Advice on replacing front speakers
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Well, all the speakers arrived last week and I hooked them up. I knew the 40s would be big, but it didn't sink in until I had them unboxed and saw them for myself. I had ordered the Pinpoint AM40s and they arrived the same day. Like I mentioned above, I needed more than 7 degrees of tilt, so I rigged up a little something to increase the tilt angle - maybe someone else will find this information useful.
I had some leftover 1" PVC pipe that I cut at what ended up being roughly a 30 degree angle and notched it out to slip into the AM40 mount and spray painted it black. I had to buy a longer bolt to replace the bolt that holds the speaker clamp to the mount arm.
Like others, I also wasn't thrilled about drilling into the speakers to secure them, though I figured I'd need something as backup, especially since it was tilting at a much greater angle now. I used 3M Command velcro strips on the speaker clamp and speaker, and I bought 3' long zipties and used 2 per speaker to zip tie the speakers to the speaker mount. I used squares of rubber splicing tape on the corners to prevent the zipties from damaging the speaker cabinet.
I first tested this setup for a couple days on a 2x4 nailed into some spare piece of drywall that was only about 2 feet high, so if it failed, the speaker would only fall a couple inches. I didn't see any noticeable movement/slippage/etc over those couple of days, so I put them up on my wall. I'll be keeping an eye on them for the next couple weeks, just to be safe. Attached pictures for those who are curious:
In the end, they still weren't quite aimed at the listening area - it's probably closer to 6" above our heads. But, I can live with it, since I think any steeper and I'd have to look at even more drastic means of securing the speakers.
As for the sound, it definitely has more clarity. I can hear more details in just about everything I've listened to (movies, music, games). It does seem a little less "bassy" then before, but I'm guessing that's because the subwoofer handled a lot more with my previous speakers than with the new speakers.
Overall, I'm very happy with my purchase, though I do need to get the speaker grills on both the Monitor70s replaced (they arrived cracked and broken). Thanks everyone for their advice and suggestions!
