I know this has been covered extensively before, but I just wanted to get confirmation before I went ahead and did it.

I have a 22" LCD monitor that I want to mount, as well as a Philips compact shelf stereo. Unfortunately, there are no studs to mount them on. I was thinking of just getting a piece of 1/2 or 3/4" plywood, and mounting that on the drywall with some toggle bolts. Then mounting the LCD and stereo to the plywood. My thought was that the plywood with toggle bolts should help distributed the weight evenly over a large area, and prevent the drywall from failing. Of course, I'm no engineer, so maybe I'm wrong.

The walls have metal studs, and I know I should put some of the toggles through these, but here is my question: Does a stud finder locate metal studs the same way it locates wooden studs?

Thanks for any help.

Faytlnd,
Welcome! Surely there must be studs (either 16" or 24" oc) if this will be mounted to a wall that has drywall. A studfinder will find the studs (metal, wood, etc) because it doesn't work by picking up metal content. It works by finding difference in density/voids spots. A
22" LCD can't be more than ~20-25 lbs and if the studs are irregular or spaced further than 24" I think you will be safe in mounting 3/4" plywood using 4 toggle bolts providing you have at least 1/2" drywall.
But check again with a studfinder as it will work with any type of stud or framing member behind the drywall...it just senses whenever there isn't a "void" space...that's when you know you've found the stud or framing member.

If you're right between studs then you might need to span them with something...1x6 or whatever, then install the mount on that.

Frank