1000 W. Wilshire Blvd.

, Suite 362
Oklahoma City, OK 73116
tel: 405-848-3108
fax: 405-848-3217
e-mail: proinfo@alteclansing.com

CEILING SPEAKERS
Part 1
The Small Speakers
The airport, hospital, dentist office, supermarket, and local steakhouse all have ceiling speakers.
Ceiling speakers are one of the necessary tools that we must use until somebody develops a
communicator badge (Beam me up Scotty!). Ceiling speakers are simple, yet complex. They are
available in different sizes, packages, power ratings, colors, and prices. In Part 1 of this series we
will discuss the 4" cone, 8" cone, 8" with whizzer, and 8" coaxial ceiling speakers. All figures are
referenced at 2kHz.

4" Cone
Here is probably the best ceiling speaker for low ceilings, and the least appreciated. Most 4"
ceiling speakers have very wide coverage at 2kHz, very smooth frequency response, and take up
very little space. Figure 1 shows the 2kHz coverage of a 4" cone (S1), 8" cone (S2) and 8" coaxial
(S3). Although the 4" cone coverage can get rather narrow at higher frequencies, it works
extremely well for speech on ceilings up to 3m. And the smooth frequency response means fewer
feedback problems with live microphones!

Advantages:
Good fidelity
Smooth frequency response
Very wide coverage for speech
(use fewer units)
Small and unobtrusive

Disadvantages:
Poor coverage at higher frequencies
Low sensitivity
Low / moderate power ratings
Will not get very loud

Applications:
Low ceiling needs <100dB SPL Figure 1
Critical architectural spaces

1
8" Cone
The 8" cone is the workhorse of ceiling speakers. It is used in every possible application, although
it has the weakest fidelity. It is inexpensive and has a narrow frequency response (regardless of
what is on the data sheets). The 8" cone ceiling speaker is usually rated at 5W rms, it rarely gets
tapped at more than 1W. Coverage is around 90 degrees at 2kHz and gets narrower as frequency
increases. Use lots of them! Plenty of installation hardware is available from a number of sources.

Advantages:
Low cost
Wide variety of available hardware

Disadvantages:
Limited frequency response
Poor fidelity (speech only)

Applications:
paging systems with 3m to 4m ceilings

8" with whizzer cone

Add a little more power, add a miniature megaphone, and you have the next 8" speaker on our list.
The whizzer improves high frequency output for a little sparkle. The 8" with whizzer fits into
standard 8" hardware and is usually rated at 10W rms. Most will be tapped at 1W.

Advantages:
Low cost
Wide variety of available hardware
More HF versus 8" cone

Disadvantages:
Limited frequency response
Moderate fidelity
(speech & low level background music)

Applications:
paging systems with 3m to 4m ceilings and mood music

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8" Coaxial
Altec Lansing introduced the concept of a high frequency device mounted in the center of a cone
woofer in the 1940's and registered the name Duplex. Others could not use Duplex on their
similar devices and had to come up with another term. Coaxial has been used since. The heart
and soul of 8" ceiling speakers is the 8" coaxial. A small high frequency device is center-mounted
for more sparkle and better high frequency coverage. The 8" coax can do anything from paging
to moderate levels of music playback. The good ones will be better at speech versus music. They
fit into standard 8" hardware, however, they should be installed in a larger backbox (28.3l) for
better low frequency performance. Power ratings are from 16W to 32W. A 32W version can
deliver well over 110dB at 1m!

Advantages:
Moderate cost
Higher Max SPL
Wide variety of available hardware
Better HF coverage
Good fidelity (speech & foreground music)

Disadvantages:
Limited frequency response
More expensive hardware suggested

Applications:
Paging systems with 3m to 6m ceilings and music playback

How do I know what speaker to use and how many?

Question #1:
How loud does the system need to be?

We usually like to have 10dB more than

ambient (background) noise.

85dB is about all most offices need.

Question #2:
How high is the ceiling?

Remember:
The listeners are 1m above the floor.
The speaker only needs to throw 2m from
a 3m ceiling.

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 Tip #1: Speakers gain 3dB in SPL each time power is doubled

Power @ 1m typical 4" typical 8"

1W 91dB 96dB
2W 94dB 99dB
4W 97dB 102dB
8W 100dB 105dB

Tip #2: Speakers lose 6dB of SPL when distance is doubled

(or speakers gain 6dB every time the distance is cut in half)

In our example we need to deliver 85dB at the listener. . .

Lets see; a 4" speaker tapped at 2W will deliver

approximately 94dB @ 1m. We double the distance
and lose 6dB, leaving 88dB. Looks like a 4" ceiling
speaker tapped at 2W will do the job.
85 dB
An 8" speaker will deliver about 96dB @ 1W/1m and
93dB @ .5W (see Tip #2 above). We double the
distance and lose 6dB, leaving 87dB. Looks like an 8"
ceiling speaker tapped at .5W will also do the job.
Office with 3m ceiling. . .

Question #3:
How many ceiling speakers are needed?

Most 8" ceiling speakers are 6 dB down at 90

degrees. The 6dB down reference is said to be
the edge of the usable coverage. 90 degrees of
coverage will make a circle diameter twice the
distance from the speaker. In our example the
listeners are 2m from the ceiling and we should
expect the speaker to throw a 4m circle.

Spacing the speakers 4m apart places the circles

edge-to-edge and looks pretty good on paper
Figure 6 (see Figure 6).

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 However, the 6dB down point of a speaker is not
6dB down
measured on a flat surface. The speaker is
rotated with the measuring microphone stationary.
The 6dB down point is actually located on a
circle or arc. Although this makes sense to the
guy in the lab, it does not apply to most floors.

When the 6dB down point is extended to the

listening plane, additional losses occur.
Figure 7 (remember Tip #2?)

Figure 8 shows the 6dB down circle

is closer to 8 or 9dB down at 1m
above the floor!

Obviously the 6dB down point on

paper is not the 6dB down point in the
real world.

Figure 8

Some designers will offset each row

of speakers to improve coverage.
This method can make the coverage
+6dB with spacing 2 x distance-to-
listener. This technique has limited
applications.

Figure 9

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 Spacing the 8" ceiling speakers 3m apart gets us
+4dB average SPL in this office example with a
3m ceiling (see Figure 11).

Figure 10

Spacing between ceiling speakers 1.5

and 2 times the distance-to-listener
will fit most 8" ceiling speaker
applications.

Figure 11

A comparison of 4" and 8" ceiling speakers:

Here is a 3m x 4m office space. Figure 12 shows how

little an 8" ceiling speaker will cover from an 2.4m ceiling.
And yet this is very common!

Figure 12

Figure 13 shows how much more area a 4" ceiling

speaker will cover. My choice for small rooms,
particularly meeting rooms, is always a 4" ceiling
speaker.
Figure 13

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 Here are graphs for laying out 4" and 8" ceiling speakers
(for those of us that are mathematically challenged)

8" Coverage
Select your ceiling height along the bottom, read speaker spacing on left
6

0
2.5 2.75 3 3.25 3.5 3.75 4 4.25 4.5 4.75 5
Ceiling Height in Meters

4dB Variation 6dB Variation

4" Coverage
Select your ceiling height along the bottom, read speaker spacing on left
10

0
2.5 2.75 3 3.25 3.5 3.75 4 4.25 4.5
Ceiling Height in Meters

4dB Variation 6dB Variation

Summary:
Ceiling speakers are used in applications where communication is needed. Many speakers will do
double duty and play background or foreground music. The most common ceiling speakers are 4"
cone, 8" cone, 8" with whizzer, and 8" coaxial. Choosing the right model for the job depends on;
application, how much SPL is needed, and ceiling height. 4" ceiling speakers cover more area, but
do not offer lots of SPL. 8" cone and 8" with whizzer ceiling speakers can get louder, but have
limited band width and coverage on low ceilings. 8" coaxial ceiling speakers offer good band width
and good output SPL, but have limited coverage on low ceilings. Its your call.