Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Technical Questions Hanging Speakers

As mentioned before, I would like to hang my mains and possibly my center..
I have done this many times before, drilling a pilot hole, and then attaching two 1/4 inch screw eyes.. Always used the tried and true swaglamp hooks in the ceiling with no prob.. Those hooks, (toogle for drywall, wood screw for joists) could hold up a '58 Caddy with no trouble !
The M80's I have are my 1st pair of towers.. I would like some advice on just how to go about anchoring them to the chains from the ceiling hooks.. Is the cabinet strong enough to handle a couple of screws in the top ? Should I open up the back, and run a couple 1/4 inch eye bolts thru, with washers on the inside to secure them ? In other words, is the top of the cabinet attached strongly enough to support the rest of the weight below ? Will the weight rip away from the top ? Has anyone else tried this with towers ?
I'm trying to keep the hardware as simple as possible, to avoid being ugly, and to avoid affecting the sound.. Will I need to go to some sort of plates on the sides, or ?
Purhaps Alan, or someone at the shop can let me know just how the cabinet edges are finished ? Might give me a better feel for their strength with regard to sheer force.. Or, as we used to say in my construction days, the "Pullapartability" factor.. ("How many more nails you gonna put in that thing Mike ??)
To those that have never tried this, believe me, it does make a wonderful difference in the presentation.. I personally feel it opens that elusive sweet spot up by leaps and bounds.. Think about it, and how the walls and ceiling would now become more anti-standing wave, just like the cabinets themselves..
The little work involed applying the hardware is nothing compaired to the time most of us spend debating this or that "Concept" of Hi Fidelity and/or Home Theater..

Hi Mikey,

Sorry, I can't advise you on this one, but call Joe Vassallo, our service manager, at our toll-free number (any day except Wednesday, which is when I answer tech questions and Joe is off). He should know, or be able to check with Ian on the weight and stress factors involved in suspending the M80s.

You're right about the spatial aspects of a suspended speaker's soundstage. It frees up the speaker from all boundary influences. An old designer friend of mine told me about suspending two tweeters by threads from the ceiling, and that it yielded one of the best images he'd ever experienced. I never tried it. I still wonder about that....it might have been a fanciful story on his part. Lots of funny stuff being smoked back then....

Regards,

No problem Alan.. I just got off the phone with Joe.. He feels there should be no worries with running a couple eye bolts down thru the sides from the top.. As a matter of fact, he says there is a club near by that has four M80's hanging from the rafters..
Looks like I will be busy again this weekend.. Only this is the kind of busy we all look forward to, eh..
Thanks again for the assist.. (Tweeters on a string ? Hummmm, sounds like the sixties to me. hahhaa)