Mounting Surround Speakers (1 Viewer)

[GarryW]

We will be adding on a 15' x 24' addition this summer that will have a 9'0" ceiling. I have everything figured out like where to put the 65" Mits, equipment, etc.
The surrounds will be mounted about 3-4 feet aboove and a little behind the seating area which is about 11'-12' back from the TV.
The right surround will be mounted on a shelf above the doorway entrance to the new room.
The left surround will be "right out in the open". I'm guessing that I'll use a wall bracket or build another small shelf to suport it..
Any suggestions on how to get it to "blend in more" with the room without using in-wall speakers?

 

[Wayne A. Pflughaupt]

Garry,
It's a lost cause to make a speaker "disappear" if it's out there all by itself. Maybe putting in a bookcase or something like that would make it less conspicuous.
Short of that, putting up another shelf like the one on the right will at least make everything look somewhat symmetrical.
Regards,
Wayne A. Pflughaupt

 

[Eric Samonte]

I have seen someone in here with pics showing how he made them things disappear. What he did was make some sort of "pillars" on the walls just about the size of the surrounds. Then they were wrapped with fabric basically making it part of tghe whole structure. I hope you can imagine what I'm talking about. Really neat I must say and I plan to do just that when I start finishing the attic.
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Eric Samonte
Dito sa Pilipinas..may Hom Tiyeter rin kami!

 

[GarryW]

I too saw the HT pic's that someone made about creating some "pillars that housed the surrounds. They stuck into the room about 1 foot and were from floor to ceiling. Can't rememeber who but it did make the the surrounds blend in nicely. I guess you could also hollow out some shelves in the area below the surrounds for items like DVD's, a Pronto, HT magazines, etc.

 

[Jeff Bamberger]

Blending is very hard to do. The best I could was to get my mains and surrounds in white/viory which blends better with the off-white pannelling better than black would......

 

[Chad Isaacs]

Partick Bennetts rears are in colums but they are either bi or di poles.I made shelfs like Mike Knapp's but instead of drilling into the speaker I put a shelf on the top and sat the speaker on the shelf.I then used a strap to secure the speaker to the shelf.They cost about $20 total for the set.They are in the rear corners of the room so I do not notice them at all.

 

[Grant B]

The photos are a little dark, but in the 1st phote , a little right and above the scottie dog, is a Surround Sp http://www.hometheaterforum.com/bbs/...ent/28843.html
I used antique radio cloth which fit in well
Grant
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[Patrick Bennett]

Yup, my M&K SS-500 surrounds are in two of the side columns. The columns also act as diffusers for the sound.
The front and rear columns on one side house HVAC supply's, and on the opposite side, the returns.
They've worked out quite well. The only thing thing that wasn't planned up front was somewhere to put rear surrounds for EX or Logic-7 processing.
I'll probably have to hang the rears from the lighting soffit in the back of the room. Not ideal, but it'll probably work out fairly well.
Let me know if anybody's has any questions. Pictures should be in the link w/in my signature.
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The Bennett Home Theater: Link Removed

 

[GarryW]

Patrick:
Thanks for jumping in on this thread. I checked the M&K website and they show the Surround-550THX. Is that just a newer version of the SS-500?
I am curious you if also consider dipoles, as I plan on using my Paradigm Mini-Monitors, but maybe ADP-350's would work better?
The MM are 13h x 8W x 11 D versus the ADP's are 13h x 11w x 8d, so they would hug the wall a liitle better.

 

[GarryW]

Using 3D Home Architect, I've provided a link here:
Link Removed
I'm concerned that the ADP type surrounds will be about 12' from the back wall so they may not work as well.
Comments on using monopoles versus dipoles fror my new setup are greatly appreciated!

 

[Patrick Bennett]

The SS-550's are the direct radiator surrounds for the the 750THX Select M&K system. The SS-500's are true dipoles that are traditionally part of an SS-5000 system.
I'll be getting S-150's across the front, but the SS-150 Tripole's wouldn't have worked well in my room, so I went with the next step up that M&K offered in true dipoles.
M&K confirmed that the SS-500's would tonally match the S-150's as well, so it wasn't too hard of a decision to make.
I may end up going with Tripoles for the rear surrounds when I buy them though.
As for your theater, there are no dimensions on your drawing, so it's hard to tell, but if you've only got one row of seats to deal with, I'd probably go with monopoles.
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The Bennett Home Theater: Link Removed

 

[Brett_V]

Hi Gary. I recently built a theater in my basement also. I used a pair of Def-Tech BPX's as my surround speakers and I am quite pleased with their performance as well as their appearance and ease of installation. I posted some pics at audioreview that might still be viewable at the address below Link Removed
The speakers come with mounting hardware for hanging directly on the wall. All you need to do is make sure there is a stud or 2x4 cat directly behind the desired position of the speaker. Since I planned ahead when constructing the theater, this was no problem. Def-Tech makes 4 versions of this speaker, one of them includes a built-in powered subwoofer. They are bipoles and sound great. Hope this helps.