B&W CCM662

The CCM662 is a speaker designed to be recessed into a ceiling, where it disappears once the grille is fitted. It sits at the top of B&W's CI 600 series, the range dedicated to audio integrated into the building fabric, and is aimed at installations where sound is wanted without visual clutter: multi-room distribution, home cinema ambiences or carefully finished sound in a living space.

Its architecture is built around a 150 mm woofer/midrange transducer mounted on a rigid moulded chassis, paired with a 25 mm aluminium dome tweeter derived from Nautilus technology. This tweeter is pivoting: it swivels within its housing, allowing high frequencies to be directed towards the listening area rather than towards the floor. This is a decisive point for ceiling mounting, where the speaker is rarely positioned exactly above the listeners. The rigidity of the woofer/midrange chassis, for its part, limits mechanical flexing of the support structure when the driver is working.

A three-position equalisation selector completes the design. It allows the response to be adjusted according to the environment: a low ceiling, a heavily furnished room or, conversely, a very reverberant one do not call for the same setting, and this correction is made directly on the speaker, without any adjustment to the amplification. The crossover uses carefully chosen components and the connection terminals are gold-plated. The stated admissible amplification power reaches 150 W.

For installation, B&W has provided the QuickDogs mounting system, whose clips lock onto the ceiling thickness, along with plug-and-play connection. This model therefore suits both installers and methodical private owners with an accessible plenum space and cabling prepared in advance.

On the used market, a ceiling-mounted speaker requires a specific inspection, linked to its previous life within a ceiling:

• check the condition of the QuickDogs clips and their threading, often forced during removal, as well as the flatness of the collar that provides bearing against the ceiling;
• check that the pivoting tweeter rotates freely and holds the chosen position, without play or stiffness;
• examine the woofer/midrange cone and suspension, exposed to dust and splashes of plaster or paint during building work;
• make sure the equalisation selector switches cleanly between its three positions and that the gold-plated terminals show no oxidation or cut cable strands;
• look at the grille: often repainted to match the ceiling colour, it may have become clogged by excess paint, which affects sound reproduction.

Once properly checked, the CCM662 remains a solid basis for a lasting recessed installation, with the tweeter's adjustable angle and the three equalisation settings offering worthwhile scope for adaptation once the speaker is in place.