Monitor Audio CSS230 Ultra-shallow in-ceiling speaker

Tight space in your ceiling? No problem!

Have a room in which you want music overhead, but don’t have much space to work with above your ceiling? Monitor Audio’s CSS230 ultra-shallow in-ceiling speaker is designed for just this scenario. At less than 2″ deep it fits into ceilings where space is tight, and delivers the rich, revealing sound that Monitor Audio is known for.

Signature sound from Monitor’s gold dome tweeter

The CSS230 uses Monitor’s signature C-CAM® (Ceramic-Coated Aluminum/Magnesium) gold dome tweeter for clear, detailed highs and realistic reproduction of instruments, vocals, and dialogue. It’s the same tweeter design found in many of Monitor’s highly acclaimed bookshelf and floor-standing speakers.

Excellent midrange performance

This speaker uses a trio of 3″ C-CAM woofers for textured, accurate midrange. Because of the shallow nature of this speaker, it doesn’t produce much bass when the cabinet is sealed. However, if you remove the included port plug, the enclosure turns into a bass reflex design, which widens the frequency response from 100 Hz down to 85 Hz — sweet!

A built-in enclosure elevates performance

One of my favorite features of the CSS230 is the back-box that’s built onto the speaker. This carefully designed enclosure helps it deliver consistently focused, well-balanced sound no matter what kind of space is above it in your ceiling. It also keeps dust and dirt out of your speaker.

DIY installation

If this is a do-it-yourself install, check out my guide to installing in-ceiling speakers, along with our selection of in-wall speaker wire. You can paint the included magnetic grille to have your speaker blend in with your décor.