I know in-ceiling speakers have acoustic problems but there is no other option here. I'm helping my parents build a HT in the basement and my mother grudginly accepted towers for L and R; for the surrounds, it's either in-ceilings or nothing.

I'm planning on getting 60ti/VP150 for LCR and most likely a harmon kardon AVR435. This will be for a 7.1 setup so I would need 4 in-ceiling speakers, priced around $150 each. There are no walls near where the surrounds will be placed so i'm not sure if di-pole type in-ceilings would help (the HT is not in a dedicated room, but in a niche in one part of an open-layout basement).

My parents are not audiophiles by any stretch. They just want to be able to watch movies on a big screen and have "good" sound. I'm pretty sure any acoustic issues from using in-ceilings will not be an issue for them. I just want to make sure that I pick speakers that will match the axiom sound.

Would your mother be willing to consider some W2s? They wouldn't be flush, but they are close. You can get them in white with white grills.

hehe, already tried that.. that was a no go. basically, she's seen in-wall/ceiling speakers at a friend's place and wants that. I was able to convince her that having towers in the front won't look too bad since that'll be along a wall. I tried to get her to accept small speakers for the surround (not bose, but orb and similar) but even that was too obtrusive. If in-ceilings didn't exist, I might have been able to convince her to get small surrounds... but the genie's out on that one already.

I don't suppose you could get away with mounting QS4s or QS8s with their backs against the ceiling ?

nope.. not even smaller speakers..

You might start here.

You also might try a custom HT shop to listen and see what they use.

thanks.. i'll check out that site.. I do plan to go to a HT shop in town but since I haven't yet heard the axioms I'm not sure how to pick in-ceilings that would match sonically.. should i just try to stick with something with a neutral-ish sound?

Axioms are neutral so neutral is what you should look for.