In-ceiling speakers are speakers that instead of being sold with their own cabinet, as a normal speaker would, they are sold as a speaker in a frame. Then it is up to you to mount that frame in your ceiling. This presents many advantages over a normal speaker. Firstly, it is more elegant, since the speaker does not take space in your room, so your room will look nicer and cleaner. It’s a must for minimalist design rooms. Secondly, they sound better than other speakers with the same rating, since they are using your ceiling as a resonating cabinet instead of relaying on a small enclosure.
These speakers can be used in all scenarios you would normally use a stand alone speaker, be it stereo setups, ambient music, or home theatre scenarios. Some of these speakers are able to reproduce both the left and the right sound channels of a stereo input in the same speaker, so they are perfect for ambient music setups, such as a kitchen or a hallway. They are almost invisible since many of them have paintable grilles, so your friends will be puzzled and ask where the sound comes from.
A word of caution when using in-ceiling speakers for a surround sound setup. These speakers, even if they produce a deeper bass, are smaller, so they a subwoofer is a must in this scenario. Since the subwoofers are quite bulky and require a separate power source, they are usually not available for in-ceiling mounting, except from a select few manufacturers.
We have checked the internet for products with real world customer reviews and put together a list of in-ceiling speaker reviews for you to consider before committing for such a solution. Check below some of these speakers and choose yours.