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RB-75s - trying to mount to ceiling


Lpusedyou

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I just got a pair of these monster bookshelf speakers and I have already fallen in love with their sound. I bought them with the intention to use them as my rear surrounds with my RF-7s and, hopefully, RC-7 for a 5.1 system. I looked at the size dimensions and weight before buying and still thought it would be possible to use them as my rears. Once I brought them home I knew I would have a slight problem mounting them.

I need to ceiling mount these because while the left wall of my room is good for shelf mounting one RB-75 the right wall has a very large window with curtains on it. So side wall mounting is out of the question. I could possibly do stands behind the listening position couch but I'd really like to avoid that if possible since I'm afraid of them getting knocked over and stuff (not to mention the amount of room this would take up).

I found a few threads on mounting the RB-75 but most are for wall mounting not ceiling. I found this one http://community.klipsch.com/forums/p/56212/544248.aspx but I'm pretty sure (after looking up the mounting bracket he used) that he was also wall mounting. Here is a picture of the layout of my room to show you what I mean. Not sure why it showed up like that. Click on image and then click again to zoom in and make it view properly.

Any ideas on ceiling mounting RB-75s?

post-49442-13819664138646_thumb.jpg

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the right wall has a very large window with curtains on it. So side wall mounting is out of the question.

I have a double sliding glass door with curtains located right where I needed my speaker mounted. I had a friend weld me a custom bracket. Works perfectly for my setup. You can see more details here.Be sure to scroll to the very bottom of the page. Lots of photos showing the bracket and installation.

You can see below that the top mounts to the wall above the sliding glass door, drops down behind the curtain and then through the curtain to mount the speaker onto the flat bracket.

bracket1.jpg

rs-52_7.jpg

Here is the results

Back_Wall_sm.jpgBack_Wall_small.jpg

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Yea I actualy saw your thread and read a lot of it. I really liked the solution you took and that's awesome that you have a friend who custom made this for you. I wish I could do the same thing but the space between the right side of the couch and the east wall is only about 28 inches. The RB-75 is nearly 12 inches deep. For wall mounting I could try to mount it above the curtain rod but I wouldn't be able to get much of an angle to point it at the listening position.

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http://www.omnimount.com/Product/Speaker_Mounts/Stainless_Steel_Series/30-0_CA-MP/

I would assume the rb75s have predrilled holes in the bottom and not the back similiar to the rb81s

so unless you can custom build another bracket into this mount that I linked at the top then the wall mounting bracket is about the only other option Ive seen

http://www.omnimount.com/Product/Speaker_Mounts/Stainless_Steel_Series/30-0_WB/

now the way I did mine from the ceiling was to get a peice of wood and a peice of corner round and nail and glue the corner round into the wood board then hang chains from each corner with different lengths to angle slight downward to listening area

post-38740-13819664155724_thumb.jpg

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compromises

we can pretend we didnt see that dirty word on here...Roll-eyes

Yea I'm gonna act like I didn't see that for sure...lol jk. Yea I've thought about in-ceiling speakers honestly but decided against it. I love the sound of the RB-75s and I've heard RB-61s and RB81s before too. I don't really want to go to in-ceiling speakers since nothing I've heard compares to the three speakers I just mentioned.

Does laying these speakers on their side affect the sound at all? As in, is it pretty much exactly the same as if it were right side up?

This is the mount I used for my Polk RTi4s I used to have for rears and the mount that is currently holding my RB-10s:

http://www.monoprice.com/products/product.asp?c_id=108&cp_id=10828&cs_id=1082804&p_id=6839&seq=1&format=2

It held my Polk RTi4s for about a year perfectly fine with about a 45 degree slant (from ceiling) and they weighed 27 lbs each. Even though it's super cheap and doesn't look like much, the mount really has been quite good. The only bad reviews I've seen are when you use it to mount anything over 15 lbs on a wall (not ceiling). I'd like to use this mount of course but the RB-75 only has threaded screw holes on the bottom of the speaker and no holes whatsoever on the back. If drilling into the speaker causes no harm then I guess I'm okay with doing that. I just am not sure the best/safest place to drill into it and what hardware to use. Btw, I appreciate you guys even trying to help and offer alternatives like you have. This community is pretty awesome.

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I would not make more holes in the back of an RB-75. These speakers are too rare and precious to do that. Instead, use some angle iron or some other custom made bracket to make a support that attaches to the existing holes on the bottom of the speaker, and then makes an "L" bend up the rear with slots/holes for mounting a bracket that attaches to the ceiling. You are hopefully mounting to studs, as those are heavy speakers. If not, you are going to have to do some bracing up in the attic (which isn't hard if you have access up there. You could also invert the speaker so the mounting holes are on the top, but then the grill would be upside down. Or, get some floor stands to support the RB-75.

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I would not make more holes in the back of an RB-75. These speakers are too rare and precious to do that. Instead, use some angle iron or some other custom made bracket to make a support that attaches to the existing holes on the bottom of the speaker, and then makes an "L" bend up the rear with slots/holes for mounting a bracket that attaches to the ceiling. You are hopefully mounting to studs, as those are heavy speakers. If not, you are going to have to do some bracing up in the attic (which isn't hard if you have access up there. You could also invert the speaker so the mounting holes are on the top, but then the grill would be upside down. Or, get some floor stands to support the RB-75.

The mount I have installed right now is not going into a stud. It is using 4 heavy duty anchors with beefy screws into them that hold the mounting bracket to the ceiling. I don't have access to the ceiling since I'm in a two story house and there is no crawl space for the first floor. Would mounting the speaker upside down have any negative impact on the sound? Because I honestly don't care if the grill is upside down. Especially if it means I get a more secure hold on the speaker without making new holes in it.

I will definitely look into creating an L bracket type of mount as well. I have a friend I'm going to call later tonight who would know more about it and be a good resource.

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Laying a speaker on the side will effect the sound because the horn will be verticle instead of horizontal. That is a narrower soundstage. Having it upside down may actually help the sound, as the ceiling would act as a reflective surface. I don't think it would sound worse.

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Anchors are much more effective on a wall than on a ceiling. You could reach up and pull an anchor right through a ceiling sheet, but try pulling straight down on the same anchor in a wall.

I would definitely be using studs. If you cannot center on the stud, then use a peice of 3/4 plywood to span the studs and mount to the plywood.

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Anchors are much more effective on a wall than on a ceiling. You could reach up and pull an anchor right through a ceiling sheet, but try pulling straight down on the same anchor in a wall.

I would definitely be using studs. If you cannot center on the stud, then use a peice of 3/4 plywood to span the studs and mount to the plywood.

definitely agree with the others on studs

I have each chain screwed into the studs above

I cant say I noticed much difference with the speakers vertical or horizontal

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Anchors are much more effective on a wall than on a ceiling. You could reach up and pull an anchor right through a ceiling sheet, but try pulling straight down on the same anchor in a wall.

I would definitely be using studs. If you cannot center on the stud, then use a peice of 3/4 plywood to span the studs and mount to the plywood.

Yea I definitely understand that anchors are more effective on a wall than a ceiling due to the whole gravity thing. The anchors that were recommended to me by the home depot guy are medium-heavy duty hollow wall anchors. They are explained here http://www.homedepot.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ContentView?pn=Hollow_Wall_Anchors&catalogId=10053&storeId=10051&langId=-1 near the bottom of the page on the chart. I definitely can't pull these out of the ceiling easily by hand as they have a pretty wide spread (compared to regular run of the mill anchors).

Anywho, even though these held my polk RTi4s and the currently mounted Klipsch RB-10s I DO want to install the RB-75s in a much more secure fashion. That's one of the reasons I opened the thread. Mounting them upside down is sounding like the best way to attach to the speaker itself I just hope the two threaded inserts on the bottom will support the weight of the speaker on an angle. I'm guessing this will be putting more stress on the threads than they may have been built for.

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New diagram showing my most current set up. As you can see the RB-75s are on some stands I already had on hand. However, because they are literally right behind the couch I'm thinking they are too directional for how close the listener's head is to them. Not to mentioned that they are huge and can and already have gotten bumped into (haven't fallen over yet thanfully). Also I'd have to route the wires under the couch and then along the west wall's base board and then behind the media cabinet. Right now I am temporarily just having the cords hang down from the ceiling where the speaker plate is installed from my old set up.

I'd still like to do the ceiling mount or a wall mount. If I did wall mount then it'd have to be really high on the east wall so that it's not in the way when people walk by the couch (see picture). And I'm fine with that I suppose but I'll just need to get something fabricated custom. Thanks to my brother I may have someone who can help do that.

post-49442-13819664415184_thumb.jpg

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