Kitchen sound system with Apple TV?

[Natosha Jacobs]

We just found out our ceiling is being sheetrocked tomorrow and we are scrambling to finalize our sound system plans. Originally we thought we would buy some decent in-ceiling speakers and run some speaker wire over to the area where the cabinet that will house our TV and amp will be (and decide on the specific components later), but after researching Sonos systems, my hubby is working on a new plan using Apple TV.

Right now we have 2 Apple TVs and use them to stream music (and photos, slideshows, etc.) from our iPods, iMacs and iPads to our TVs, plus to listen to Pandora and other stations, and watch Netflix and YouTube, etc. We're thinking about having a dedicated Apple TV in the kitchen and hooking it up to in-ceiling speakers. We have a rough idea of how this could be done, but I'm wondering if any of you have already tried it. The cabinet over our fridge will be able to house the TV, amp and Apple TV, but I could use some guidance on what speakers and amp to be looking at that will work best with this setup.

 

[Biorunner]

I have 3 Apple TV setups listed below. I don't have ceiling speakers I have bookshelf speakers and 7.1 but the setup is the same:

Assuming you have an Apple TV 4k or the ATV4HD you only have one physical way to output sound - HDMI. This would allow you to do the following using a physical connection:

1. Apple TV HDMI to AMP, AMP to Ceiling speakers via speaker cable, AMP to TV screen via HDMI. Pros: probably the best sound experience. Cons: you'd need an AV (receiver) amp with HDMI connections. Also you don't want to run a really long HDMI cable so it would need to be fairly close to the source. Not sure about your location but in the UK a decent basic one is around £300. In ceiling speakers can be expensive but I've seen most people go with the Bose or Cambridge Audio models (better in my opinion). Total cost ~ £600 - £700.

2. Apple TV HDMI direct to TV, TV optical out (if available) to AMP. It's basically the same as above but this option works great if you have a newer Samsung TV with a connection box. It's one cable to the TV and everything plugs into the box.

If you forgo having the built in options then I'd probably go with the HomePod (big version) and use that over airplay. Pros: you can just send the music to the AirPod and you don't need an amp; You won't need to have the TV on to play music; If you get two HomePods you'll get the benefit of Dolby Atmos and you'll still save £100. Cons: some apps like YouTube forget to output to the HomePod by default meaning you have to select the HomePod manually from time to time. Most other apps work fine, Netflix etc.

 

[McScooby]

Turns out you can now get airplay 2, ceiling speakers, who knew, thought it must be a thing so googled it!?

 

[Biorunner]

Turns out you can now get airplay 2, ceiling speakers, who knew, thought it must be a thing so googled it!?

Yeah these look good - never thought about that myself.

My [non-researched] concern would be that standard ceiling speakers are passive and these are active so I'm guessing the power supply unit is in the ceiling with the speakers. Might be a possibility that they probably bring up a whole host of fire regulations regarding drywall and insulation etc.

Definitely worth investigating, hopefully there are no [assumed] compliance issues

 

[Natosha Jacobs]

Thanks all for your advice.

 

[Allyance]

I used a Homepod in my kitchen which sound better that most ceiling speakers (20 years in the retail/pro sound business). It's nice to sit down at the breakfast table just tap the Homepod for some music.