New Owner with a question.

[shawnn]

Good morning all,

I got a pair of CBM-170's last week and now have them on the wall. They sound great so far, I even got my wife to admit that they sound better than our previous setup.

Now onto my question. I have attached links to some photos of my setup at the bottom of this message for reference.

1. My wife would like me to move the speakers to the walls between the fireplace and the book case and the fireplace and the wall unit, which would put the front of the speakers behind the wall unit and book case. I told her it would negatively effect the sound, but she does not like the current setup that much. Am I correct in assuming it will have a negative impact on the sound by placing the speakers on that wall?

thanks,

Shawn


http://www.sofakingspb.net/HomeTheater/IMG_1050.JPG

http://www.sofakingspb.net/HomeTheater/IMG_1051.JPG

http://www.sofakingspb.net/HomeTheater/IMG_1052.JPG

http://www.sofakingspb.net/HomeTheater/IMG_1053.JPG

[bikeman]

My guess is that it will very noticably affect the sound. I suspect imaging will go all to heck. My recommendation would be to contact Ascend directly and get free professional advice. It's one of the great value added benefits to buying from Ascend.

David

[einsteinjb]

I agree with David. You might compromise though by stand mounting them and placing the stands either right on the corners of the fireplace ledge where the Hsu and that little TV are, or place them on the floor right in front of those corners. Should sound good there and she might even like the look of some nice stands (hint: let her pick them out ).

[Quinn]

Any place else you can put the sub? A pair of 340s would look better. Then just slide them foward for critical listening. Could you mount your CC under the TV?

Goodness all our young daughters have the same crap...err toys.

[Mag_Neato]

Any place else you can put the sub? A pair of 340s would look better. Then just slide them foward for critical listening.

Goodness all our young daughters have the same crap...err toys.

Sheesh....the 170's need some lovin' too!

Those toys ain't nothin', I can hardly walk through my living room.

(I can relate to the plush toys on the subwoofer routine)

[shawnn]

I had thought about moving the sub to another location and putting the 170's on stands, but my wife thinks it will be dangerous with a little one running around. If I move them back into the niche when not really in use, she might go for it. That seems like it might be a good solution.

The center channel will have to stay there because my daughter already poked in one of the tweeters on another center channel when it was under the TV.

I will also give Ascend a call and see what they recommend.

Thanks,
Shawn

[SteveCallas]

If it helps any, you can tell your wife that I like the way it looks now

[Lou-the-dog]

I agree that mounting them back in those recesses would be undesirable soundwise. It is difficult to confirm from the perspective of the pictures but I believe you could use additional separation between speakers. I vote for stands that can be placed at the optimum position during use... and then moved back in the recesses when not in use. (...and I'm whispering now...maybe eventually she will feel sorry for you and just let you leave them out where they belong!)

Randy

[BradJudy]

I think this is a situation where white speakers (or even just white grille cloth) might be a good solution. It would make the largely disappear, including the center speaker. It's only $7 for a 70" wide yard of white grille cloth at PartsExpress http://www.partsexpress.com/pe/showd...number=260-334 and you could just try wrapping it around the existing grilles to test. If you liked it, you could pull off the original fabric and glue/staple white fabric on. It won't be as pretty as totally white speakers (Ascend sells these for an upcharge and they also sell bare MDF ones that you could paint yourself).

Another option might be brackets mounted to the bookshelves that hold the speaker so that the front sticks out just a bit. It would look a bit better than the existing configuration without as big of an impact as mounting them back into the recesses. As mentioned, you would probably benefit from some greater stereo separation, so it might even be a net gain (or at least a wash).

[Wiseguy]

What if you mounted the speakers to the sides of the fireplace? Making sure that the L/R speakers are on the same plane as the center for proper placement? Just don't mount them too far back into the nich or you can make it so the front of the speaker is just past the wall of the fireplace.