Wall-mounting a somewhat hefty speaker

[WhiskeyRebel]

I've finally completed the center channel speaker I made for my living room. Now I just need to hang it up on the wall and put a grill on it.

I haven't weighed it but it contains two 8" woofers, two pieces of 18"x33" 3/4"MDF, about 8' of 1x6 and 9' of 1x8", plus a couple tubes of Liquid Nails. It takes a bit of doing to lift it up.

The back of the speaker is 3/4" MDF. Think it would stay up if I screw brackets straight into the back or are the screws likely to pull out?

I suppose I could attach brackets using toggle anchors, and put some caulk or more Liquid Nails to seal the hole drilled to pass the anchor through. Overkill? Just screw it?

Had I attached brackets to the back before attaching the back to the cabinet, I could have used machine screws with fender washers under the nuts. I may not be able to get at the inside of the back through the driver holes, because I soldered the wires onto the speakers and stapled the wires tight to the inside of the cabinet to avoid any rattles. I'd have left a "service loop" in the wire and / or wired the woofers in with disconnect terminals if I had anticipated the need to get in through the driver holes. Live and learn.

 

[luvvinvinyl]

'rebel, I don't see any way that an 18" deep box, only about 10" high, is going to stay on the wall with only toggle bolts. Mount the drivers in the front of the box, and that baby will have some serious leverage. You are going to have to find some studs, into which you should think about fastening brackets, underneath the box, supporting the weight. I would bet that even screwing through the back of the cabinet, into the studs, would pull out, as the front of the box will be pulling down, HARD. If WAF is not a problem, you could suspend the front, by cable, decorative chain, whatever, from a point on the wall, above the box. That would not be my first choice, but you know what you have to work with.

In any case, you need to support the front of the box, basically, at the front, in order to counteract the leverage generated by gravity. You wouldn't want your handiwork to do a swan dive and wreck your floor!

 

[WhiskeyRebel]

Actually, the idea of toggle bolts was to fasten the brackets to the cabinet. The attachment to the wall will definitely be into two studs. I'm thinking on the wall, a U shape open upward and on the cabinet, a U shape open downward. I had also considered lag bolt eyes and hooks but I was worried that they would buzz.

The cabinet is about 33" wide by 19 1/2" tall by 7 1/2" deep (that's the 1x8). That places the magnets of the woofer more toward the back but the woofers are fastened to the front.

 

[luvvinvinyl]

AH! "I see," said the blind man, as he picked up his hammer and saw.

I had pictured the box oriented in a fashion similar to my own, which is horizontal. The height of my CC is the smallest dimension, somewhat analogous to a receiver, et al. If your is flat, more resembling a Boston A-series, then the task is much easier.

In the words of the late, great Gilda Radner, "Never mind."

As for any buzzing , a small piece of rubber, like a tire patch, (remember those?) between the hanger fixtures, would probably be all you would need to take care of that. Personally, I prefer to support from beneath, to eliminate any box movement, but if you like the bottom end free to move about, whatever trips your toggle, my friend.

 

[outlawmws]

Actually, if you use long deck screws into the studs it will hold up quite well.

However, I have a suggestion I use to hang very heavy cabinets up in the Garage that might be of value.

Cut a strip of 3/4" ply the width (Or near it, it might be better a bit shorter) of the speaker. You want this "strip” to be about 6-7" wide. Cut this strip its full length at a 45 degree blade angle. This is best done on a table saw.

You now have 2 mating pieces of ply with a wedge cut. One goes on the wall securely attached with at least four 3-1/2 long deck screws. Pre drill the ply and countersink the holes so the screws go in flush. You want this piece with the beveled edge up so that the second piece can catch it and hook it between the bevel and the wall.

The other piece gets screwed or bolted to the speaker's upper edge, beveled edge down.

Cut a narrow piece to screw to the lower edge of the speaker cabinet. This is a spacer to keep it flat to the wall.

Now you should be able to simply drop the speaker onto the wall "hook" and gravity will keep it there.

I have hung cabinets this way and supported 200 lbs on these types of hangers. They even survived the '89 Loma Prieta Quake...

The only drawback is you are left with a 3/4" gap between the wall and speaker, but if you keep the hanger back a couple of inches from the outer edge it looks like its suspended in air from most angles. Or you can make trim strips or have a recessed back on the speaker. (Too bad you didn’t ask this question before you built the speaker cabinet…)

 

[WhiskeyRebel]

Or you can make trim strips or have a recessed back on the speaker. (Too bad you didn’t ask this question before you built the speaker cabinet…)

As luck would have it, the back is slightly recessed. It has an inner frame of 1x6 pine with the baffle and back extending to the outer edges of the boards, forming an internal depth of 5 1/2". The baffle and back are 3/4" MDF as I mentioned, and they are fastened to the 1x6 with Liquid Nails and hardibacker screws.

This whole works is wrapped around the sides with a frame of 1x8 poplar, attached with Liquid Nails to the 1x6. My plan was for the "stray" depth of the 1x8 to form a lip around the baffle, which would locate the frame of the grill cloth. But when I lined up the holes for the port tubes on the 1x8 with the corresponding holes on the 1x6 I found that I had cut the miters in such a way as to make the baffle flush.

Oops.

Anyhow I set the thing on a scale and the whole affair weighs in at 50 lbs on the nose. I found a "heavy object hanging kit" at Home Depot . The kit is essentially a picture hanger on steroids, using braided steel cable in place of wire and the kit is rated at 100 lbs. I also picked up two wall hooks each rated at 75 lbs and lag screws to attach the hooks to the studs, rather than the weenie little nails included with them.

That should be a good margin of safety, but your beveled cleat idea sounds much more stable. In fact it sounds like a homemade version of the type of product I was hoping to find for sale ready-made. Wish I had checked the BB before going shopping.

Personally, I prefer to support from beneath, to eliminate any box movement, but if you like the bottom end free to move about, whatever trips your toggle, my friend

Hey, if it were not for WAF I would set it on top of the entertainment center and see if it could blow the knickknacks into the drywall on the other side of the living room. WAF sez it hangs on the wall.