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Although other companies have made headway in starting to break into their space, I think everyone would still agree that Bose is still viewed by the general public as the King of Sound. They seemed to come out of virtually nowhere back in the 90's, when they first hit the scene in a big, big way. They are one of many great speaker companies who hail from the Boston and Cambridge, Massachusetts, area, this being due to the fact of such great schools like MIT and Harvard being anchored there. In fact, I believe it is still true to this day that all MIT students get a generous discount on all their Bose speakers because the founder went to school there.
Anyway, I digress. Here we are going to take a look at Bose' offering of ceiling speakers, and we will ask the question: is Bose still king? Are they still getting it right, even in the small space of in-wall or in-ceiling sound systems?
One can't help but notice the perfectly named Virtually Invisible 191 series that this company has now put out there. It is everyone's dream to have invisible speakers. I know because it is my dream, too. I love how the music and sound and movie sound effects can just surprise the heck out of you. Many times Bose has caused me to ask of a sound: where is that coming from!?
The Virtually Invisibles blend right into your ceiling. They don't stick out at all; they are flush, as the saying goes. They are billed as delivering a very wide or dispersed sound. But this is a dispersion that is spacious, not watered down. Whatever you play through them will sort of seem to be everywhere all around you. Most people don't realize that this is the much better way to enjoy entertainment. A simple, typical TV speaker, say, will only come to you from the direction of the television itself, cutting down on the reality factor of whatever program one might be watching. We have it so ingrained in us to discount this factor that we forget what the true purpose of entertainment is in the first place: to make us think it is real and to take us on a ride. So in this regard, Bose Virtually Invisible ceiling speakers have got things way right. They will surround you.
The 191's will also allow easy play from both a surround system and the stereo, covering all bases. It is really important to make sure that your ceiling speakers are going to actually have the capability to handle whatever input you are planning on feeding through them. It is equally important that they handle that input with a real deftness; nothing less should be tolerated in this post-expansion era in the industry. Believe me, these guys know how to manufacture an amazing speaker for a lot less than they ever could before. Make sure you feel you are getting a good value for your dollar and you will never regret your purchase. These are really great pieces of technology.
Just for a little educational experiment, I want to go through an analysis and comparison of two very differently priced in ceiling speakers. The first one is the so-called budget friendly Boston Acoustics DSi255 and the second one is the Polk Audio LC80fx. The first can be had for around $100, while you'll probably have to pay closer to $900 for the Polks.
For those of you who aren't so well-versed in the subtle (but major) distinctions between different components and aspects of ceiling speakers, this should tell you a lot, and hopefully inform your purchase if that is what you want to do. I am not trying to pick a side, necessarily. I'm just trying to illustrate how there could be a price discrepancy of oh about 800% between the low-end and the high-end in this sub-sector of the ceiling-based audio field.
First let's look at the Boston Acoustics offering. This one is rather cheap, I'd say. I mean who would think you could get anything from that stalwart of Boston, MA, sonic engineering for $99. Not me. I was surprised to see this deal when I first spotted it.
The BA DSi255 has a 5 ¼” woofer and a ¾” dome tweeter for your ears to hear sweet, sweet music through. Like many ceiling speakers they run flush to the rest of the ceiling, a feature I personally like. I prefer it over the ones that kind of stick out like an upside down semi-globe, but maybe that's just me. Anyway.. These speakers are designed to disperse sound through as wide an area as possible. Most people who use them are using them in places like an office or a hallway. In other words, because they're not ultra amazing sonically, people tend to relegate them to background music status. Now, the thing is, these speakers really aren't bad at all. Like many things in life, don't just assume they're bad because the price is lower than some of their competitors. Remember: a lot of pricing is just based on what the company thinks they can get away with by making you think they're so amazing through their advertising.
Now let's have a look at our buddies on the other side of the spectrum. The Polk Audio LC80fx ceiling speakers are not just normal speakers. They are actually specifically built for surround sound, an entirely different animal. So that is why upon closer inspection in many of these cases, the prices seem so wildly divergent. But still, we ought to have a closer look at the actual quality of this offering from Polk.
Not only do these speakers serve up surround sound, they also have an advanced tweeter lodged in each one of them. These also have many if not all of the same features that our previous example had, as you would expect: things like the flat in-line with the ceiling, etc. But these high-end ceiling speakers also can be switched into two different modes: a diffused mode which basically spreads sound out over the whole room, or a pinpoint mode which will make different sounds come from much different places in your whole setup. Obviously you don't want to get these if you're not planning on implementing them in a bigger overall surround sound system galore.
In conclusion, I'd just say that much of the time you have to wade through some technical jargon to find out what's really inside (and outside) of various ceiling speakers. You also must have a real clear vision of how you're going to be setting these things up.