Hanging speakers from the ceiling

[Philipp]

Hello folks,

I work standing up, I like listening to music while working standing up. My desk is standing in +/- in the middle of a small office (home office).
The ceiling is not very high, about 2,3 meters.
My setup in this room would be 2x Elac DBR62 and a SVS-SB-1000 Sub.

At the moment, the speakers are standing on a shelf, directly to the wall, facing me, shooting up, because they are standing way below my ear-level, tweeter at 1 m (my ears at 1,8 m).
Distance to the speaker is 2 m.

The sub is standing next to me, to my left, 0,4 away from the wall.

In order to bring the speaker with the tweeter at ear level and away from the wall, without using a ridiculous high stand, I am thinking about suspending them with a rope/chain.

I do not find much about this old school way of mounting a speaker, to find in bars, not very often in homes, only some comments in a few threads, so far, from what I found, it seems a legit alternative to mount a speaker.

I read mounting them „tweeter down“ (invertet) might help.

What do you think?

I am happy if you could share your insight on the matter!

Cheers!
Philipp

 

[DVDdoug]

The tweeters don't have to be ear-height as long as they are pointed at your ears. But some people don't like the "soundstage" coming from above. And if you have multiple listeners, the distance affects the "aim".

My main speakers are a "stack" with the tweeters on top near ceiling, angled down and toed-in. My rear speakers are hanging from the wall near the ceiling behind above my couch.

 

[kyuu]

I'm curious why you want to suspend them from the ceiling rather than just using a wall mount. You said you want to bring them away from the wall, I know, but... why?

 

[Philipp]

It is a 2.1 system, two mains, one sub.
It is only me who listens and I do not change the listening position, because I am standing in front of my desk. So in that regard, the setup can be really tailored to that position. It is already optimized in that regard, but the mains close to the wall are not the best option, it triggers room-modes. If I get them away from the wall, it is better, suspending them from the ceiling could ear-level them as a plus.

 

[olieb]

from what I found, it seems a legit alternative to mount a speaker.

Absolutely, I do not see anything why this should not be the case. Only thing is, if a speaker falls down, you (or your foot) do not want to be beneath it. So take care that does not happen.
And it might be a bit more tedious to have them angled in all directions in the right position.

 

[kyuu]

It is already optimized in that regard, but the mains close to the wall are not the best option, it triggers room-modes. If I get them away from the wall, it is better, suspending them from the ceiling could ear-level them as a plus.

Room modes are not "triggered" by a speaker being close to a wall. Perhaps you are thinking of SBIR. SBIR is generally actually improved by having the speakers as close to the wall as possible, though, and are generally a bigger problem as you bring them out further into the room.

Images taken from Genelec's guide to monitor placement.

Edit: On the other hand, since you are using a subwoofer to cover the lower frequencies, as long as you bring the speakers far enough out it can work out ok:

But there isn't an advantage to doing that, really, as compared to just mounting them on the wall, unless your desk is far enough away that you're no longer in the near-field.

Rather than hanging them from the ceiling, or mounting them on the wall, another option would seem to be using stands that clamp to the desk, such as these. This would also have the benefit of auto-magically changing height as you raise/lower the desk.

 

[Speedskater]

If done safely, it can be a good plan. Although it can be hard on the ceiling.
Pros do it all the time in venues.
If you have neighbors, it can be great at reducing bass noise transmission.

 

[Philipp]

@kyuu
Uuuuh, that is very helpful, thanks a lot.
I have to read that.

In regard of room-modes: yeah, sorry, that is what happens when noobs use terms they heard and read about, but did not fully understand.
What I meant is, it „booms“, as in boomy bass, I thought it might be the speaker to close to the wall. The DBR62 is front ported, but still, might be to close, but in the end, I should measure it, but I really fear that is too deep of a digging for me…

 

[kyuu]

In regard of room-modes: yeah, sorry, that is what happens when noobs use terms they Heart and read about, but did not fully understand.
What I meant is, it „booms“, as in boomy bass, I thought it might be the speaker to close to the wall. The DBR62 is front portet, but still, might be to close, but in the end, I should measure it, but I really fear that is too deep of a digging for me…

Ah, well yes "boomy" bass can be a result of being too close to the wall, though that's more of a "room gain" issue. Room modes can also result in boomy bass, but that can happen regardless of where exactly the speaker is placed (placement affects the distribution of the room modes, but simply having the speaker away from the wall doesn't guarantee you won't be in a problematic peak/null).

Boomy bass is best addressed with EQ/room correction software.

Note that I added to my previous post in an edit. Have you considered stands that clamp to the desk like I linked? Will that not work for your setup?

 

[Philipp]

Rather than hanging them from the ceiling, or mounting them on the wall

Thank you for the suggestion, but in my case, I cannot use them, as I could not clamp them to my desk, the construction of the desk does not allow it, it would tip over, it is a rather unique construction, not very heavy, I am a carpenter, the desk was my master-piece once, it is a tripod.

But still I could use them for tryout, to find the right position, by clamping them in front of the shelf the speakers are standing on at the moment. Better try out, before drilling the ceiling

 

[Philipp]

Boomy bass is best addressed with EQ/room correction software.

Yeah, thats what I feared! ;-)

 

[kyuu]

Thank you for the suggestion, but in my case, I cannot use them, as I could not clamp them to my desk, the construction of the desk does not allow it, it would tip over, it is a rather unique construction, not very heavy, I am a carpenter, the desk was my master-piece once, it is a 3-pole.

Ohh, I see. I misread your original post and thought you had a sit/stand desk that can change height.

Pretty cool that you built your own desk, actually. Maybe you could attach some steel plates to the underside on the front to compensate for the weight imbalance? I'm probably revealing myself as not a carpenter with that suggestion.

 

[Philipp]

I'm probably revealing myself as not a carpenter with that suggestion.

Hahaha, no-no, all good, you already helped me a lot, thank you. But no, there will be no clamping or drilling in the master-piece, I built it with much love

(I rather drill my ceiling, less love there!)

 

[raindance]

I've never got along with wall mounting speakers either unless they are designed to be on wall. But hanging them is a perfectly legitimate method. You probably won't need chains, just aircraft style cable with adjustable couplers. You'd likely need to add a couple of eye bolts to the speakers.

 

[Philipp]

You'd likely need to add a couple of eye bolts to the speakers.

Exactly! Yeah, reep (polyamid) gear rope 3 mm holds about 250 kg, which is more than the speaker cabinet will ever hold in terms of pulling force.

 

[Philipp]

Thank you all folks, always a pleasure!