Atmos: In-Ceiling vs Ceiling Mounted

In-ceiling speakers look nice and blend into your ceiling well, so why would one opt for a mounted ceiling speaker?

Enclosed Height Speaker Pros

Better mid-bass performance

This is because most in-ceiling speakers are open-backed and once mounted in a wall, it will not create the amount of bass an enclosed design would. Even enclosed in-ceiling speaker designs may prioritize a shallow enclosure over an optimal enclosure.

Increased dynamics

Enclosed speaker designs, in particular our HDF enclosures, allow for a more rigid and inert “container” around the woofer. This reduces vibrations and resonances allowing the speaker to produce a cleaner sound throughout the frequency spectrum. The result is more detail reaching your ears and an overall higher fidelity experience.

Higher SPL

In-ceiling speakers tend to bleed sound due to their mostly open-back designs. Our 1961 and 1723 Height speakers are designed to maximize their cavity and have no sonic leakage. Thus you get all the sound emanating from the woofer/tweeter and it is easier for your heights to keep up with the larger bed-channel speakers.

Easier to position and reposition

Perfect positioning is a game of trial and error. It is very rare to get the optimal speaker position on the first try. Later, if the main listening position must change for some reason, all speaker locations should be adjusted for optimal sound. Ceiling mounted speakers are much easier to relocate.