The 6 Best Ceiling Speakers of 2021

Best Overall: Polk Audio RC80i 2-way Premium In-Ceiling 8" Round Speakers

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Manufactured out of moisture-resistant, durable material, the Polk Audio RC80i come as a pair. You can install them indoors or in a sauna or porch area, but they’re not ideal for outdoor use. We chose them as our top pick because they offer a lot of benefits in terms of design and sound quality, yet they come at a much cheaper price point than higher-end speakers. 

The 8-inch balanced dynamic subwoofer and 1-inch dome tweeter allow for a warm sound that fills an entire room. The adjustable tweeter comes on a 15-degree swiveling mount, so it's easy to make the sound hit exactly where you want. The installation comes right after a prepared hole is made in the ceiling, and the wires to connect the speaker in place—you need nothing more than a screwdriver to make the RC80i flush with the ceiling, and they come with a template to cut the proper-sized hole in your drywall. Their white coloring helps them blend in and makes them hardly noticeable on a white ceiling, but you can paint the grilles to match your ceiling if it’s a different color (although the grilles are not magnetic).

Our product tester, Erika Rawes, found the RC80i had exceptional sound comparable to speakers double their price, and Erika was impressed with how well they sounded with other speakers in the Polk series. She wasn’t as impressed with the connection ports, as they’re push-down spring clips instead of spring-loaded cylinders, and that type of connection tends to not be as secure over time.

_{Channels: L and R | Bluetooth: No | Physical Connection: Push-down spring clips | Paintable/Magnetic Grills: Paintable | Waterproof: Humidity resistant}

Easiest Installation: Polk Audio 70-RT 3-Way in-Ceiling Speaker

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The vanishing series built-in Polk Audio 70-RT comes as a single speaker outfitted with a super-thin grille that magnetically secures the speaker together, while protruding a mere 7mm from the ceiling. This makes for a speaker that’s barely noticeable from a distance. 

Installation is relatively easy, thanks to a one-cut, drop-in feature that offers templates for finding the best fit the first time you attempt to install the 70-RT speaker. The speaker sounds good overall due to a unique three-way driver system. This helps the 70-RT produce a powerful sound profile in spite of its small diameter. Also enhancing the audio is a ¾-inch polymer tweeter, a 2.5-inch balanced driver, and a 7-inch dynamic balance subwoofer, leading to a frequency response range of 34 to 27,000 Hz.

You can clearly see the build quality of this speaker by simply examining its components. It has spring-loaded cylinder connections, a thick body, and it’s exceptionally sturdy.

_{Channels: L and R | Bluetooth: No | Physical Connection: Spring-loaded cylinders | Paintable/Magnetic Grills: Paintable and magnetic | Waterproof: No}

Best Budget: Pyle PDIC60

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Capable of wall or ceiling installation, the Pyle PDIC60 speakers are about as cheap as you can go while still getting a decent ceiling speaker. They come as a pair of 6.5-inch speakers, and deliver a two-way sound. We have tested these speakers, and we were impressed with what they offered for the price.

You won’t get upgrades such as magnetic grilles, and the sound isn’t as powerful as more expensive speakers, but they will still serve as an upgrade over most regular TV speakers. They’re also a good choice for a kitchen or other areas in the home. However, we would not recommend these for someone who wants speakers for a premium home movie theater.

The dual 6.5-inch speakers pair with a 1-inch titanium dome tweeter, and the direction of each tweeter can be adjusted to send sound to a specific area of the room. The bass that’s delivered from the Pyle isn’t bad, but it does tend to distort slightly when you crank the volume up to full blast, so it’s best to go with a separate, affordable subwoofer if you want full bass. When paired with a subwoofer, or when used as overhead speakers for music or TV in a room where you don’t need the loudest sound, these speakers have a lot of utility at a budget price.

The upgraded PDIC60T (view at Amazon) also include a 70-volt transformer to reduce load on an amp or receiver outputting to it and help balance impedance, and is available for about $5 more than the base model.

_{Channels: L and R | Bluetooth: No | Physical Connection: Push-down spring clips | Paintable/Magnetic Grills: Paintable | Waterproof: No}

Best Sound: Klipsch CDT-5650-C

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This Klipsch series is a favorite among our reviewers, as the speakers have a steampunk vibe and they sound so good. The CDT-5650-ii does, however, come at a steep price, and it's only a single speaker. 

The Klipsch CDT-5650-C-II offers an easy installation process and a pure sound. It features a 1-inch titanium tweeter and 6.5-inch pivoting cerametallic woofer, incorporating a gimbal mechanism for directing the sound in the right direction.

Connecting the Klipsch to either a 5.1 or 7.1 channel home theater system will get you set up and ready to go with 50W of power (200W peak). The audio is both crisp and accurate, with the highlights being the mids and lows. There's also a surprising amount of bass, which is unexpected for in-ceiling speakers. 

The minimal sound distortion at high volumes is another surprising result, which makes the Klipsch ideal for watching Blu-ray or Netflix movies at a high enough volume to feel like you’re right in the action.

With the woofer capable of shifting 15 degrees in any direction and the 360-degree rotation of the tweeter, you'll have total flexibility with the Klipsch. Just keep in mind that you’ll need to buy at least two of them for stereo sound, as they don’t sound good paired with other non-Klipsch speakers.

_{Channels: L and R | Bluetooth: No | Physical Connection: Spring-loaded clips | Paintable/Magnetic Grills: Paintable and magnetic | Waterproof: No}

Best Theater: Acoustic Audio CS-IC83

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The Acoustic Audio CS-IC83 offer a frequency response of 40 to 20,000Hz, delivering a set of entry-level home theater ceiling speakers. These are 8-inch speakers, and they have a three-way system with a mid-range and tweeter configuration. The set features a poly cone woofer and 13mm soft dome tweeter.

Given the specs, you’ll likely get good mids and highs, and a decent amount of bass, but as with most ceiling speakers, you’ll want to add a separate subwoofer if you want booming bass. 

The paintable frame and grille offer both easy installation and the flexibility to change up the look to match your home’s paint coloring. The low-profile housing is designed to be easy to install with cutout templates for helping to discover the exact sizing that needs to be cut from the ceiling. They don’t have magnetic grilles, and the connections are push-down clips, but they otherwise appear to be well-built.

_{Channels: L and R | Bluetooth: No | Physical Connection: Push-down spring clips | Paintable/Magnetic Grills: Paintable | Waterproof: No}