What a difference it makes wall mounting speakers

[AC43]

Seven years and two houses ago I amassed £2k's worth of audio kit which I was very excited about at the time. It comprised a Cambridge Audio 650c CD player, the 640R amp, a pair of Monitor Audio GS10 speakers (not the floorstanding version) and an MJ Acoustics sub.

But due to the never ending male v female argument of function vs appearance I never managed to get the speakers either (a) on stands or (b) wall mounted. It both of the last two properties they ended up sitting on top of long floating cupboards. And to make it worse on the last install I was obliged to hid the sub in one of the cupboards, albeit sitting properly on the floor.

So, the builders arrived six weeks ago to rip open the back of the house and create a new, large open plan kitchen/living area. After the usual barrage of unreasonable demands involving having no technology on view but a fabulous sound the sub is now happily sitting in the open and, more importantly, the speakers are wall mounted on either side of a funky 70's sideboard.

And **** me the set up finally sounds (to my ears) amazing. I'm not claiming to be an audiophile but it's by far the best system I've ever owned. The last install sounded good at low volume but quickly became muddled and splashy at medium to high volumes. No surprise given that the carefully engineered speakers were sitting on huge reasnoator boxes.

This one stays tight and controlled to frankly ridiculous volumes.

AND the Mrs loves it. She actually likes the looks of the piano black speakers on the wall and says she actually likes the look of the sub (!). Now she tells me....

Finally, finally, finally I got there. I lost quite a few battles along the way but I have won the war.

This weekend I'll be revisiting more old tunes and giving the system a good workout. Happy days :-)

[phil_cardiff]

Happy days!

I bought some Wharfdale bookshelf speakers and managed to persuade my wife that stands were ok. All was going well until my son started to crawl and almost pulled a speaker onto himself!

I had to put them on the floor for a bit and the reduction in sound quality was unreal. I've since bought a pair of Mission 762i from ebay for £50 which is a big improvement but it's not a patch on the clarity of my Wharfdales.

I'm not actually sure the Mission's are proper floorstanders but that's where they are staying and they are cheap enough for my son to bash into them with his scooter etc.

[Autopilot]

I have some metre high floorstanders at the front of my system and two bookshelf speakers on stands / spikes at the rear. The dogs have nearly knocked one of them down on a few occasions so my better half suggested that I got another set of floorstanders for the rear. Within about 10 minutes of this conversation they were ordered just in case she changed her mind. Woman approval does make life much easier!!!

[AC43]

phil_cardiff said:

Happy days!

I bought some Wharfdale bookshelf speakers and managed to persuade my wife that stands were ok. All was going well until my son started to crawl and almost pulled a speaker onto himself!

I had to put them on the floor for a bit and the reduction in sound quality was unreal. I've since bought a pair of Mission 762i from ebay for £50 which is a big improvement but it's not a patch on the clarity of my Wharfdales.

I'm not actually sure the Mission's are proper floorstanders but that's where they are staying and they are cheap enough for my son to bash into them with his scooter etc.

Glad you found a solution.

I've got kids too and if I'd gone down the stand route was planning to use velro between the stand and the speaker base. Was planning to use some sort of sticky pad between the stand base and floor.

[AC43]

Autopilot said:

I have some metre high floorstanders at the front of my system and two bookshelf speakers on stands / spikes at the rear. The dogs have nearly knocked one of them down on a few occasions so my better half suggested that I got another set of floorstanders for the rear. Within about 10 minutes of this conversation they were ordered just in case she changed her mind. Woman approval does make life much easier!!!

Get in!

The thing is, my wife is brilliant at interiors but her start point on audio something along the lines of "two ceiling speakers connected to an iPhone".

If I went down her route the first thing would be "that sounds rubbish, the old system was much better. Can't you put it in again?" After the wiring had all been chased in, the walls replastered and the last coat of Farrow and Ball had finally dried.....

In the last house but one I'd bought a fantastic rectangular double sub from Monitor Audio or Mission, can't recall. It was bought to sit alongside the arm of the rather nice Ligne Rosset sofa she'd chosen. The only problem is that the house had been stripped to shell prior to being out back together again and she didn't want to commit to the sofa's position and got more and more agitated every time I asked what I thought was a reasonable question. Of course I needed to know so I could route a power socket and phono connection. "Don't talk to me about wires" was the politest version of what she said. Eventually I gave up and returned the unit.

Months later as we put the furniture back in she asked in all seriouness" where's that lovely sub you bought?"........

I ended up with the little MJA sub sticking out of the bottom of the cupboard. Making the cupboard door vibrate in a farting manner on certain bass frequencies when I cranked it up. *sigh*

So glad to have finally got there!

[ambuletz]

I have a micro hifi which i have owned for some 15 years, love it to bits. I became one of those people guilty of just having the speakers right next to and either side of the main unit. with my TV i used to have the speakers directly either side of my TV... then one day decided to move them further apart so they were at more of a 45 degree angle to where i am sat infront of the tv.

it made a huge difference. especially on computer games like CoD. i could much more easily tell where things were.

[OldSkoolRS]

Last time I upgraded my speakers I made a point of looking at ones specifically designed to be wall mounted. I ended up with some really good MK MP150/S150T speakers that were available in black or white. The black ones almost disappear on my front wall as it is a dark brown colour and the surround speakers being white don't look so obvious on the side walls.

Granted I then went and added a pair of 15" subwoofers, but one looks like an oak table and the other is hidden round the end of a sofa with an oak top on it so it looks like an end table anyway.

Best system I've ever owned and fairly discrete (I recently moved all my amps, etc under the stairs for a completely stealth set up).

[AC43]

OldSkoolRS said:

Last time I upgraded my speakers I made a point of looking at ones specifically designed to be wall mounted. I ended up with some really good MK MP150/S150T speakers that were available in black or white. The black ones almost disappear on my front wall as it is a dark brown colour and the surround speakers being white don't look so obvious on the side walls.

B**ger I've now started looking at MK, a manufacturer I'd never heard of before. Thanks......

OldSkoolRS said:

Granted I then went and added a pair of 15" subwoofers

I love how you just dropped that in.

OldSkoolRS said:

But one looks like an oak table and the other is hidden round the end of a sofa with an oak top on it so it looks like an end table anyway.

Nice subterfuge

OldSkoolRS said:

Best system I've ever owned

Not surprised having read a few quick reviews

OldSkoolRS said:

and fairly discrete (I recently moved all my amps, etc under the stairs for a completely stealth set up).

Neat. My BIL did something similar in that some of his boxes are concealed in panneling between a couple of rooms.

[OldSkoolRS]

AC43 said:

Nice subterfuge

I like that one, mind if I borrow it.

AC43 said:

Neat. My BIL did something similar in that some of his boxes are concealed in panneling between a couple of rooms.

It's great not having a pile of amps and stuff in the room. Not only that any future upgrades will be equally stealthy. I don't have to worry about getting matching gear, or if something is a bit ugly, like my sub amp (a horrible looking PA type amp with bright orange lights and plastic front panel like a 1970's Datsun grille).

If you are interested in MK speakers I know that there is an open day later in March but you will need to let them know you want to come along (maybe just ring if you aren't on AVforums) post number 3024 https://www.avforums.com/threads/gecko-home-cinema...

[AC43]

OldSkoolRS said:

It's great not having a pile of amps and stuff in the room. Not only that any future upgrades will be equally stealthy. I don't have to worry about getting matching gear, or if something is a bit ugly, like my sub amp (a horrible looking PA type amp with bright orange lights and plastic front panel like a 1970's Datsun grille).

Stupildy, I didn't actually consider this. There is one section of adjoining well left in my open plan area and it.......contains a cupboard. Oddly enough the wife spotted the obvious mistake just as the job finished. After all the cables had been chased in.....*sigh*

OldSkoolRS said:

If you are interested in MK speakers I know that there is an open day later in March but you will need to let them know you want to come along (maybe just ring if you aren't on AVforums) post number 3024 https://www.avforums.com/threads/gecko-home-cinema...

Thanks but I have about rule hifi demos; I don't do them as they have a habit of getting very expensive almost instantaneously. |for the same reason I don't book test drives :-)

[OldSkoolRS]

Yes I know what you mean...I went to Gecko about 18 months ago, I was perfectly happy with my set up at the time. I've since changed all the speakers and built the two 15" subs. The visit itself may have been free, but it cost me a lot afterwards.

Had a few colleagues round this weekend for a film night and they seemed pretty impressed, but what matters is that I'm really happy with it. The only improvement would be painting the room black for the projector picture...my OH is away this week too, but maybe I'd better not redecorate in black.

[AC43]

OldSkoolRS said:

The only improvement would be painting the room black for the projector picture...my OH is away this week too, but maybe I'd better not redecorate in black.

Heh heh. I once rented a house where they'd created a huge, white open plan space at the back and then turned the front room into a cinema room. Black walls, black ceiling, black woodwork, black carpets, black sofa, black TV, black audio kit.

It was great until you lost the remote.

[campionissimo]

have you got a pic - I've a 60's sideboard, and need somewhere to put my speakers - need to decide whether to use the Kef Coda 9's or a pair of Polk Audio Bookshelf speakers. would be interested to see how yours looks........

[AC43]

campionissimo said:

have you got a pic - I've a 60's sideboard, and need somewhere to put my speakers - need to decide whether to use the Kef Coda 9's or a pair of Polk Audio Bookshelf speakers. would be interested to see how yours looks........

i'll try and dig one out later. For now, the sideboard is a 70’s G Plan (Ebay special) in, I think, rosewood. The speakes are piano black 2007 Monitor Audio GS 10 bookshelves on cheapo Richer Sounds brackets.

[AC43]

Pic as requested. Yes I know there's a chair in the way.....not always there.

And yes, ideally the speakers would be higher but SWMBO wanted them centred on the sideboard. Fair enough, still miles better than before,

The area where the sideboard/speakers/mirror are located was originally the footprint of the garage.

The previous owner extended the room into it but it was a sort of dead area. We added in the large window to the left, my wife found the sideboard on eBay (Zipvan from London to Herts for that one), the mirror (diversion on the trip home a couple of weekends ago from Suffolk to London via Ipswich) and I got the builders to chase in the cabling and bolt on the speaker mounts.

Happy with the result visually and audibly.

Now looking for a smaller retro cupboard to modify so I can lose the separates. Currently in a temp stack round the corner, not in view.

Edited by AC43 on Wednesday 4th March 13:07

Edited by AC43 on Wednesday 4th March 13:08

Edited by AC43 on Wednesday 4th March 13:10

[campionissimo]

excellent - has given me the push to go ahead and use my polk audio speakers in the living room wall mounted like yours.

one pair of kef coda 9's going up for sale soon!!

[phil_cardiff]

I'm no expert but aren't they a little low?

[campionissimo]

yes, maybe they're too low, unless you've got a dedicated listening room, there's a balance to be struck between sonic performance and living room aesthetics (which most people call "pleasing the wife") :lol:

[AC43]

campionissimo said:

yes, maybe they're too low, unless you've got a dedicated listening room, there's a balance to be struck between sonic performance and living room aesthetics (which most people call "pleasing the wife") :lol:

Yes, exactly.....

[phil_cardiff]

I understand your point.

I was very lucky then to get my 60cm stands past the wife!