fxi3's wall mounting??

idealty

I want to buy a pair of fxi3's for my side surrounds, but I'm wondering if I will be able to mount them in the wall using just the bracket it comes with and the 2 10"screws w/anchors. Circuit City lists the weight of these speakers as 10lbs while Polk lists them as 15lbs each (I'll trust polk). Will they be able to be mounted in a dry wall at that weight?? Any thought?

PolkWannabie

The difference in weight is probably speaker weight versus shipping weight i.e. w/carton and such.

If you are just gonna use screws you will of course need to have them on a stud. On open drywall a molly anchor or two should suffice.

Emlyn

I've had good results with mounting Polk's surround speakers on open drywall. To get correct positioning of the speakers in reference to the seating area, it's usually necessary to ignore the location of wall studs. But, you must use wall anchors. I've used the solid screw in type with a bolt that goes into the anchor rather than the kind that expand once inside the wall. The anchors can be rated to hold 50 lbs or more if the right size, and doubling them up adds a lot of strength. The only problem I've had is that when I've moved surround speaker locations, I've had to patch the holes the anchors leave behind.

Another alternative is to mount small shelves and put the surround speakers on them.

Airplay355

my fxi30s are hangin on the wall with anchors and the supplied screws, nothing else. they are fine, hang em up

idealty

Cool, thanks for the input guys. But can anyone out there who owns the fxi3's confirm that the factory anchors, screws, and bracket that comes with the speakers are sufficient for dry wall mounting? Also, does anyone think that have the two satellite surrounds will be a bad idea due to lack of timbre matching with the rti's?

nebborjk

I mounted my FXi3s in drywall using one 30-lb. drywall insert screw for each. They are very solid. I use my FXi3s with RTi6 mains and CSi3 center and they sound great.

thehalo8

My last place I put small shelves up on the back wall to hold my FXi30's. My new house I put the wires up through the wall and used anchors to hold the speakers up. I used two screws and anchors per speaker and just attached using the mounting brackets attached to the speakers. Been hanging on the wall for about a year now and still no problems on my end.

idealty

Thanks again guys. I will order them in about two weeks and have them shipped to my house. I can't wait to hear how they sound. I'm going to be moving my system in about a year, so that's why I'm trying to avoid building a shelf or spending the extra money to buy larger brackets. Hopefully, my wall will support them fine. Any of you guys have any opinions on bipole vs dipole? I know ultimately I will just have to see how they sound in my room, but I'm curious which one will offer the best illusion of being surrounded (particularly for movies) considering the speakers on the sides and not the rear?

Airplay355

the fxi series is matched to the rti series....that is the new series with the new series and the old with the old

nebborjk

You're right about the bi-pole/di-pole question, you will have to try it yourself and figure out what works best in your room. There's a simple toggle switch on the back of the speaker to switch between the two. There are some good threads on Bi-Pole vs. Di-Pole on this forum. The search feature should be able to lead you where you need to go.

idealty

Ok, sorry guys if I'm beating this issue into the ground, but I have a question. I'm been researching about bipole and dipole speakers/sound. From what I gather, dipole create a more diffuse effect than bipole where the listener hears almost no sound in the null area (where the listener should be). This means that most of the sound the listener hears will not sound like it's coming from the actual speaker at all. However, bipoles have a greater localization effect while firing sound in two diretions to have a more diffuse effect (at least than direct radiators). This to me seems like a compromise between dipoles and direct radiating speakers, which is great. Now my problem is this. At first, I was going to use my fxi3's on the sides for the actual SL and SR channels in a 7.1 setup (which are the only surrounds in a 5.1). I think that the bipole setting will suit me best cuz I'm not crazy about a soundfield that is too difused. However, due to limitations of my room, my side surrounds are actually slightly in front of the listening area by about maybe 2 or 3 feet. Of course, the normal recommendation is to have the main surrounds to the sides and slightly behind the listener. The reason for this is that on one of my side walls, there's an large opening cuz it's like the hallway you walk through to get into my room. So if the length of my side wall is about 25ft, then there is only wall for maybe 15ft. I'm afraid that a lot of the sound that is supposed to be reflecting and bouncing off the wall will get lost in that open space and never be heard. Right now, the surround will be about a foot away from where the wall ends. Now, everywhere I looked (including this website) it says to use "dipole" setting if you will put the speakers on the sides and bipoles for the rear. However, since the listening area is much closer to the rear surrounds than the sides in my theater (so weaker direct radiators will be better there) and most of the surround action comes from the SL and SR channels anyway (rears are 80% matrixed since there isn't much 6.1 discrete soundtracks out there), I would rather have the better surrounds on my sides in bipole mode. Also, realize that the side surrounds are each almost 10ft away from the listening posistion, which is why i want to upgrade from my small sats that are there now. What do you guys think? Will fx's purpose be lost since there is no wall to reflect off of over there? Will bipole not be good on the sides? Should i just put them in the rear? I value your opinions (sorry this is so long)...

idealty

Anyone??????

Frank Z

Instead of mounting them permanently, use a couple of step ladders as temporary stands and try them in the back of the room and on the sides. Doing so will allow you to play with different locations and achieve the best location for your tastes. Be sure to calibrate your system each time you move the speakers to ensure that you get the best possible sound field while trying the different locations.