Arrggh. What speaker company in their right mind makes 19 lb. surround speakers (KEF does) and provides a mount with two (small) screw holes? I wish now I'd just paid the extra $300 and gotten the floorstanding ones.
My wall is scratched up and the back of the speakers is scraped up, but I finally got them to stay up in the 3/8" cheap drywall I have in my apartment. Does England have really thick and reliable walls with studs spaced exactly 1/2 ft. apart?
So if you're renting, do yourself a favor and avoid getting these.
Floorstanding, Floorstanding, Floor.
John A.
Posted on
BKO,
Which KEF model?
You could be right about walls. The D-I-Y custom in UK usually assumes brick or something robust not far below the plaster. You drill holes, plug them, and if everything is the right size then the screws stay in forever and you can practically park a small car on a wall-mounted shelf. Being a UK ex-pat, I yearn for quality building construction, and despair at my foreign house with all my equity tied up in a large cardboard box on tent poles, with brick veneer.
I had exactly your problem with a real Rega turntable wall bracket. Even the turntable, with all the massive extra weight of one LP, pulled out the plugs in the soft plasterboard, until I hammered in over-size ones, leaving holes behind as legacy of failed attempts. Then the whole point of mounting the turntable on the wall is lost because the flimsy "wall" (on close inspection I would class it, just, as a "dividing partition") resonates like h--- at about 100 Hz, and shakes every time anyone shuts a door anywhere in the house. I check periodically the whole thing hasn't fallen on the floor.
It is maybe too late, but the solution for you is a self-tapping screw or a bolt with something on the other side of the plasterboard that opens up like a washer to spread the load.
Sorry for the rant. I will spare you my views on my electrical supply. You touched a raw nerve. KEF make superb speakers. Get a quality wall.... Wish I could!
You can try drywall anchors, I know that here in the US they have them all over in hardware stores. Two different types, the first is the easiest.
The first kind is a long bolt that has pices of metal running down them, and a large washer looking thing on the top near the head of the bolt. You drill a hole that lines up with where you want the bolt to go in on the mounting. Push the anchor through, and have the washer claws sink in. Then get your favorite screwdriver and start turning, an electric drill works best. It will make the metal plates compact into a flower like patten, and thenn hold on the wall. Then unscrew the bolt part, feed it thru the hole on your mounting and screw it back into the anchor you just made.
They are bolts that have little wings in them, on a spring. You drill a hole large enough to make the wings go thru whtn they are compacted. Then remove the bolt section and put the bolt thru whatever you are trying to mount, then re-attach the bolt on the other side and push it through the wall. Then try to pull it out so the claw parts hit the inside of the wall, and start twisting the bolt. The anchor will make its way up the bolt, until it is gripping the mounting and the insde oof the wall.
Another way to do this, is to get a studfinder and mark where the studs in your walls are(assuming thats how they make them in the UK, They might be different, drywall on 2x4's) Then take a long wood screw and put it thru the mounting and into the stud.
John A.
Posted on
Excellent and constructive advice, Kaffine. In UK, BFO, take the screws KEF supplied to a good hardware shop, for size, explain the problem, and they will know the options and sell you something that will do the job. I assume there are some shops like this left.
Consider that the wall will also act as a sounding board; the more secure the mounting, the more energy will be transmitted to the wall. If the structure, including the space behind, resonates, it will color the sound. I hear this with my turntable, which lets in structure-borne feedback, unfortunately. And who will be listening in the room behind your wall...?
Don't blame KEF, BKO! They make speakers, good ones. Look forward to a future wall upgrade... A good audiophile grade wall is a massive, soundproof, load-bearing, and will last...