Ideally the best surround sound setup would be to have the speakers all around (i.e 6 pieces of the STUDIO 55IW). Since you would like to keep the center channel and subwoofer non-architectural, you ought to stay in the same speaker series/brand. I would advise going with the STUDIO 225C for the center, and for STUDIO 250P or 260P for the sub. Also, make sure your receiver/amp is able to provide adequate power to the surround and center speakers.

The ARENA series speakers have different materials used in construction compared to the STUDIO series speakers. The ARENA uses Polycellulose for the speaker while the STUDIO uses Polyplas® for the speaker. The ARENA 8IC and STUDIO 2 8IC have the same input power handling of 100W RMS while the STUDIO 6ICDT has a rated input power handling of 80W RMS.

Apart from the driver materials, both the Studio 2 and Arena architectural speakers are quite the same. However, the Studio 2 series does deliver better high frequency versatility, thanks to the pivoting and level adjusting feature for the tweeter. The pivoting feature allows you to position/direct the tweeter toward the listening area.The level adjusting feature allows you to tune the high frequency (Zero to -3dB) as needed.

We sell them per piece on our website. You'll need to buy 2 pieces for 2 channel.

All in ceiling speakers are good for Dolby Atmos speakers. It would just depend if these in ceiling speakers would match the other Atmos speakers you have if you're not getting the same model for all speaker channels.

Ideally the best surround sound setup would be to have the speakers all around (i.e 4 pieces of the STUDIO 2 8IC). Since you would like to keep the center channel and subwoofer non-architectural, you ought to stay in the same speaker series/brand. I would advise going with the STUDIO 225C for the center, and for STUDIO 250P or 260P for the sub. Also, make sure your receiver/amp is able to provide adequate power to the surround and center speakers. If this does not answer your question,Please submit a case request at https://www.jbl.com/support-contact.html and the Customer Service Team will be more than happy to assist you.

JBL Studio 2 8IC is already a discontinued product, and we no longer manufacture it. You may check out for availability from third-party sellers.

The only difference of the Studio 2 8IC with the Arena is that it has Pivoting tweeters that let's you target audio directly to your desired listening location and the Tweeter Audio Level Adjustment The High-Frequency Level control lets you fine-tune the speaker’s high frequency output to compensate for various acoustical environments.