Just finished mounting my M2i's in the rear. What a pain in the *&^%$@!.

First let me say the FMB is a nice little mounting bracket. My problems stemmed from my total lack of experience in "home improvement".

1) No matter what ANYBODY tells you - the FMB must be mounted directly to a wall stud. Wall anchors and wood screws are not going to work. Screw them directly into the wall stud, or you'll be the one screwed.

2) Though it was easy enough to screw the FMB on to the back of the speaker, pre-threaded mounting points on the speaker would have been much nicer. I noticed that the QS8's had this, which seems odd, as they are probably the only Axiom speaker which doesn't need one. Their handy T-bracket and clips worked really, really well. (MUCH easier than the damn FMB's!)

3) Finding a stud in the wall sucked. I now have 9 holes in my wall. (plus the two original holes from where the FMB tore out when I tried mounting without using a stud) The "pound and pray" method did not work. There seemed to be an area on my wall where it sounded like a stud, but it must have been something else behind there, because the screw would get through the drywall, and then hit something rock-like. No ammount of effort would get that screw to go in. Grrr...

I now have my two M2i's mounted, but not exactly where I wanted them (there were no studs where I wanted them) AND they're at slightly different levels. One is about 4 inches higher than the other. Like I said, there was something behind that G'damn wall that no screw would go through. There's has got to be a better way to mount speakers to a wall.

I think I'm going to leave home improvement projects to Bob Villa from now on.

Sorry to hear about your frustration, Craig. I feel your pain.

It could be a very good thing that you could not get that screw to go in where you wanted - it is entirely possible that what was stopping your screw was a cast iron drain (waste) pipe. Or maybe even a galvanized water pipe.

The problem with the FMB (as I understand it) is that rather than the sheetrock simply having to hold it "up" (sheer strength) or "in" (pull-out strength), the mounting also has to allow for the levering force exerted by the fact that the weight of the speaker is cantilevered out from the wall. It's what makes the FMB such an elegant solution, but your trials show that "installation" is more than just putting objects where you'd like them.

I'm hypothesizing that a "plate" (piece of wood like I saw behind some QS8's earlier today...) mounted to the wall with wall anchors and THEN the FMB mounted to that plate might have stabilized the situation somewhat. But you still have to be able to get the drywall anchors where you want them, and it's certainly less elegant.

I'll bet it sounds great, though, doesn't it?

I got them hooked up and then set the levels with my spl meter, but watched "Bowling for Columbine". No workout for the rears on that disc. I'll give them some work tonight.

I guess it is too late now to buy a stud finder (approx. $20). As I mentioned before, I always feel more comfortable using wall studs for mounting heavy stuff like speakers.

Sorry to hear about your saga, Craig. But the good news is, those holes in the drywall is quite easy to fix to the extent that they are essentially invisible. Consult one of those DIY home improvement textbooks.

Like Pinoy, though, I've always been saying in this forum that an electronic stud-edge finder is the best thing on this globe next only to the Axiom speakers and front projection!

hehe... couldn't help but venting this I-TOLD-YOU-SO!

I'll second Sushi's electronic stud finder value proposition (but I'll stay away from the other). I can't remember what I paid at rat shack for the stud finder (my wife keeps holding it up to my chest and asking why the light doesn't go on - beats me!), but since I have wood paneling (which is a heck of lot harder to patch than painted dry wall), and the number of times I've needed to screw things to the wall (more than speakers), the alternative would have been "swiss cheese modern".

Seriously, I've found this puppy to come in handy so many times it's funny. It paid for itself the first time I would have missed, just in hassle alone (I almost remember it was less than 10 bucks). It verified that the "knock" test is bogus in 90% of the cases.

Cheers,

Doug

About the stud-finders. You can borrow one from a friend and then locate all studs in all the walls in your house and make little tick marks with a pencil just above the baseboards. No more guesswork, ever!

Plus, it might be a selling point with the right buyers when you sell the house... You have to redo the stud-mapping whenever you paint, though. lol

Doug, she was holding it too high.

LOL!

What kind of whimps do we have in this forum? I had about 8 fist sized holes in my drywall when I mounted my QS4s because I wanted to run the speaker wire behind the drywall. Drywall patching is pretty simple. Just get an extra piece of drywall, cut it a bit smaller than the size of the hole and use joint compound and drywall tape to patch the hole. Then sand it flat and paint it. You can always smooth it out with spackle.

My wife was pissed when she saw all the holes in the wall, even though it is MY basement. I patched the holes up one day and brought her down and she couldn't even find the holes. And I've never done drywall work before.

As for the small screw holes, simply buy some Dap spackle that goes on pink and dries white. Buy a small wet/dry sanding block with it and you're good to go.

For mounting the speakers without a stud I'd also cut a small block of wood and use drywall anchors to mount it to the drywall then mount the bracket to the block of wood. I did this to my outside speakers which are pretty heavy.

Frank

Axiom Forum: Your one-stop shop for home theater, automotive, culinary, and do-it-yourself advice!

Peter, you forgot fermentation science. I keep trying to tell you guys, they're ALL beer threads. Jeesh.

I thought about that, but I couldn't find the right word so I lumped it under culinary.

[ thread hijack mode ]

BTW, I just tried New Belgium Brewing's Trippel this weekend. It's my favorite so far of the 4 beers (Loft, Fat Tire, 1554, Trippel) I've tried from the brewery.

[ / thread hijack mode ]

Oh yeah, that's going to stop the hijack. ;-P

Not.

I really like the New Belgium beers. They are clean, true to style, and travel pretty well in the bottle. If you liked the Trippel, try the Abbey also.

I have recently become infatuated with offerings from Brewery Ommegang in Coopertown, NY. Truly remarkable Belgian style beers, conditioned in the bottle. Rich and wonderful.