Flush Ceiling Speakers

Wireless speakers would require regular battery replacement or charging. If you are custom building, wires can be embedded into the construction project.

You should investigate “invisible” speakers. I recommend avoiding the cheap models. In my opinion they are trash. There are high end models that are quite good. Properly installed, you’d need to probe the walls, inch by inch, in order to discover the speakers. Unfortunately, it will be difficult to find a showroom that demonstrates this type of speaker because they cannot be simply stood on the floor or placed on a shelf.

Have you considered flush-mount wall speakers? I’d think the improved sound would be worth convincing the spouse that they aren’t that bad. The Sonos/Sonance ones aren’t bad but there lots of options.

Nice shopping site with good info, you might get better prices elsewhere.

In-wall as well as some in-wall subs.

https://www.crutchfield.com/g_12600/In-wall-Speakers.html?&pg=2

Ceiling mounts

https://www.crutchfield.com/g_101500/In-ceiling-Speakers.html

Hi

I’ve read what @buzz and @Stanley_4 have mentioned. Sound advice. However, you won’t be able to maintain a Sonos connection (i.e. grouping etc) without a compatible Sonos product. You would still need Sonos in-ceiling speakers by Sonance powered by a Sonos Amp.  In short Sonos is a closed environment. Therefore, I’m not sure what alternative you are looking for.

Note: Sonance sells their own brand of in-ceiling speakers which are not optimized to work with a Sonos Amp. Learn more about Sonos In-ceiling speakers by Sonance at this Link

The Amp will support non-Sonos speakers, but as said, with lesser capabilities. TruePlay will not be  available and Sonos only supports two speakers per channel on non-Sonos/Sonance speakers. Everything else should work the same.

If the Sonos/Sonance ones will work they are the way to go but if they are too small for your space there are larger options available, but again with the restrictions noted.

If you are really building a dedicated media room I would personally not use in ceiling or in wall speakers. To me they are always the second best option soundwise. I can understand that you would not want to see any speakers in a living room (though in my case they do not bother me much, nor do they bother my wife much), but in a dedicated media room sound quality goes first - maybe even to the extent not using Sonos except for a Port to connect your dedicated home cinema system to the rest of your Sonos stuff.

Just to be clear…my comment was not to say that you could not use 3rd party speakers with the Sonos amp. My impression from your post and some of the comments made by others was that you were trying to avoid using a Sonos Amp period in your new construction. 

AjTrek - I am 99% sure to be going with Sonos Amp and probably Sonance ceiling speakers.

I would have preferred wireless in-ceiling speaker (to avoid cost of Amp) but others have stated there is no such option.

I can almost guarantee Sonos will release a wireless, in-ceiling speaker, probably two days after I have ordered and paid for my kit   :-)

Thanks very much for the great links - food for thought but I need to find a UK equivalent store.

The ceiling speakers will be primarily used as a stereo pair to provide TV surround sound (with Beam or Arc)

You state the in ceilings wil be used “as a stereo pair to provide TV surround sound (with Beam or Arc)”. In Sonos terms speakers are either set up as a stereo pair or bonded as surrounds to a Sonos soundbar. When bonded as surrounds and set to “Full” they wil play stereo with the soundbar - kind of double stereo.

Hi

Ha..Ha...Ha…

I know all this great Sonos terminology about stereo pair, bonding as surrounds and grouping can be confusing. Even if one knows the difference when posting in the community if one does not use the terms correctly (and/or uses them interchangeably) members reading the post are going to ask for clarification 😂. Sometimes the asking (by members) and re-clarifying (by the poster) can get to be a bit exhausting. Sonos needs a glossary of terms and in some cases a thesauruses to weed through the word jungle. 😂

Suffice it to say that speakers in the Sonos world when used as surrounds cannot be accessed as a stand-alone stereo pair the same as speaker pairs that are not part of a home theater.

Yes, I wasn't clear. Basically, I want to recreate a similar experience as my other room (soundbar plus two rear play:1) but with ceiling speakers acting as the rear surround pair this time.

Thanks

That being the case you’ll need a Sonos amp to power the in-ceiling speakers as surround rears. 

Important Note: Using in-ceiling speakers as rear surrounds is very unforgiving in relationship to the seating position. Once everything is set (seating wise) you might as well nail (anchor) the seating to the floor. 😂 Movement forward or backward can distort there surround affect. Left to right movement (while not recommended) is less critical but can still throw off the surround effect. 

Honestly, rear in-wall rears as surrounds are a better choice to eliminate the need for speaker stands or some other support system. Even the positioning on surrounds on a tasteful sofa table might be an option for better flexibility as shown below.

Please run out and buy an expensive set of headphones, I’ve been hoping Sonos would make some for years! :-)

Hi @AndyMac1965 

Welcome to the Sonos Community!

An alternative to having “invisible” speakers is having speakers that don’t look like speakers - have you considered IKEA’s Lamp or Picture Frame speakers instead?  A pair of either would bond to your Beam for surround audio.

I also do not recommend the use of in-ceiling speakers for surround audio.

I hope this helps.

Thanks all for the considered replies.

I have spoken to a Sonos partner and ordered (and received) my new kit.

1x Arc

1x Sub-mini

1x Amp

2x in-ceiling 3rd party speakers (non-Sonos - Kef Ci160QR).

I get the points about ‘nailing the furniture down’ …… in theory it pretty much will be as the new room layout dictates that the placing is pretty much permanent.

Thanks again.