suspending monitors from the ceiling

Mijostyn Thanks for the history I think with the right speakers, and sub it would look cool two black monoliths appear at distance to be floating in the air and if they can be made to sound great why not. 

Scott22, I have done it. They were 2 way open baffle speakers using Focal drivers. I crossed over to subwoofers ar 100 hz. The speakers are hung from a very sturdy beam using two chains per speaker. The tweeters are at ear level.  The owner is a high school music teacher. He loves it and for what we spent on the system it is killer. The only kicker is I would not want the speaker making bass even if it is fairly heavy. 

We played around with this stuff back in the 70's.  We used a garage door opener to lift them up when we weren't listening.  We thought they sounded good.  (home made speakers by kids with passion and really good tools).

Proper positioning may take some precise and pia experimentation. 

I have seen Dr. Floyd Toole Revel Salon 2 floor standing speakers hung from his ceiling, I kidd you not. 
N.B.  He is the author of Sound Reproduction Loudspeakers and Room. 

Wonka's experiment is not the only one.  It's pure and simple physics. 

Of course, a lot of things come into play.  The location of the driver, the volume, the mass of the speaker, and the location of the driver relative to the stand.  Tall, skinny, lightweight speakers with drivers waaaay up high are going to have more of a problem than super heavy, and inert speakers with big woofers next to the floor.

WillieW   

To look good and to sound good at a good price.

And here was I thinking that for a speaker to work correctly (i.e. as designed) and at optimal efficiency, the cabinet had to be 100% rock solid.

-i.e. NO MOVEMENT WHATSOEVER !

Any movement in the cabinet results in degraded sound.

I’m with @erik_squires on this one

One experiment a friend tried that supports this...

- he has monitors on a stand that rests on carpet.

- So we tried placing 15lb weights on top of the monitors

- the sound improved greatly - i.e. once the cabinets stopped being moved by the drivers

Adding heavy weight to the top of a speaker is a very affordable way to improve things, but it gets expensive if you want to make it "pretty" :-)

Regards - Steve

@scott22 

I am doing much the same with my Vandy VLR's, but on some wall mount speaker clamps.

I, too, wondered about the effects of vibration on the speakers, as they aren't really tightly held in their clamps, so I asked Mr. V.

He suggested to touch the sides of the cabinets. If they aren't moving as much as the nearby wall, then using any additional isolation shouldn't make much difference.

-Mind you, I was considering bolting my speaker cabinets to a rigid wall/ceiling mount that would allow me to adjust their positions.

In any case, I did do as he suggested, and my speaker cabinets showed little vibration at the volumes I listen to, so I probably won't be changing their mounting.

Bob

I would stick with the system in the deprivation tank- warm, liquid, and all-enveloping.

So it seems there is some benefit or emphasis on some of the qualities of good sound by hanging speakers. Bass would be handled by subwoofers on the floor. The CD player is my main source. 

Bad move.

The difference with hanging from ceiling vs any other isolation technique is you're essentially not coupling speakers or equipment to anything

Huh? Isolation & coupling are opposites. I always thought that you wanted to isolate speakers so you could hear the speaker itself apart from the floor, etc. IMO Something seems amiss in your thinking

I had a friend back in the day with four Bose 901's hung from ceiling, all four corners. Guy loved hard rock, metal played at extremely high volumes. Worst sound ever, all these other guys would love it, I'd be cringing.

The difference with hanging from ceiling vs any other isolation technique is you're essentially not coupling speakers or equipment to anything (other than fish line or whatever means you're using).  The wire or whatever may send some amount of vibration to joists, but this minimal at best. The greatest defect I can see is, you may want to couple speakers to floor to assist in bass control.

When I hung my cd players and transports from ceiling you could see slightest movement from players. This elicited an airier, more spacious and relaxed sound quality from this equipment. All manner of coupling to  platforms of various kinds could not reproduce these qualities. If I were running cd player or transport today, I'd continue with this.

@big_greg

I did the same thing with my turntable back in the 70’s. There were never any skip, no matter how much partying was done. I’d do the same thing again if my TT didn’t weigh 125 lbs.

BTW, that streamer sounds very good when fed a good lossless file

I just wanted to complement my deprivation tank that was outfitted with some inwall speakers by having a second system that is more open and airy. 

I hung some speakers from the ceiling with some high test fishing line when I was about 20, but that thought hasn't occurred to me since.

What is the difference between suspension and springs which allows movement in all directions? Townshend's platforms come to mind.

I don't know Townhend's products but here are the requirements for a great speaker stand:

1 - Prevents the speakers from coupling to the floor, and creating a new sound source in the floor.

2 - Fixes the speaker cabinet in 3 dimensions so it is impossible for the drivers to move them.

#2 is why several audiphiles have reported good results simply putting 10 lb weights on top.  #1 is often well achieved by minimizing the surface area contact from the speaker to the floor, or bookshelf.

They use to do Bose 901s suspended. Is that telling you something?

I've seen those thing hanging all around the top of a skating ring. Some one broke in a stole them. Stupid idea. First rule: One ton speakers will slow down the riff raff.

1972 or 4 or something.. That was funny.. They rolled the old VOTT back out.. Worked perfect..

Regards

I would put them on Townshend Podiums suspended from the ceiling. Hopefully we are taking about a suspended ceiling. Otherwise I would first suspend a ceiling from the ceiling, then suspend the Podiums and finally put the speakers on the Podiums.

I do wonder if this will be enough or if it will be better to suspend the listening chair? In any case I would suspend disbelief, and can't help but wonder what will happen next? The suspense is killing me!

Fuzztone you are taking it to another level.

Maybe wifi solar powered would work.

@erik_squires

What is the difference between suspension and springs which allows movement in all directions? Townshend's platforms come to mind.

Tom

Just a space cowboy bet you weren't ready for that lol  and imagine if they are self powered no F in cables, speakers just floating in air, I can hear em playin Hendrix Jamin  Poli Gap,  Woo. 

I was thinking of a thick plexiglass base anchored to joists suspended with a deep see transparent fishing line (you ever catch a tuna ) it would have no problem with the speaker weight.they could be hung at any level and would look cool in my eye two piano black monoliths floating in the air puttin out some beautiful sound, woooo. Erik so if there is a way to get the same effect as a floor stander has with the floor it might sound like it does on stands? Oh, I enjoy music in all its iterations I just thought it would look cool. 

The WAF has got to be off the charts with this idea. Are you single??? Or have a man hut? 😁

I've heard of people doing it, recall one guy doing it with Merlin VSM. Try it and report on results. I used to hang my cd players and transports from ceiling, best isolation solution experienced vs.. many usual suspects. I'd like to try this with all my components,  simply don't have the capacity without tearing out drywall and hanging from joists.

The problem with suspended speakers is the motors move the cabinets as well as the drivers, causing a form of Doppler distortion.  So, by no means ideal, but if that is what you need to do to enjoy music, do it.

You would have to suspend them on really strong wire and have them at head height when you are sitting or your steareo presentation would be all over the place. Also because of the size of them you would need a couple of Sus to fill in the bass from about 60hz down . I had a friend who did that in the eighties with a pair of Quad 57s and the results were amazing but he had a couple of subs for the lowest octave.Absoloutely no colouration from being off the floor and an ethereal quality from theis setup. Good luck.