Shopsmith Forums

Hi all..

I've decided that my next project will be to tackle the mounting of ceiling surround sound speakers that we bought some time back.. When we did our remodel I wired in speaker wire and have something to plug them into but no mounts per-se. The speakers are Miller & Kreisel LCR-650's (10.3" high, 7" wide, 8.3" deep, weight 10.75lb each) in a cherry finish. A picture for reference can be found here -- and no, that's not what we paid...

Anyway, the speakers have 5 screw mounts on the rear bottom half of the box. I'm thinking that perhaps having a combination of black metal frame + wood base with pivot mount might be the best approach for this fairly heavy speaker -- especially since the speaker needs to be aimed at about a 45 degree angle down give or take. I am thinking that a sort of metal bracket that the speaker can effectively sit in and be bolted to in the rear with a long arm that attaches to the pivot mechanism.. Here's a link to what someone else did -- I'm hoping I can do mine better! I'd prefer not to screw into the top of the speaker like that shown below.. Does this plan sound reasonable? Does anyone know where I can find a mid/heavy duty multi-axis pivot mount (perhaps 2-dimensional?).
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Hi Rick,

I don't know where you could get a "mid/heavy duty multi-axis pivot mount (perhaps 2-dimensional?)", but I don't think that you need one. I'm not sure how well I can describe my idea in text, but I imagine a mount that consists of two boards joined with a hinge (piano hinge would work well). one would mount to the mounting holes on the back of your speaker, and the other would attach to the ceiling with a single bolt. The single-bolt mounting would permit azimuth adjustment while a dowel rod cut to length would adjust elevation.

rdubbs wrote:Hi Rick,

I don't know where you could get a "mid/heavy duty multi-axis pivot mount (perhaps 2-dimensional?)", but I don't think that you need one. I'm not sure how well I can describe my idea in text, but I imagine a mount that consists of two boards joined with a hinge (piano hinge would work well). one would mount to the mounting holes on the back of your speaker, and the other would attach to the ceiling with a single bolt. The single-bolt mounting would permit azimuth adjustment while a dowel rod cut to length would adjust elevation.

Description read loud and clear to me!

Great! Please post a pic when you get it up.

Thanks for the suggestion.. I can picture the azimuth setup but am not sure I'm following on how the dowel would connect to control elevation/tilt.

I was thinking about this over the holiday last week and had a few more ideas to ponder.. I'll keep you all posted as this project develops..

Hi Rick,

I'm thinking that the speaker would naturally point too far down, and need to be pushed up for proper elevation. A dowel rod wedged between the two boards could provide the proper angle. If the speaker naturally points up too high, you could substitute a length of chain, or use hooks on the end of a dowel rod and a couple of eye hooks to point the speaker further down.

Does this help? I'd like to get a USB brain implant so that I could just upload what I'm thinking.

rdubbs wrote:Hi Rick,

I'm thinking that the speaker would naturally point too far down, and need to be pushed up for proper elevation. A dowel rod wedged between the two boards could provide the proper angle. If the speaker naturally points up too high, you could substitute a length of chain, or use hooks on the end of a dowel rod and a couple of eye hooks to point the speaker further down.

Does this help? I'd like to get a USB brain implant so that I could just upload what I'm thinking.

The dowel is used as a 'prop'. If the balance point aims the speaker too low, the dowel is positioned between the back of the speaker and the ceiling. If too high, the dowel is positioned between the top of the speaker and the ceiling.

If that speaker handles too much bass, the dowel might vibrate out of position(fall). Then the music would really swing!:rolleyes:

An adjustable brace attached to an edge of both boards would be 'better' than a prop(but require much more 'effort').[as well as wider boards]

Thanks.. I think the picture is finally gelling in my head

Could you not also use the lathe to put a ball on the end of a 2x2 and once the ball is there, mount that between two pieces of honed-down 1x and put a wing-nut (or similar) on there to pinch the 1x around the ball to lock it into place -- obviously I'd need to put a large dimple in the spots on the 1x for the ball to rest.. Does that make sense.. My only concern would be how tight the wing-nut would have to be in order to hold that ~10lb weight in a fixed position (perhaps ~45 degree angle from the ceiling) -- perhaps not likely unless it was lighter.. Hmm..

Hi Rick,

Sure, you could. You could also drill a hardwood ball to accept a steel rod or piece of all-thread and trap the ball between two pieces of hollowed-out board.

Cool.. I guess the longer I let it gel in my head I might come up with other ideas.. Last night I fired up my old (non-registered) copy of Design Intuition (similar to Sketchup, on a Mac) and drew up a model in 3D -- it took a bit of time to figure out but the s/w wont allow me to save it since it's not registered. I'll see if I can move it over to Sketchup (which I find to be a somewhat more difficult program to use) probably tonight and will post a pic if I get it close to what I'm after.. I've ditched the idea of using lots of metal as it's just not practical for me.. I'm back to wood with some light hardware as needed.. Anyway, I'll post a pic later of what I'm thinking..