speaker mounting suggestions

orcldba8 · January 2004

after many years of listening to crap sound, just purchased a nice system, 4 Polk Rti38's, CSi40 and PSW505. Probably 70% music and 30% video use.

Looked at getting 'professional' assistance in installing -- a painful waste of time dealing with my local 'experts' in terms of no shows and non response.

I think I need to do wall mounts for the 38's and looking for suggestions. Wiring is going to go down, under and up (basement is accessible).

Room is 14x22 with full brick fireplace projecting 2 ft out in the center 8 ft of one 14ft wall.

Two will be mounted on the back corner / side walls 7-8ft up with probable 45? degree toe-in and 5-15? degree down angle. I think I can hit studs for these.

My prefered spot for the others is on the front corners of the fireplace about 6ft up, probable slight toe-in and down angle. Will have to drill into the brick?or mortar? to set the anchors. Other choice is on the walls.

Comments?

Also with the mounting, I do not want to use the keyholes alone because of my belief of the need for angling. Comment?

Clamping brackets look to be a match, are there other choices that will hold the 19lbs and allow angling? Or are there other decent clamping brackets at less than $30 each (like the btech77)? Or is that the going rate?

Any comment / suggestion welcome (other than return it all and buy bose).

Pat

pjdami · January 2004

Greetings Pat. Check out dorokusai (member here) system showcase pictures for RTi38 mountings because he did a great job. I'm sure he'll chime in here with some great suggestions as well.

As far as the anchoring is concerned, I'm thinking that drilling the anchors in the mortar is better than in the brick (at least that is how I've always seen things attached outside the house .. i.e. gutter downspouts, garden hose reels, etc.)

Nice system you've put together by the way.

Paul

wallstreet · January 2004

Check out www.omnimount.com. They make brackets to hold just about anything.

gidrah · January 2004

Congrats on the new upgrade.

If you have case moldings, a few coat hangers can be used to help figure out exactly where you want your new speakers. You may not want a full 45 degree angle. You may end up wanting them angled over your head slightly compared to directly at you.

You might be able to cut a piece of wood (ie: 4x4 cut into a wedge) to give you the desired angle and sturdiness.

Good luck!

Early B. · January 2004

You don't need to angle the rear speakers. Just aim them straight towards each other. I have my 38's hanging on my side walls by a 2.5 inch screw into a stud. Once I mounted my rear speakers, there was definite improvement in rear effects.

You may want to re-consider mounting your fronts, at least until you play around with placement. Because of the power port on the back, the 38's sound a bit differently when they are mounted on the wall. I originally had 38's as my fronts and they were mounted, but they they sounded better to me when they were a couple of feet away from the wall.

If you decide to mount them, go with the clamping mounts you mentioned. Most of the other clamps require you to drill holes in your speakers.

orcldba8 · January 2004

Thanks for the suggestions.

Looked at omni-mount and all of them 'appeared' to require drilling into the speaker -- I want to avoid that.

Early B - my 'plan' for the the front speakers, is to actually mount them on the side at the front corner of the fireplace and then tilt them in --- that is one reason to use pivoting mounts. If the exact mount doesn't angle far enough, I plan on adding a wedge between the mount and the brick to increase the angle. So behind the speakers is actually open, look at my room dimensions above

wallstreet · January 2004

You could drill into the power port. It already is designed to hold the speaker through the built in keyhole. Don't worry about drilling into the back of the speaker. That's what Polk does to put the powerport on. It's just wood screws holding the port on.