Long time Roon-user here. Been happy with the Roon, running it now in three rooms (one Ropiee + D-class amp, one computer, one directly in Rock). We are starting a renovation in our house and I will enhance the system both upstairs (kitchen + 2 rooms + terrace) and downstairs (4 rooms). Wiring can be added as needed.
My question - what you would recommend? PoE ceiling speakers everywhere or rather normal speaker cabling and a set of Ropiee’s + D-class amps?I went through the earlier discussions at the forum (they are already couple of years old) and thus would like to get some further update. I am happy with the Ropiee’s and see some advantages there as then the speakers could be practically any model and also easily updated later.
If someone also has some experiences and/or can recommend a good set of speakers (anykind of ceiling or in-wall speakers), I would be happy to hear more!
I use SVS Prime Elevation for ceiling speakers in our living room. The ceiling is vaulted with no space above for in-ceiling speakers so we used the Elevations.
The supplied mounting brackets are good for any location and the speakers are uniquely shaped (angled) for positioning on high walls or ceiling.
With long wire runs, 70V systems from vendors like JBL can allow centralization of multichannel amps giving you a single rack/cabinet option. Worth considering although the quality of the amps and speakers are in the “professional” range rather than being SOTA.
That’s pretty cool. I’ve never used Dante but it looks like the protocol can coexist with Roon:
That amp is flexible for 70V applications but unless you are driving speakers at > 65m away or large numbers of them, I would use conventional 4-8 ohm speakers. Make sure during renovation that 12 gauge is run for them.
You might reach out to the folks in the thread above to learn more about their Dante integration if you go that route.
For what it’s worth, all my cieling speakers are paradigm home theater speakers. I find that since it’s not exactly critical listening, the crispness of HT is better, either for party music or for background low volume listening. I never use them for anything else. They also have ones that are angled in ceiling as well as straight down if you have the clearance.
I drive all my ceiling speakers with Sonos amps because it’s easy to have guests just use the Sonos app. They don’t want to mess around with Roon. That said, they can use Ropieee by just selecting the Ropieee endpoint if you use the Spotify squeezelite, so you can do that. Or WiiM lites. If you do, I would just get a bunch of Niles or other “pro grade” amplifiers with auto power, not anything special - you’ll never hear amplification difference with in ceiling speakers.
As ceiling speakers - the best offer on the market today is Zuma. You get active speakers with a class D amplifier, no need to pull wires, support for Roon Readu, good characteristics, and a convenient application.
