Suggestions for Atmos ceiling speakers

My advice is only to consider the gallos ONLY IF aesthetics is super critical to u.

Cos the SQ is not that great compared to speakers at the same price point. But aesthetically, they are superb. I was a former gallo owner. The reason why i went for gallo was for aesthetics reasons, but at the trade-off of some sq for the same price point, which was ok as I needed my WAF to accept overhead speakers in the house first ha…

The higher range of gallo sounds better with better drivers and bigger volume, but with those price points, your options widen up a lot and there are better sounding speakers at that price point.

Not cheap! Its more expensive than many speakers :rofl: I think I found a few on Shopee for about 10% of that. Hopefully the speakers don’t fall off the ceiling :joy:

Ya the bracket too ex la. Ha

You can get similar ones from monoprice or tb at a fraction of the price.

You weren’t wrong. I have been freezing my butt off at -25C a few weeks ago in USA during the bomb cyclone. I just got back a few days ago.

Greetings Sam
IMHO, you will need to decide a few things:

  • sound vs aesthetics
  • budget
  • voice matching
  • full range / sats
  • amount of effort

If I read correctly, you have a hard ceiling, and won’t be installing a cove / false ceiling. But are you willing to cut into the ceiling, which I did for that photo. Then I buried my speaker cables in the ceiling.
You don’t need to do that, as you can see, there are fine example such as the neat work by others such as bro Cash and also bro Jag’s previous setup. Even trunking is fine, if it passes the WAF…

Speaking of bro Jag, he had almost full range speakers, and that is something that has been bandied about in the US AVS forum as the true answer. But IMO, separating the bass is ok, and I have not felt any deterioration of the sound as a result. But most small sats such as the Gallos only go down to 110Hz.
As bro foodie has mentioned, there are many other speakers you can choose. However the in ceilings will be awkward unless you use a box for them.
Bookshelf speakers make the most value for money alternative, BUT, to be able to give a point source sound, which is important, you either have a very large tall ceiling OR, use unidirection ‘full range’ cones, like the Gallos (which aren’t full range), or coaxial ones such as KEFs, which don’t use the traditional tweeter / woofer in separate locations. Will it make a difference? Well, I believe it matters if your ceiling is low, because of a phase difference. But YMMV, but do note that most in ceiling speakers adopt this coaxial arrangement.

Now if budget is no issue, you can go as high end as you wish, but most will not spend more than their mains. As for tonal matching, IMHO, due to the differences in mounting, the way our ears work, it matters less if the Atmos channels use other brand speakers.
More importantly, get sturdy mounts, that won’t vibrate, and IMO, stay away from ball and socket fixtures as they tend to get loose with time.

If you intend to use them in the living room then aesthetics and WAF may play a bigger role, and you will want to cut into the ceiling as I did. It’s costly, dusty and a lot of effort… trunking is far cheaper.

In my current setup, I have a false ceiling, but I have retained these Gallos. They do the job well enough. If they spoil, I’ll get some Dynaudio in ceiling ones with movable tweeters that allow me to point the tweeters at the listening position. This is important to get that surround feel and is recommended by Dolby.

Bro Desray has a whole thread on speaker position and the Atmos experience, and the relevant angles to get that right. It’s worth paying attention in the planning phase to get it right.

You have listened to my current setup before, and have seen how my current Atmos speakers are setup, so you know what I am using.

You also travel a lot to USA, so you can score some fine speakers at great prices. Just take note of these points and good luck with the search.

Cheers

Pete thanks for the long and detailed message and your well-considered points, which I will follow. I will also read Desray’s thread carefully. WAF isn’t an issue as the HT is in an attic like yours. I’m more concerned about speakers falling off their mounts when the 1,000W SVS does its thing!

Hehehe!! That’s why I still will always recommend the Yamaha brackets… hehehe!!
It’s so bloody sturdy… No joke…
But of course, it’s comes with a “Huge price tag”
Safety over cost…
Anyway, I did all the installation by myself…
Phew!! Hard work, but it paid off well.
Hehehe!!!

Wait till u see how customizable it can be…
Only then u will understand…

You used the words that were eluding me all night timbre matching

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Sammy, if u free, do come to my place for the demo…
Can bring as many bros along too…
My set up is in the hall…
Hehehe!!!
N maybe u can further refine my Sony 75" Z9D’s color specs too…
Hehehe!!!

See my openhouse thread …

Thanks. I’m disappearing from Singapore on Thursday until Feb. Perhaps after. The one you really want to get over is @Foodie He’s experienced in calibrating Sony TVs. I only know how to run the Artificial Intelligence in the LG version of Calman :rofl:

Will release the Yamaha bracket on the ceiling, to show u how customizable it can be…“Only one of course, hehehe!! Because, after that I got to get it aiming at the right position all over again”
Hehehehe

Release, not dismantle from the ceiling ah…
Hehehehe!!!

Cash, check this out
Calman for Sony

Looks like your Z9D may be supported. This program is for those of us who know little about calibration but can use an AI

Since you’ll be in USA, there are some out of the box solutions - pun intended:

  • KEF and other coaxial speakers are cheaper there
  • you can also buy in ceiling coaxial speakers, but get a box for them and then screw them onto the ceiling since WAF isn’t a concern
  • there are also other brands which resemble the Gallos, such as the Orbs, so shop around and you’ll find many bargains…
  • bookshelf speakers can work if you can get those with cones that are close by or you can fix the potential phase alignment issues…
    cheers

As an alternative, please check the following:

  1. Yamaha NSIC800WH 140W 2-Way RMS Ceiling Speakers
  2. Polk Audio RC80i 2-Way In-Ceiling/In-Wall Speakers
  3. Klipsch CDT-5650-C II In-Ceiling Speaker System
  4. Bose Virtually Invisible 791 In-Ceiling Speakers
  5. Definitive Technology IC6 6.5" In-Ceiling Speaker
  6. Klipsch CDT-5800-C II In-Ceiling Speaker System
  7. Definitive Technology UF8 In-Ceiling Speaker
  8. Bose Virtually Invisible 891 In-Ceiling Speakers
  9. JBL Control X In-Ceiling Speaker
  10. Sonos In-Ceiling by Sonance Speaker

Thanks to all for the suggestions.

In the end, I decided to timbre match the Atmos speakers with the mains and found some Wharfedale 8Audio home theater speakers on closeout with a similar tweeter and woofer design to my existing speakers. I listened to them in stereo and they are acceptable. Not as full range as the mains, but they bottom out at 75Hz, while my crossover is at 80Hz so I think should be ok. They aren’t tiny, but are as big as I would want to put on the ceiling.

Also bought a Sanus tilt and swivel speaker mount at 10% the price of @Cash mounts :wink: It’s made of plastic, but is rated for 3.6kg and my speakers are just 2kg. Super flexible with a smart design so I can easily re-position them later with just a hex key, if initial angle doesn’t sound right. The speakers had a key hole, which made mounting using the Sanus mount a cinch, although I did drill a small hole to double secure the speaker.

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Nice DIY Work done there.
Cheer"s!!

Cool… Let us know in a few months if that mount holds…