muel Posted October 27, 2021 Share Posted October 27, 2021 I bought some AW-650 outdoor speakers quite a while ago and would like to get them installed. Thought I'd ask here if anyone has ideas on where to mount outdoor speakers... directly on the eaves or up on the wall under the eaves? How close to outer walls? How far apart? I'm used to moving speakers and testing the results but since these have to be mounted and vinyl siding drilled this will be a "one and done" job. I want to get it right the first time! I've marked on the picture where I was thinking of mounting them horizontal... roughly 10 feet of space between the speakers mounted to the wall directly under the eaves. I don't know yet if I can mount to the eaves directly as I haven't identified the location of the rafters. The wall might be the more solid mount anyway. I'm planning on placing the woofer towards the outside (near the next wall) so the tweeters are closer to the middle. If I mount them on the wall or on the eaves will affect how I can rotate and adjust to a certain extent. Note in the picture that the left wall is not 90 degrees and flares out. Thoughts or comments? 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jason str Posted October 27, 2021 Share Posted October 27, 2021 Just like indoors, toe them in a bit to reduce reflections off the siding. Nice deck. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
muel Posted October 27, 2021 Author Share Posted October 27, 2021 Heh, the picture makes the deck look decent but it is due for replacement. I need to tear it out and see what kind of rot I might have at the rim joists where the deck attaches. I'll have nice music while we work at least! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rplace Posted October 27, 2021 Share Posted October 27, 2021 I have 650s outside and choose to mount them vertically because the 650 mounts let them swivel side to side not up down. That way you can point them and toe them in to where people are. Since the mounting is basically 1 and done, I felt the directivity left/right was more important. I think you will be surprised how good they sound. I'm still amazed at the performance for a couple of plastic boxes around $400. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jason str Posted October 27, 2021 Share Posted October 27, 2021 At least the price of lumber went down. Good luck with everything. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
muel Posted October 27, 2021 Author Share Posted October 27, 2021 18 minutes ago, rplace said: I have 650s outside and choose to mount them vertically because the 650 mounts let them swivel side to side not up down. That way you can point them and toe them in to where people are. Since the mounting is basically 1 and done, I felt the directivity left/right was more important. I think you will be surprised how good they sound. I'm still amazed at the performance for a couple of plastic boxes around $400. That is kind of my quandary... if I mount vertical then it is shooting over my head 9 feet up. I'd have to tilt the mount quite a bit. Ideally, there would be a ball mount that I could mount to the center and rotate in any direction and then lock it in when adjusted where I want it. I think there is a center thread for pole mounts isn't there? I'll have to look... I'm wondering if there is such a thing as a ball mount that could be mounted to the wall or eaves? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jason str Posted October 27, 2021 Share Posted October 27, 2021 Rip some lumber to angle the mount. Bolt it secure and then mount the speaker bracket to that. Better mount of some type ? 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rplace Posted October 27, 2021 Share Posted October 27, 2021 6 minutes ago, muel said: That is kind of my quandary... if I mount vertical then it is shooting over my head 9 feet up. I worried and obsessed about the perfect placement. I got two step ladders and put them up both ways for a "test". In the end vertical sounded better to me and let me aim them. I move them 2 or 3 times in busy weekend. My wife thinks I'm crazy. I have a walk out basement, so my deck is essentially 1 story off the ground providing a covered area around the pool to get out of the sun. If I'm 12-15 feet away (under the deck) or 30-40 feet away (in the pool) I can position them to get a good stereo image. Nothing to back it up but since you are typically a further away then indoor listening I don't think the height is as big a factor. I've put them tweeters down and no real difference. Also, in the end, you are outside and so many other factors...not really critical listening. I think you will find mounting to the evens is a no-go. Its a place for air to flow up into the underside of the deck so I don't think it will be solid. So if you wall mount them they don't have to be all the way up. You could easily move them 10-12" down from the top and make a wedged piece of wood that angles the top down. Sort of a ramp. Mount the triangle/ramp to the side of the house then the Klipsch mounts to that ramped wood. We all tend to obsess over the perfect everything. I think you will be amazed how good they sound no matter how you mount them. I'll see if I can grab a few quick pix of mine...warning my back yard is currently a mess due to pool refresh. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
muel Posted October 27, 2021 Author Share Posted October 27, 2021 Hmmm... I could maybe mount them directly to the corners with a wedge to point them down a bit. I can't mount vertically on the vinyl siding very easy. Also, I have to keep WAF in mind so they need to not be too obtrusive. Did you put the tweeter on the bottom? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rplace Posted October 27, 2021 Share Posted October 27, 2021 33 minutes ago, muel said: Hmmm... I could maybe mount them directly to the corners with a wedge to point them down a bit. I can't mount vertically on the vinyl siding very easy. Also, I have to keep WAF in mind so they need to not be too obtrusive. Did you put the tweeter on the bottom? When I had the step ladder test run I tried tweeter up/down when vertical and in/out when horizontal. Walking around the "listening" area I noticed zero difference. So I mounted tweets up so the logo was not upside down. These are not quite as high as yours, about 8.5 feet but they are a lot wider...around 20 feet. I'll post another picture from far away. The deck is 44 feet wide so I think 20-something is about right. These are tweeters up and angled to the concrete area between deck and pool. Not that you can really see the angle. Hard to get an accurate picture with shady overhang, bright sunlight and distance. But I think you get the idea Side bar I absolutely hate the photo policy of Klipsch site. Between resizing photos, limiting the size per post and max you can have on your account it takes about an hour to do what should take 2 minutes....sorry rant off Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jason str Posted October 27, 2021 Share Posted October 27, 2021 Unless that's cedar or solid siding you will need a buffer to avoid crushing anything. If you bolt a mounting surface just over it avoids unneeded damage during install. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rplace Posted October 27, 2021 Share Posted October 27, 2021 Here is the wide shot. I think 20-ish by 8.5 is pretty accurate. I can grab a tape measure if you want more accurate info. Speakers are by left window above mermaid and centered at that bump out in the deck above the bush. I can angle them so they sound good at the table, the cement area between deck and pool or in the pool. Again wife thinks I'm silly but it does make a difference....though like I said they always sound good. Not sure how deep your deck is from the mounting wall but if you sit in different areas, just some food for thought about vertical mounting so you can aim them. I've had zero problems with the sound over shooting our heads...but then again it is not like a room that is treated and specifically built for music. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rplace Posted October 27, 2021 Share Posted October 27, 2021 For future readers on the fence between the 525 and 650 the difference is night and day. The 525s are probably my biggest Klipsch disappointment. The 650s just have so much more of everything. I was concerned about size....never should have bought them. Wish I returned them for another pair of 650. Took this while I was out because the sky is so beautiful. @muel A trick I learned for outdoor mounting. Have enough slack in the speaker wire so it loops down then up to the terminals. You can see it on the right side speaker. It lets all the rain/moisture drip off the lowest point. If you have the wire with a straight shot from up above to the terminals the water will collect on the binding posts. 650s above are sheltered by the deck. These have been pummeled by sun/rain/snow for 10+ years and still going strong. I think I unmounted them and brought them inside one winter, outside the rest. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
muel Posted October 27, 2021 Author Share Posted October 27, 2021 I got the 650's after being disappointed in the 525's which are back in the box collecting dust now. I have a couple of ideas where I might still use those. It occurs to me that I should hold one of the 650's up with my wife watching and she can let me know if she cares how it looks. Might save some hassle even if it isn't perfect. Like you say... it isn't for critical listening. I just like to hear a little Ray Charles when I grill I'll have to see how the mounting bracket lines up with the siding when placed vertical. Those laps are 4.5" tall if I remember correctly. If I want to try the corners that vinyl corner molding may or may not take kindly to mounting there. I'm pretty sure there is good wood behind there to secure it. Thanks for the tips and pics! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wuzzzer Posted October 27, 2021 Share Posted October 27, 2021 6 hours ago, rplace said: I think you will be surprised how good they sound. I'm still amazed at the performance for a couple of plastic boxes around $400. I'm using AW-650s as overhead Atmos speakers and they work fantastic. I was lucky to get an open box pair on eBay for less than $250. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
muel Posted October 28, 2021 Author Share Posted October 28, 2021 @rplace a quick tip about resizing photos... I really like a screen grabber application called "Snagit!" Seriously one of my favorite applications and I use it all the time... any photo I have I can do a quick screen shot of whatever crop of the photo I like... quickly annotate, add notes, arrows, whatever... save as a jpg and it is at a perfect resolution for sharing on the web. I don't come close to the 2 MB limit since most photos aren't more than 75k Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flatgrass Posted October 28, 2021 Share Posted October 28, 2021 On 10/27/2021 at 3:15 PM, jason str said: Rip some lumber to angle the mount. Bolt it secure and then mount the speaker bracket to that. Put these up about thirteen years ago. Had to angle to bracket because the screw handles were too wide to fit up between the rafters/deck joists. But this could work akin to a rail mounting. Use a long piece and you could adjust the spacing. Or, use some "L" metal straps to mount to a horizontal eave and the speaker could hang down. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flatgrass Posted October 28, 2021 Share Posted October 28, 2021 Images are large. Just ripped a 2 x4 Postage stamp patio, row home in DC. Set them facing back in towards the back wall. Good sound when facing them, good sound coming off the wall to you when sitting under them. Woofers outside, HF inside. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
muel Posted October 28, 2021 Author Share Posted October 28, 2021 That's a nice installation! It is also encouraging that these speakers are working for so long even with outside exposure! Today I got the wires run and speakers installed in spite of a bit of rain. The top of the bracket is tilted out and spaced from the siding with 25 washers stacked as a spacer. I found some white heat shrink tubing that I'll install to hide the cable a bit better. Used some black Monoprice 14g wire. A horizontal mount would have looked a bit better and maybe less obtrusive but I think I'm going to prefer the adjustability of a vertical installation. Yeah, I know... that siding needs some cleaning! 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rplace Posted October 28, 2021 Share Posted October 28, 2021 Looks great, protected a bit. Like the 25 washer stack....simple and effective. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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