Wall mounting speakers, or mounting on stands?

MouthBoy

MouthBoy

MouthBoy

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Hi All,

I am making some changes to my office setup and was looking at either wall mounting or putting my speakers onto stands. I was after some advice on a few points;

1) Any reason to do one over the other? I have the room to do both, but in my mind wall mounting gets them "off the floor" and makes it easier to position other things around the office.
2) Based on the above answer, any recommendations of what to go for?

At the moment my speakers are on Ikea shelves but I am looking to rid of these. I will post some pictures up shortly.

My speakers are Cambridge Audio Aero 2's.

Thanks
 
Are your priorities sound or aesthetics?

Nearly all speakers now have a bass reflex port. The bass port gives the designer a chance to get more bass out of a box than is possible with the alternative sealed box design called infinite baffle. Bass reflex designs need a bit of space between the speaker and the back wall to balance the bass reinforcement effect. The ball park distance is 20-30cm. It's not so easy to achieve that with wall stands. TBH, in a lot of homes it's difficult to achieve that with floor stands too. :D The compromise most people live with is an over-emphasis in the bass that becomes more pronounced as the volume increases.

A common trick to counteract a lot of this effect is to 'bung' the bass ports. That litterally means blocking them up either partially or fully. Quite a few speakers come supplied with cylinder- and tube-shaped foam bungs expressly for the purpose. Few people read the instructions that come with speakers, so never realise the purpose of what looks like packing, and so they get thrown away. If you plan to mount speakers close to the wall, and you want to listen at something more than quiet background level, then bunging up the bass ports on those speakers designed to allow it (Hint: Check your manual) can help tighten up the bass response so notes start and stop more cleanly and take away some of the boominess.

Wall stands tend to go higher up on the wall, so the tweeters end up well above ear height. This can take away some of the top end. Look for wall stands that allow the speaker to be tilted down.
 
My priorities lie somewhere in the middle. I am after enjoying them as much as I can but keeping in mind I will be looking at them all the time.

My desk (excuse the untidiness, I am in the middle of changing it up a little);
Desk.jpg


I have kept everything from the box (I hoard boxes...bad habit!), so I do have the bungs you speak of. My speakers at the moment are actually higher than my head at seating position, my ears are about equal with the bung holes when not slouching.

My overall goal is to replace my desk with one that goes the width of the wall itself (2.5m) and find another solution for my discs, CCTV and switch. The amp I would store under the desk itself somehow and the PC would move away from my feet a lot more.

Would, thinking out loud a little here, desk stands work for the speakers? I could then have them away from the walls more and angle them towards me. I am not concerned if I move the entire desk forward from the wall a little to allow this space, probably towards the 20cm range rather than the 30cm though.

What do you think?
 
Others here have used the foam wedge plinths designed to decouple speakers from the desk. Use a search engine and look for "Adam Hall PAD ECO Series SPADECO2 Monitor Isolation Pad " for an idea of the sort of thing to look for.

In the meantime, try a couple of things with the speakers in their current position. First, try the bungs. Second, place three pennies in a triangle formation beneath each speaker (two at the front, one at the rear) to help isolate the speaker from the Ikea storage units. Have a listen to each change for a couple of days: First the bungs alone, then the bungs plus the pennies, then go back to how you have them now and see if you can tell the difference.
 
I think speaker desk stands would be a good option... As they will be at the extremities of your desk you can move them out from the wall a little while keeping them angled towards the main listening position... Maybe not the whole 30cm but 15cm will probably give you nice results and be an acceptable compromise.
 
lucid said:
Others here have used the foam wedge plinths designed to decouple speakers from the desk. Use a search engine and look for "Adam Hall PAD ECO Series SPADECO2 Monitor Isolation Pad " for an idea of the sort of thing to look for.

In the meantime, try a couple of things with the speakers in their current position. First, try the bungs. Second, place three pennies in a triangle formation beneath each speaker (two at the front, one at the rear) to help isolate the speaker from the Ikea storage units. Have a listen to each change for a couple of days: First the bungs alone, then the bungs plus the pennies, then go back to how you have them now and see if you can tell the difference.
Click to expand...

Thanks lucid. I have put the bungs in this morning and am listening now. Very obvious difference as the speakers seem so much brighter now. I can turn the volume up more and I get more music, rather than just loudness (if that makes sense?).

I actually found some rubber feet in the box too so I will be using these when my desk changes and the speakers are placed on my desk. I may also try the pads you have recommended. Thanks again for your advice!


Trollvester Trollone said:
I think speaker desk stands would be a good option... As they will be at the extremities of your desk you can move them out from the wall a little while keeping them angled towards the main listening position... Maybe not the whole 30cm but 15cm will probably give you nice results and be an acceptable compromise.
Click to expand...

Depending on my new desk arrangement I might go for the pads lucid has recommended on desk stands. I think you are right though, I doubt I will get the full 30cm, but 15-20cm maybe.
 
smeaney said:
Thanks lucid. I have put the bungs in this morning and am listening now. Very obvious difference as the speakers seem so much brighter now. I can turn the volume up more and I get more music, rather than just loudness (if that makes sense?).

I actually found some rubber feet in the box too so I will be using these when my desk changes and the speakers are placed on my desk. I may also try the pads you have recommended. Thanks again for your advice!
Click to expand...

The sound comment makes perfect sense. You've tamed the boom because the bass port was fully open but too close to the corner.

The feet won't be as big a change, but it should help reduce the Ikea shelves vibrating in sympathy with the speaker so I'd expect bass notes to start and stop more cleanly and for the whole sound to be better organised so you can follow individual instruments within a mix. :)
 
lucid said:
The sound comment makes perfect sense. You've tamed the boom because the bass port was fully open but too close to the corner.

The feet won't be as big a change, but it should help reduce the Ikea shelves vibrating in sympathy with the speaker so I'd expect bass notes to start and stop more cleanly and for the whole sound to be better organised so you can follow individual instruments within a mix. :)
Click to expand...

Just as an update to this I now have bought the Adam Hall pads as mentioned above and with my new desk setup and the bass ports with bungs in, my music sounds incredible. I admit that some songs that I enjoyed bass on now sound slightly flatter, but the majority sound so much better. Identifying instruments and their positions is really easy.

All goes to show how much difference the environment makes with the same amp and speakers.

Thanks once again for your advice @lucid !
 
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