Jump to content

How to Mount a Heresy


rplace

Recommended Posts

A couple of months ago I wanted to hang my Heresies from the wall/ceiling for surrounds. I saw a couple of posts with Heresies mounted and PMed members to pick their brains on how they did it. Not being the most patient person I needed them done that weekend so set out to look at existing pix and go from there. I eventually got some input form forum members, but I was already done. They pretty much had a similar variation of what I cam up with.

This is what worked for me. Working fine so farno loud thumps in the night as they are still in place and very solid. I thought this might help somebody in the future.

You will need a 2X4 and some plywood along with some 2 inch drywall screws, a drill and a Phillips head screwdriver.

Cut the 2X4 into three pieces the exact same length.

A lot will depend on the location of your wall studs and floor/ceiling joists. If you get lucky enough to have 2 studs fall across your desired listening location then I would go with 18-20 long pieces of 2X4. This will allow you to span the 2 studs (assuming they are on 16 centers) and have a really solid mount.

I was not that lucky. I found the studs and wanted to be sure I was attached to at least one. However I felt my speaker placement was more important then the use of two studs (safety factor be damnedsound rules the roost at my home). With this in mind I struck out to mount the one piece of 2X4 into the stud and use two other in wall anchors for a total of three fasteners on the wall. For the one fastener mounted to the stud I used a 3 inch lag bolt for the other two you can find fasteners at Home Depot designed to hold 50 pounds in ½ inch drywall. They are basically bolts with a pointy collar around them that penetrates the drywall then flattens out inside the drywall. Somebody chime in herewhat are they? E-Z Anchor, toggle bolts, something else???

I figured a lag bolt plus two of those 50 pound things along with the ceiling mount was more then enough for my 40 some pound speaker.

Next task is to figure out what angle you want the speakers mounted on. This will depend on the width of your room and listening location. Use those 10th grade algebra skills to draw a right triangle where the legs of the triangle are:

A) Distance between your ear when seated and the wall minus 15 inches (I found 15 inches to be a good guess for depth of heresy plus/minus a bit for the fact that it is not going to be flat on the wall)

B) Spot from A above to middle of heresy

And the hypotenuse of the triangle is:

C) the distance from the middle of the heresy to your ear when seated

HeresyMountMath.jpg

Now Calculate the angle between B and C. This is the angle you want to cut the plywood.

The rest you can pretty much figure out from the pictures. Mount one piece of the 2X4 in the middle of the top part of the plywood (ceiling part) flush with the top edge of the plywood. I used two drywall screws on each side pre drilling a pilot hole. Now do the same with the wall portion of the plywood.

HeresyMountWall.JPG

Next mount this plywood and 2X4 contraption to the ceiling and wall using the correct combination of lag bolts, anchors as necessary. You might see from my picture that I used drywall screws to attach the ceiling 2x4 to hold it in place then ran the lag bolts in for added strength.

Try to get the right angle of the plywood as close to the wall and ceiling as possible. You probably dont have an exactly 90 degree angle where the wall meets the ceiling due to drywall tape, mud and finishingbut do the best you can.

I choose to run my speaker wire to a wall plate with banana connectors so I did not have to mess with attaching speaker wires behind the speaker once mounted. That would be a PITA. Simply run your wires to an electrical box attach the wires to the female banana thing-a-ma-jig and put the plate on the box. Next run a short set of wires from you Heresy to your banana plugs.

Remove the back of the heresy (H II users you will have to get creative here). I figured 3 carriage bolts were more then enough to secure the last piece of 2x4 to the back panel. I used flat washers and lock washers inside with the nuts.

HeresyMountSpeaker.JPG

You will notice the 2x4 mounted to the heresy is off center. This was to position the speaker where I wanted it relative to the mount that is now on the wall.

Final step call a friend and have them hold the speaker in place while you run screws through the plywood sides into the 2x4 attached to the Heresy.

Stick the banana plugs into the wall plate receptacles and you are ready to listen.

UnderStairs3.JPG

Of course I did this all as a test fit with the intention of painting the mount black but never got around to it. I am truly lazy at the core of my being. Now if you look close you see bare plywood behind the heresy. Hey give me a break it is dark and you should be watching the movie!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Looks familur1.gif Nice job.

The only thing I did differently was, I mounted 2 2x4's to the back of my Heresys perpindicular to the direction than you did. Both 2x4s ran parellel to the plywood holder, having 4 screws in both the speaker and plywood holder.

Mine have been hanging for over 3 years now. I check for sagging every now and again. No problems.

As for sound. Having the speaker tight to the ceiling and or wall on the long edge of the speaker gives better bass response than standing upright on the floor. Having the speakers over your head gives a great 3D surround sound. Having the speaker angled down pointing right at your sweet spot (head) gived that great full heritage midrange we all love.

JM

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks, Rdmarsiii!

They sound great. Until this room I have always had surrounds behind me or behind and to the side a little. Now that I have them directly on either side of the listener I really like it.

I toyed with the idea of speaker stands at ear level but it is a small-ish room (13.5 X 18) and I needed the floor space. First movie I watched with them this was Seven. I have seen that movie many times - never before did the rain sound so real (it rains throughout the entire movie). It was as if it was raining in my room.

JM, you were the catalyst to get this done. I used your pix and guessed at how you did it. Once I got your email (I think you were quite busy then) I felt like I had at least captured the spirit of yours and figured I would not end up picking them off the floor. So far so good.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Nice flexible design- just one thought, though. Please use real wood screws for projects such as this. Too many times drywall screws are used as 'multi-purpose' and they really don't have that much shear strength and the shafts are actually quite thin. A Heresy striking you on the noggin would really hurt.

Michael

Link to comment
Share on other sites

----------------

On 6/29/2005 9:30:15 PM rasavage4 wrote:

Do you think this would be possible with an inclining ceiling, or do you have to have a right angle? Thanks and great post!

----------------

Three things.

First is supporting the weight and keeping a rigid mount. Both rplace and I are using the wall studs and ceiling joists for support. You could support a 50 lbs speaker with your wall only, you would just have to make sure it could hold it.

Second, you want the speaker pointing to your sweet spot. If you look at mine, you will see mine are NOT at right angles. The sides and rears are clearly at different angles. They are calced to point to the listening position. http://forums.klipsch.com/idealbb/view.asp?topicID=50440

Third, I found the bass is improved having the Heresy rear flush to the ceiling. Depending on your vaulted ceiling this may or may not work for you. If not, don't feer, it will still sound like a Heresy.

JM

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Scott, glad you like the Cane grills. You have me rethinking my decision now. I thought the cane grills looked better with lighter woods (OO) and mine are WO. You say they look nice with Mahogany? Post some pix when you have time. Glad you like them. Thanks for the effortless transaction!

Gregg, what the heck is a Reissor screw?

Hawtkins, Thanks for the kind wordsnow I just need to finish the job by painting them black

rasavage4, As JM points out I think all you really need is sturdy mounting points. You would probably have to get more creative with the plywood parts, cutting the right (er, correct) angles but the idea would be the same.

HootMonk, Ill leave that job to you

O, that was a conscious decision to make that subject line. I was trying to be Finis straight man.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...