Need Perfect Speakers for Acoustically Hostile Placement

You're not going to get the sound that you're looking for with that arrangement, no matter what you do.  You need a dedicated room with components set up properly.  I have speakers in the ceiling all over the house, but only listen to background music on it.  When I want to listen seriously, I have a dedicated room with a system that took me years to set up as well as it is. In yet another room, I have a 5.1 AV system for the junky tv/movie sound.

If there is room up there keep the speakers small and maybe put them on a small pair of Isoacoustics stands. That should help bring out the best.

Dep yes and I still have a pair running out on my deck for many years that sound better than ever off a good modern Class D amp (Bel Canto ref10000m fed from ARC sp16 tube preamp). 

@mapman those little realistic speakers were overachievers back in the day!

I would try to go the cheapest route possible. Do you do any critical listening in your kitchen? I'm guessing probably not. I'm not you,so this is only my opinion. You stated all the issues in your opening post. I would be hard pressed to spend more than a couple hundred dollars for your situation. Speakers 7-8' off the ground,inside a cabinet. I don't think many designers had this placement in mind. I would stick with what you have,and put that money to use in your main system. 

The Elac AS 61 will work but unknown how good it will sound on the Crestron amp. 

The Elac is the same design at the Kef Ref 1 which is a big robust point source. 

We have a demo pair for 1100 if you are interested

@audiotroy “Most centers are diapolito designs which will not work.“

Dont know much about diapolito. (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Midwoofer-tweeter-midwoofer)

So why will these designs not work?

Looking at ELAC AS-61 (on side) or Debut 2.0 C6.2. 

@audiotroy you stated a point source was the only option that would work well for the OP.  Simply not true. Not shocking you would make a false statement while shilling.

Oh, 1 million dollars. I though you were nuts:)
I still would take the cabinet out of the equation by using a baffle board (painted like the cabinet to match) and a plate speaker but if you have to stick something in there fill the remaining cavity with old towels or something and make sure the speaker is pushed right up against the grill in the doors (but not touching). I do not think you have to angle the speakers at all. Modern dome tweeters have decent dispersion and treble will bounce right off the ceiling and come right down at you anyway. 
This brings up old memories. I was asked to re due the system in an old mansion. In the living room the speakers, AR 3s were stuffed into the upper shelf of a book case with wicker doors over them. I think you can guess how that sounded😜. The wife was determined to repeat history. And I quote, "I am not going to have f--king ugly boxes ruin my room."
So I sold her on a pair of.....Beveridges! 😎

Buchardt S400 might work. Some speaker with a sealed box should work better than a reflex ported.

I have a similar situation, and am having very good results with Proac Response D2, which are front-ported and a hair less than 17” tall.  I previously had difficulty using rear-ported Proacs and Dynaudios.  

i had similar situation ... with the budget several hundred bucks. i have a small family room with a 55 " tv at the opposite wall and bookshelves on both sides. the speakers had to be placed inside shelves . pair of used Energy C2 biamped (paid $100.)+ PSB SubSeries 200Powered subwoofer (used, paid $35.)hooked up to yamaha RXA730(paid $35) (yes , I’m a cheapskate ! )created a sound I’m surprised. the trick is Yamaha with calibrating mike automatically sets up the level and equalization of all 3 speakers with the divine sound on a budget ... you can repeat the same result or better with similar set up without a budget . and you are correct , the speakers should be front ported.
good luck . Alex

Your stated budget is $11,000,000. You can build an new house, buy the speakers of your choice and retire.

Audiotroy wrote: " The Uni Q driver allows for a very wide soundstage and is also a very coherent sounding driver, we would recommend that you install a small wooden lip made by using a 1 * 2 on the front bottom of the cabinet which will keep the speakers from sliding out and then use one of two sets of isoacoustics footers on the back of the speakers or use another 2 * 4 with a set of isoacoustics footers on the rear to raise up the back of the cabinet and angle it down, the front lip 1 * 2 is being used to secure the speaker even with the angle and you would be good to go. "

This all makes sense to me. A coaxial driver has far more uniform horizontal off-axis response than a sideways MTM center channel speaker (which is actually rather poor in that respect), plus it is fairly uniform in the vertical plane. And I like your idea of angling the speakers downwards a bit while keeping them stable.

Duke

Then it hit me—center speakers are designed for horizontal placement.

Actually center speakers are often designed with horizontal orientation is purely for cosmetic reason NOT for acoustic reason.

Here’s what I did in my hostile environment (not my main system but to provide sound for a tv). In this case putting two speakers inside a Salamander cabinet with a shelf designed for a sound bar. I have a 2.1 system for television sound, driven by a Marantz receiver SR5010. I put in two Def Tech Monitors—sounded boxy. I lined the shelf with sound absorbing foam and added speaker fluff behind that—improved a bit. I had these monitors on their sides so the dispersion pattern was all screwed up. Then it hit me—center speakers are designed for horizontal placement. I took out the monitors.  I had a def tech center, added another and put them in as L and R. Big improvement in sound. 

Klipsch RP 600 M would work well, even with the rear port. No need to spend thousands...ridiculous, if you ask me, considering the location and acoustics. I did design and install for years, and found better ways to spend my clients monies.

Most centers are diapolito designs which will not work.

Most inwalls are designed for free air space of a stud wall.

A box speaker therfore is better.

Also Kef Ref 1 has spectacular bass obviating need for a sub.

Trudat we sell over 60 lines of product we know what to recomend. Would not use a center channel for this app.

The most perfect speaker is Ms. Kate Upton but you probably can't afford her :-)  But seriously, I don't think there is anything perfect.  In general, speakers with well behaved bass usually are easier to place.  If a speakers too bright then it will be sensitive to tile floor.  I guess what I am saying is speakers with a good frequency responds - preferably a neutral frequency response - will be easier to place regardless of room.  

Spending $11,000 for speakers to put there? I though I was out of my mind.

@mijostyn, you misread my budget. I wrote $11 Million, not Thousand.  
And I was kidding. i wanted to eliminate budget as a constraint so I could hear the widest range of creative solutions from the community. 
In reality, yes there is a budget. 
Here is where I have landed:
I plan to test two different, front-ported Center channel speakers in these cabinets. I will do some basic dampening inside the cabinet and find a way to tilt these speakers downward. 140wpc from a Crestron SWAMP A/B amplifier, which may not be audiophile, but is very configurable. I will test both mono/stereo and onboard DSP correction. Either a Bluesound Node 2i or Meridian 218 will serve as Roon endpoint for hi-res streaming. 
No desire to shut off discussion, but that is where my head is at. Additional advice welcome and appreciated. 

Look for a pair of used Realistic Minimus 7s.

I would use a speaker designed to be an in wall. Use the cabinet, dampen properly and if you still want it to look like a cabinet door build it inset just a few inches.  I know you said you don’t want to build it, but sure seems you have the budget to pay someone to properly do it.

As usual audiotroy shilling what he sells. A point source would work as would several in walls, or other options. Especially with an 11k budget. You have options at 11k...

@mijostyn,
+1.
Bob

Spending $11,000 for speakers to put there? I though I was out of my mind. Temporal, spend your money on something else, women, fast cars
Sushi whatever. Spending more than a couple of grand for speakers there is just a waste of money. 

Kitchen listening is background music. I either turn on a cheap Sonos 1 that sits by the toaster or a crank up my primary rig in the living room 35 feet away. To me there’s no value in trying to shoehorn a quasi-hifi system into a kitchen where there’s lots of noise, talking, moving around and terrible acoustics. It’s binary for me....1- excellent sound quality or 0 - background music. No other answer is correct in my world of values ;-) This is why I could care less if I have a decent car audio system. It only needs enough volume to hear over road noise.

We are both a high end dealer and a custom installer so we have had experience with this kind of situation.

Your best bet would be a set of Kef Ref 1 as they are remarkable sounding and have adjustable bass ports so you tune the speakers output. You don't need to worry about the rear port as the cabinet's size is big enough and you can absorb of any reflected engery, some wool batting mounted  inside the cabinet on all sides would do nicely to eliminate any internal reflections, acoustical solutions makes this material.

The Uni Q driver allows for a very wide soundstage and is also a very coherent sounding driver,  we would recommend that you install a small wooden lip made by using a 1 * 2  on the front bottom of the cabinet which will keep the speakers from sliding out and then use one of two sets of isoacoustics footers on the back of the speakers or use another 2 * 4  with a  set of isoacoustics footers on the rear to raise up the back of the cabinet and angle it down, the front lip 1 * 2 is being used to secure the speaker even with the angle and you would be good to go.

Adding a high quality in ceiing sub would be great, although the Ref 1 have fantastic bass.

A point source is the only kind of driver that will work well in this application. Also adding a preamp with room correction will also help.

You can PM us for more info.

Good luck.

Dave and Troy
Audio Doctor NJ Kef dealers

12”H x 17”D x 24”W

Budget $11,000,000

Sure, remove the door, make a baffle board that covers the opening and mount a high quality 2 way plate speaker on it.

What's your total budget?

Powered JBL speakers, plus an EQ.

My thoughts would be to go “mono” since you’re all over the place therefore unlikely to benefit from stereo.  An all in one powered speaker that can be controlled through an app is an option if there is a way to get power.

The right tool for the job so to speak.  As you stated, the setup constraints aren’t conducive to conventional speaker performance.

have you thought of closing in the area and using an in wall speaker? To utilizing the space as a speaker cabinet sort of idea.

They idea crossed my mind, but that would require me to essentially build a speaker box,...not something I'm prepared for. Also, the last 20 years of my life has been in-wall and in-ceiling speakers. They look fine, but sound terrible. I am running in the other direction as quickly as possible....

I thinking you should avoiding rear ported speakers, probably sealed boxes would be best but I'm no speaker designer,  hopefully one of the people here who do design speakers will help out. 

have you thought of closing in the area and using an in wall speaker? To utilizing the space as a speaker cabinet sort of idea.

What is the box dimensions?