As far as we understand it, the IC4 rating is for active electrical items such as halogen lamps that can get really hot. You would not want insulation materials such as polystyrene touching a halogen lamp as it would melt and possibly catch fire. If a lamp is IC4 rated it means that it has an enclosure which is safe to put into direct contact with insulation materials. The Q Install ceiling speakers are not active speakers and so will not generate any heat. They are designed to turn electrical energy into sound energy and OK, because this won’t be 100 % efficient technically they will create a small amount of heat, but this would not be measurable above ambient! They therefore do not require IC4 rating or any type of hood for this reason. HOWEVER – it is worth considering to fit an acoustic fire hood to any device which requires you to create a large hole in the ceiling as by doing so you have compromised the fire resistance to floors above. A fire hood is designed so that if a fire in the room below melts the speaker or light fitting exposing a hole to the floor above the fire hood drops into the hole slowing the spread of fire. For a speaker, the acoustic properties of the hood ameliorate sound transmission to floors above somewhat which is useful if you want to adhere to the old Part L and Part P building regulations. Fire hoods are available separately, please see below. OF COURSE you can ignore all this advice if you are a private individual and not a commercial developer as it is up to you what you fit to your own building at your own risk.

Q Install offer a range of firehoods should you choose to use them https://www.qacoustics.co.uk/collections/in-ceiling/products/fire-acoustic-hoods