In Ceiling Sound System help for Oceanfront Home (possible corrosion issues) (1 Viewer)

[HawaiiR]

Hi everyone,

I was hoping to get some advice on in-ceiling speakers for my wife’s clients. She’s designing a house for them, and they’re about a month or so away from starting to do the rough-ins, so I’m hoping go sort out some options for them before that.

The speakers will be used mostly for background music, and casual listening, not a proper home theatre system or critical listening; that will take place in a different area. I think they generally listen to classical and jazz, if that makes any difference.

Here are some of their requirements:
2 rooms/zones: room 1 - approx. 300 sq ft; room 2 – approx. 400 sq ft.

1 area for receiver/amps/control zone

Wifi/Airplay/Bluetooth capability


They’re hoping to spend about $500 or so per speaker, but can be possibly be convinced to spend more. Their hesitation with spending more is that they’ll be right on the ocean front and are worried about salt water corrosion due to wind driven salt latent air. The install will be indoors, but It’s a naturally ventilated open air home that won’t have A/C. Also, humidity is quite high here in, often around 80%.


That said, do any of you have experience with and/or recommendations on the speaker brands I’m listing here

· Bowers & Wilkins

· Focal

· Martin Logan

· Dynaudio

· Definitive Technology


I’m currently looking at suggesting the above because 1) I’ve heard and like their floor standing models, and 2) where I live, we can at least listen to some of these – sadly Best Buy is the only option in town. I’m not a huge fan of Polk, and Klipsch hasn’t really impressed me much, so not considering those brands.


I’m thinking of recommending 8” speakers – any arguments for or against?
Given the size of the rooms, about how many speakers per room would you recommend?


Subwoofer – again, they want the system for casual listening, but I think a small 8” or 10” powered subwoofer in each room will help fill out the sound. I haven’t looked into this at all, so I’m open to thoughts and recommendations on this.

Receiver/amps -
Fairly open to suggestions on what to purchase here. Again, not trying to go super high end. They due want wireless/Bluetooth/airplay compatibility. I’m thinking a tuner/receiver with a dedicated amp for each zone/room would be what we should be doing, correct?

Wiring – What gauge is recommended? What about brands – again, I’m very concerned about salt corrosion. Are any brands better than others in regards to corrosion resistance?


Wall plates – suggestions?

Any/all recommendations and direction with this would be greatly appreciated! Thanks in advance!

 

[Dave Upton]

Hi Ramyt and welcome to HTF!

I would seriously look at KEF in-ceiling speakers. I evaluated nearly everything out there when putting Atmos into my theater, and went with the KEF CI series - which are truly impressive.

Receiver wise, Denon is a solid bet. They have excellent Airplay and multi-room capability, and are quite cost effective.

I would try to put as many subs as possible in the system, as open rooms quickly roll off bass, but again, you're not going to get impressive performance at that size unit, no matter what you choose. I would put more of the budget into better speakers like the KEF CI200RR-THX, my personal favorite.

 

[HawaiiR]

Thanks, Dave for the welcome and the tips.

I'll call our local Best Buy to see if they carry Kefs. Sad that it's pretty much the only store I can go to, but I'll have to make it work.

I was thinking about Denon as well, and I have a lower end model myself. I just checked their site, and the definitely have some really nice updated models.

What other receiver brands would you recommend, as a secondary option? I mean more from personal experience? I'm hearing Onkyo isn't so great anymore, but have you have any thoughts on Marantz, Pioneer, Yamaha?

Hi Ramyt and welcome to HTF!

I would seriously look at KEF in-ceiling speakers. I evaluated nearly everything out there when putting Atmos into my theater, and went with the KEF CI series - which are truly impressive.

Receiver wise, Denon is a solid bet. They have excellent Airplay and multi-room capability, and are quite cost effective.

I would try to put as many subs as possible in the system, as open rooms quickly roll off bass, but again, you're not going to get impressive performance at that size unit, no matter what you choose. I would put more of the budget into better speakers like the KEF CI200RR-THX, my personal favorite.

 

[Dave Upton]

Thanks, Dave for the welcome and the tips.

I'll call our local Best Buy to see if they carry Kefs. Sad that it's pretty much the only store I can go to, but I'll have to make it work.

I was thinking about Denon as well, and I have a lower end model myself. I just checked their site, and the definitely have some really nice updated models.

What other receiver brands would you recommend, as a secondary option? I mean more from personal experience? I'm hearing Onkyo isn't so great anymore, but have you have any thoughts on Marantz, Pioneer, Yamaha?

Marantz is Denon's upline brand (a la Lexus from a Toyota). They're great and I use one myself.

Otherwise, it really comes down to room correction. If you don't need the room correction functionality, Pioneer and Yamaha make great receivers quality wise - their room correction is just mediocre.