Need advice hanging my rear surrounds!!!

[Daz3d&Confus3d]

So I have my KEF IQ8ds' sitting on top of my old polk towers beside the sofa on each side and now I need to get them on the wall.

My questions are:

1.) My Kefs are pretty hard to drive (83 sensitivity) and I have to run one line bout 30 ft and the other 46 ft. in the wall and up across the ceiling in the attic. What type of wire should I use and any recommendations on where to buy it? I’m assuming 12 gauge but what about proper shielding? Also I’m in Oklahoma and it gets extremely hot in the heat of summer in the attics here.

2.) My sofa is right up against our living room windows (3 large 35w” windows) with drapes that are sometimes hung back and sometimes let down…If I'm sitting on my sofa to my immediate left is a small bump-out (from a closet)…its approx. 15 inches, the KEF’s are bout 12” wide….so (option A) if I put it on that bump-out it’ll be almost right up against the wall…..or (Option B) do I move it all the way to the side wall (7 ft further back) by the front door entrance and just crank it up? Option C, just buy some stands….lol.


3.) Where can I buy some cheap flush mounts for putting them right against the wall? The two rear holes for mounting are 9” apart

I’ve been kicking this around in my head for 2 weeks and haven’t made up my mind…..any ideas would be appreciated!

 

[Daz3d&Confus3d]

Here's a pic of the other side for reference. My tv and fronts are approx. 14 ft. from the sofa.

I was also wondering about using a speaker wall plate and bananna plugs....any recommendations for a good place online to shop for them?

 

[2upFZ1]

I too have a "Great Room" (30'wide 20'deep 14' ceiling) and I didn't want to run the wires all the way around the room to get them to my surroundsx4.

I was able to route the wires from 3 of the speakers to one corner, then up and onto a potshelf, there I cut a hole and installed a plate from Home Depot that had 3 pairs of banana/compression terminals (the left surr was near rack). Then ran a direct route in the attic to the wall that the rack was on, then fished them down to a plate that the builder had pre-wired for a security wire. Slapped on a matching plate and then I just needed 3' cables to the receiver. On the potshelf, I put in a bracket to screw the terminal plate to. I can't remember the name, but they are in the electrical area with other outlet boxes/flex conduit/etc. But these are shorter and just for this purpose. Oh, and they are orange. Can't miss them.

 

[philh]

To save a lot of work, buy enough wire for the longest estimated run and 4x. If I remember, that should be about 200 feet. Cut the wire in half, and run the wire inside the room, moving the speakers around to different positions and live with them for a few weeks. I give you this advice from experience I have soldered and extended the wires TWICE to move the speakers to the new location. I have an absolutely horrible sound stage, and getting the speakers to work has been difficult. Still not happy, but it's improved a bunch from my first location. Probably won't get better until I finally break down and spend some bigger bucks on speakers.

 

[Daz3d&Confus3d]

I still dont know whether to place the left surround on the bump out wall or kick it back to the far left side wall.....

and where do you buy brackets?

Also...are there certain types of banana plug wall-plates to go with? Are some better than others?

 

[2upFZ1]

The brackets depend on the weight of each speaker, and how much you need it to adjust. Oh, and if you want to drill holes in your speakers.

If they are light (under 8lbs) and you don't mind screwing a plate onto the back of the speaker, then you can get some for under $10 off eBay.

I have 16lb speakers, and am going to use a platform type mount that clamps to the bottom of the speaker, yet still allows it to swivel/tilt. I'm looking at $70 for those.

There are many makers, here are a few
Omnimount
Sanus
Vogel
B-Tech
Monster
Haropa
Vantage Point
Peerless
AVF
etc, etc, etc...

Here's a place that carries a large selection, just to get an idea.
http://www.standsandmounts.com/

 

[alan monro]

any speaker wire will do .put your speakers on stands .turn your speakersso that they face the wall to defuse the sound .thats why bipolar speakers are normally used i am sure it will sound great.kind reguards alan

 

[Daz3d&Confus3d]

Well I hung them last night finally and I'm tickled with the sound after just some minor tweaking.....I hung the left one on the bump out and mounted them flush using simple drywall hanging bolts that support up to 50 pounds, cost me $1.79 at Lowes. It required precise measuring to use the preset hanging notches in the speakers so I didn't have to drill an holes in the cabinets which was my preference. I ran the wires through the walls and down to a speaker plate. I used 12 gauge CL3 rated wire from soundquest and Acoustic Research plates. I hung them at the 6ft mark on each side and they sound great. The only real difficulty I had was on the outside wall the insulation was really packed in tight for me to fish the wire down to where I wanted to drill the hole for the speaker plate. I was able to do this via attaching the wire to a straightened coat hanger (just electric taped it fast) and it was sturdy enough for me to fish it down through the insulation.

I'm glad I didn't go with stands.....I had them sitting on my old Polks for the last month which is the same height as what the stands would have been and they sound much better high on the wall and it saved me alot of bucks. It was worth the time and effort to mount them not to mention they'll be out of the way from my boys. They weigh 11.4 pounds each so they're not very heavy and they look great on the wall.
Additionally now I've freed up room for my future sub in the corner........time to start saving again.....

 

[Daz3d&Confus3d]

I'll try and post another pick of the finished product in the next few days.