CCM818/817 instead of 805S for surrounds?

[HedgeHog]

Hi folks,

While I'm planning the order, it occurred to me that maybe I should consider nice in-ceiling speakers to fulfill the rear surround duties. My space is not that huge and the location for the rears isn't so ideal to have a bookshelf speaker on a stand.

Anyone with any experience/comments regarding the compatibility in sound of a set of CCM818/817 to go with 802D/HTM2D as fronts?

TIA. Cheers.

-Hedwig

[htsteve]

Hedwig,

I can't comment on the in ceiling speakers. Generally, the big issue is the securing of the in wall speaker. I believe that B&W has good install kits/boxes for their in walls. My overall concern is system integration. I also have 802D's and an HTM2D up front. I just upgraded to 804S's for the rears. The system integration is wonderful. I realize that 805S's may not be ideal, but they would be a sonic match with the fronts. You can experiment with toeing them in and adjusting the SPL's. I had much the same issue years ago. It ended up working quite well with bookshelf rears.



Hope this helps.

[ninja12]

I have CCM817 for my surrounds, and I enjoy them very much. I was very skeptical at first abou them. But, I have a very strangely shaped room and in order to get my surrounds closer to my listening positions, I had to go with in ceiling speakers. I have B&W 803S and HTM3S for my fronts and center. When the sound pans, the CCM817 blends very nicely with my mains and center. I really can't tell exactly where the sound is coming from. I just hear it which is a very good thing. I hope this helped. Good luck.

[HedgeHog]

htsteve: thx for the comments. I still may pursue the 805S route but as I originally mentioned, the placement of them will not be as ideal as I had hoped. So what I was trying to gauge was whether the ceiling mounts would be a close 2nd.


ninja12: that's sound great (no pun intended ). Couple of question...Did you compare the 817 to the 818 prior to deciding and did you have to get a mounting plate or is the ceiling gyproc strong enough? Thx again.

[ninja12]

htsteve: thx for the comments. I still may pursue the 805S route but as I originally mentioned, the placement of them will not be as ideal as I had hoped. So what I was trying to gauge was whether the ceiling mounts would be a close 2nd.


ninja12: that's sound great (no pun intended ). Couple of question...Did you compare the 817 to the 818 prior to deciding and did you have to get a mounting plate or is the ceiling gyproc strong enough? Thx again.

No, I didn't compare the 817 to the 818 prior to my purchase. Actually, I has the CWM DS8. On the day I was doing the install, I discovered a beam running behind my wall where I was going to mount the speaker. Unfortunately, since my room is so oddly shaped, that was the only place I could properly put the DS8. Anyway, I like the fact that the 817 doesn't fire the sound directly down to the floor. Instead, it throws it out into the listening area. I didn't have to do anything extra when I mounting them into my ceiling. My ceiling is sheetrock connected to studs.