Hello all:

In an effort to "babyproof" our house for a newly crawling 8-month old, I was curious if it possible to place my M22 speakers horizontally (i.e., on their sides) instead of upright on a speaker stand. Will this in anyway damage the speaker? Is this going to distort the sound significantly?

We're looking for ways to prevent our baby from pulling a 16lb speaker onto her head (please withhold my "Parent of the Year" award). If the horizontal placement isn't advised, then I'm thinking about getting a pair of M3s that could sit on top of the media cabinet we have under our TV. Is the Axiom trade-in program still in effect (i.e., trade in the M22s for M3s) or is my best bet to sell them on the auction site?

Thanks for the help,
William

It will in no way damage or distort the speaker. However horizontal placement will be very detrimental to the dispersion characteristics of the loudspeaker. The driver complement and crossover together are optimized to have the speaker orientated vertically. Placing the speaker horizontally on the stands will change the horizontal and vertical dispersion of the speaker and it will be much more prone to lobing at different seating positions around the room due to that type of placement.

So in summary you can do it and it will in no way harm the speaker or the electronics but it just won't sound nearly as good as having them both placed vertically on the stands.

Personally, I'd just try them on their sides and see if it's as bad as everyone says. If it is, then my son has 2 toddlers with M3's on his TV stand without any problems, so far.

One other possibility is to wall mount the M22's with a bracket that Axiom supplies. Putting the cord in the wall behind the speaker, then down to the floor where it can come out go to the AVR from there.

Thanks CatBrat,

I actually ordered the brackets from Axiom a few months back and tried to wall mount the M22's, but my TV is hung on a short wall in the basement and I didn't have wall studs in the right location to mount the brackets.

You could still use the FMBs with Molly bolts to hold the brackets onto the wall, 2 of them should easily hold an M22. If this still doesn't work for you I would just use the M22s on their sides till the kids are old enough to not worry about the speakers falling onto their heads; At this point you then have to worry about the kids falling onto the speakers.

I went through the same dilemma with my 3 kids. My solution was to use the blue putty that you typically use to mount posters on walls, both to hold the speaker on the top face of the speaker stand and also to secure the bottom of the speaker stand to the hardwood floor. That stuff sticks like glue and doesn't damage the vinyl on the speakers or the floor finish. If you've got carpet you'll need other options.