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[Tim Weaver]

Years ago Radian’s 8 and 12” coax speakers with the 1” hf driver were the go-to for high performance ceiling speakers. Are they still just as good? Or is there something better today I should be looking at?


One thing I would absolutely love is a dante, poe, powered hefty ceiling speaker. Unfortunately the ones that are out there are a bit pricey and I have no idea how good or bad they sound.

[Caleb Dueck]

Years ago Radian’s 8 and 12” coax speakers with the 1” hf driver were the go-to for high performance ceiling speakers. Are they still just as good? Or is there something better today I should be looking at?


One thing I would absolutely love is a dante, poe, powered hefty ceiling speaker. Unfortunately the ones that are out there are a bit pricey and I have no idea how good or bad they sound.

I don't know how far up the "best" ladder you want to go before budget kicks in, but Martin ceiling speakers are the ones I try to use the most.  Especially the 8" model, if you're looking at sound quality.  If the SPL levels are lower, the 6" works well, but it doesn't seem to handle high SPL well.  For any type of ceiling speaker though, if sound quality is important - stay away from 70V where possible, and always add some small subwoofers.  Also - always have the system processed via DSP; I can't stand the trunk slammer level integrators that simply run from source - amp - speakers. 

[Tim Weaver]

I don't know how far up the "best" ladder you want to go before budget kicks in, but Martin ceiling speakers are the ones I try to use the most.  Especially the 8" model, if you're looking at sound quality.  If the SPL levels are lower, the 6" works well, but it doesn't seem to handle high SPL well.  For any type of ceiling speaker though, if sound quality is important - stay away from 70V where possible, and always add some small subwoofers.  Also - always have the system processed via DSP; I can't stand the trunk slammer level integrators that simply run from source - amp - speakers.

For sure. These would have a QSys somewhere upstream that would handle dsp duties

[Mike Caldwell]

I don't know how far up the "best" ladder you want to go before budget kicks in, but Martin ceiling speakers are the ones I try to use the most.  Especially the 8" model, if you're looking at sound quality.  If the SPL levels are lower, the 6" works well, but it doesn't seem to handle high SPL well.  For any type of ceiling speaker though, if sound quality is important - stay away from 70V where possible, and always add some small subwoofers.  Also - always have the system processed via DSP; I can't stand the trunk slammer level integrators that simply run from source - amp - speakers.

Properly processed, properly designed, good speakers and powered with a real amp 70v ceiling systems can sound good. All too often at least a couple items from that list are missing!

[Tim Weaver]

In this particular room, it would not be an advantage to run 70V. This room is fairly small and can be configured several ways, creating several different zones that have to be switched on or off and basically processed differently for each setup.

It will bounce between large and small classrooms, and one big overflow room (which necessitates the higher quality audio) with a stream from out main stage. The overflow room will have to have a video delay applied as well.

[Robert Healey]

Years ago Radian’s 8 and 12” coax speakers with the 1” hf driver were the go-to for high performance ceiling speakers. Are they still just as good? Or is there something better today I should be looking at?


One thing I would absolutely love is a dante, poe, powered hefty ceiling speaker. Unfortunately the ones that are out there are a bit pricey and I have no idea how good or bad they sound.

I think we are at a point where the POE ceiling speakers (from Shure, QSC, and others) are there for voice and conferencing but not music.

By far the best ceiling speaker I have heard is Meyer's Ashby but it is out of reach on price point for most systems. If you are looking for a 12", EV still makes the EVID C12.2. They also have the PC8.2 which is designed to be a step above their standard speaker line in fidelity, though I have not heard it myself. The QSC AD-C820 and AD-C1200 are also performance-type speakers with a coaxial compression driver.

[Caleb Dueck]

By far the best ceiling speaker I have heard is Meyer's Ashby but it is out of reach on price point for most systems.

This reminds me - sometimes you can fabricate a custom bracket and use something like a Danley SM100 or even SM100F in a tile grid ceiling, properly suspended from above of course.  We've even thought about an angled bracket so various speakers of these can be time aligned to a degree back to 'time zero'. 

[Tim Weaver]

This reminds me - sometimes you can fabricate a custom bracket and use something like a Danley SM100 or even SM100F in a tile grid ceiling, properly suspended from above of course.  We've even thought about an angled bracket so various speakers of these can be time aligned to a degree back to 'time zero'.

This is something I’m considering. Actually angling the front and rear speakers in the tile grid to point more “properly” at the audience in order to create a bit of a surround setup. When used as an overflow we could run the mix into the front LCR cabs and the house mics in whatever cabs are in the rear.

In classroom mode all of these would function like standard ceiling speakers.

[Craig Hauber]

Years ago Radian’s 8 and 12” coax speakers with the 1” hf driver were the go-to for high performance ceiling speakers. Are they still just as good? Or is there something better today I should be looking at?


One thing I would absolutely love is a dante, poe, powered hefty ceiling speaker. Unfortunately the ones that are out there are a bit pricey and I have no idea how good or bad they sound.

Yes they still have a catalog of the coax speakers but only the drivers themselves.  I recently swapped out some 25yr old water damaged 8" ones with the current one from Radian and they worked great and not sure if there was much difference other than the old ones were stamped frame LF vs the newer cast frame.  HF driver looked identical.  But the mounting panel, grill, backbox and crossover were existing so without those you would have to DIY.

[ProSoundWeb Community]