound that appears to be coming from the sky. For home theater, where you want an immersive experience, this sounds plain weird.
Directional in ceiling speakers are designed to send the sound on an angle towards you, which creates the illusion that the sound is coming from the height of your display or television. We always install directional front speakers for in ceiling home theaters.
What about my rear speakers?
Because your front three speakers do pretty much all the heavy lifting (music, dialogue etc.) we can make a few more compromises with the rear speakers. Typically, we invest less money in the rears and directional speakers aren’t neccesary.
The Listening Post can help with all aspects of your home theater, from helping with the design, to supplying, installing and supporting any products you need. Have a look at our gallery of in ceiling installations for some inspiration.
