[M3 Pete]

I tried posting this to the Ascend Forum, but I ran out of room to post photos

http://forum.ascendacoustics.com/showthread.php?t=4297


So here it is.


I got tired of having fairly obtrusive Ascend CBM-170 as surrounds in my smallish family room. They are 10" deep and have a rear port, and when using an Omnimount, they protrude 14" into the room.


So I picked up a pair of HTM-200. I wanted to flush mount the speakers to the wall (they are only about 6.5" deep and have no rear port), but I didn't want to screw the recommended mounts into the cabinets, as discussed in this post:

http://forum.ascendacoustics.com/sho...51&postcount=6


So I decided to try using the cabinet's insert screws. These screws are located on the rear of the cabinet, only about 2 inches from the bottom of the speaker.


I found an ook security hanger
http://www.ooks.com/p-304-interlocki...ty-hanger.aspx


and tried to find a flat top screw that would fit into the cabinet insert, and work with the hanger. But all such screws had heads that were way too big.


Same with trying to use a keyhole hanger
http://www.ooks.com/p-324-2-hole-fla...le-hanger.aspx


So I decided to use some picture hanging wire and mount the speakers upside down. Attached is a photo of the parts I bought, I think I spent about $12.


The 50 lb. picture wire is total overkill, but I figured if even 3/4 of the strands break, I'll still have plenty to hold the 10 lb. speaker.


The 30 lb. picture hangers were also overkill, but they were the only "tremor" hangers that had a security feature that would prevent the wire from falling out of the hook from either earthquakes or my two small children. They sell 20-lb hangers, just not at my store.
http://www.ooks.com/p-280-ook-30lb-tremor-hanger.aspx
http://www.ooks.com/p-382-ook-5lbs-t...or-hanger.aspx


The flat washers were used only to prevent the wire from digging into the back of the cabinet. I'm not sure why I wanted to protect the cabinets so bad, but just wanted to preserve them.


The felt pads were to isolate the speaker from the wall, but as you will see, I found something better and didn't even need these.

 

[M3 Pete]

So here is how it looked as I mounted the wires. The Durasteel stainless wire is very stiff and hard to work with. Picture wire might have been easier to use.


I tied the wire on as it showed on the package: make a loop, twist the wire 5 times around, then go back through the loop. The knots look messy, as it was nearly impossible to pull this very stiff wire tight through the loop, even with pliers.


On the first try I made the hanger way too short, since you have to have a little bit of play in order to get the wire out of the tremor hanger. The photos show the final length that I used.

 

[M3 Pete]

Then I put the felt pads on top of the insert screws, to both protect the walls and isolate the walls from the speaker vibrations. Then I decided that was not enough, so I added some large white rubber bumpers that I had, just outside the speakers.


As we will see below, both these felt pads and bumpers near the screws are totally unnecessary, since the speaker will hang at a slight angle with the screws away from the wall.


What IS necessary are some pads at the bottom of the speakers (actually the top of the speakers, but since I am mounting them upside down, they are effectively the bottom). I found some small black rubber pads in my toolbox, so I used one of those on each bottom corner, as shown in the second photo. I could have used the felt pads, but I thought these might be better.

 

[M3 Pete]

Then came the wall mounting. Using picture hangers made the job super easy, since all you need is a hammer. No screw in anchors, no need to find studs, etc. These hangers hold 10 pounds with ease in just drywall.


As you can see, the speakers hang at a slight downward angle, which keeps the screws and the white pads away from the wall. The only contact that the speaker has with the wall is at the bottom, which are isolated with the two black rubber pads.


Dave F. of Ascend usually recommends angling the speakers downward by 5 degrees. I have no idea if this is 5 degrees, but I feel the slight angle is fine.

 

[M3 Pete]

And here is the finished install. The tweeters are about 6 feet off the floor, which is the recommended 2-3 feet above ear level. They are located directly in line with the primary listening area (the couch), as the room configuration did not allow for them to be placed slightly behind the listener.


I'm using a 5.1 system, since the back wall is on the far side of the connected breakfast room, which would put the rear speakers nearly 20 feet behind the listener, and create a wire routing challenge that I'm not willing to undertake in this rental house.


I do not think there will be any adverse SQ impact from mounting the surrounds upside down.


Of course, the badges on the grills are upside down, but DO NOT flip the grills over. Since the tweeter is offset to the side
http://www.ascendacoustics.com/image...E_lt_ng_hr.jpg

there is a specific cutout in the grill for the tweeter. Flipping the grill over will negatively impact the tweeter dispersion.


I will probably just remove the badges, since my kids did that long ago to my 340 classic mains.


I also threw in a shot of the theater front, the cabinet on the left is a Studio Tech Ultra U-60, housing an Onkyo 876, DVD megachanger, BD player, DirecTV DVR, etc. The Outlaw LFM-1 sub is barely visible on the right.


The last shot is my super custom center channel install, using brown rubber doorstops to angle the speaker up to the listener. They are painted black so you can't even see them in normal light. On the bottom rear edge of the speaker, I used some medium density foam weatherstripping to isolate the CMT-340 speaker from the glass shelf, and to prevent any slipping. I'd have used high-density foam if I didn't have the medium-density lying around.


The TV is a Samsung HLP61A750, and the TV stand is a Omnimount G353.