# Center channel mounting



## sgkent (Aug 19, 2012)

Currently have RC-52 Klipsch center and may go to the RC-62 as the RF-52's have been moved to the side surrounds and replaced with RF-62s up front. Using 7.1. 

The current TV is a 51" Hitachi cathode ray projection that is about 12 - 14 years old. When it dies or sooner it will be replaced with a 65 - 70" LED since the prices are so low now. The RC-52 sits on top of the Hitachi now but when it goes we will need to either buy a stand or mount the new TV on the wall. 

If we mount it on the wall the question becomes what we will do with the center channel. The obvious solution might seem to be to hang it below the TV on a bracket / mount however the master bedroom is the other side of that wall - meaning I am concerned that the sound will come thru the wall and disturb us if we are trying to sleep. I am harder of hearing these days and rely on the center channel to hear voices well so Cathy might not get any sleep if I am watching TV after she retires, and vice versa.

Does anyone have experience with speaker mounts who might know how much sound they pass thru from the speaker?

The other possibility is a stand however the ones for a 65" tp 70" TV seem expensive and may not fit the décor. After three days of researching this via Google, BestBuy and Fry's websites etc I am ready for some help. Magnolia wants $3K - $5K for some of their TV stands so apparently there is something about home theater I have yet to understand. 

I thought about a false wall with storage in it and a small walk area behind it but the right hand side of the wall we use ends at the juncture of a double glass slider door so it would be impossible to design it so it looks like it was built into the house originally.

RC-52










Examples of clutter we are trying to avoid (please no offense if these Internet photos are your arrangement)


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## DqMcClain (Sep 16, 2015)

If you use some sort of off-the-shelf speaker mounting arm and screw the center channel into the wall, the vibration from the cabinet (which on a decently constructed Klipsch shouldn't be too extreme) will transfer through the mount and into the drywall. Drywall isn't a particularly good conductor of sound, but it's also not the best barrier you can get. 

If you were to build a small shelf for your center, put some neoprene rubber washers between it ad the drywall, and then use some form of isolation (like anti-vibration pads), that will probably de-couple the center's cabinet from the wall effectively enough that the master bedroom will be undisturbed. 

If that doesn't do it, cut a hole in the drywall big enough to find out if you've got any insulation between the studs in that wall. And if you're having a problem after making that dampened shelf, odds are that wall is just two layers of sheet rock slapped to the outsides of the studs. Blow some insulation in and patch that hole and it should be much better.


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## DqMcClain (Sep 16, 2015)

sgkent said:


> Magnolia wants $3K - $5K for some of their TV stands so apparently there is something about home theater I have yet to understand.


Clearly, you understand that a $3K-$5K TV stand is ridiculous... so I'd say you're doing alright so far.


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## sgkent (Aug 19, 2012)

Thank Y'all. While I was reading your comments an article came to mind from back in the 1970's where balsa was found to be a super vibration insulator. Maybe some 3/8" balsa pads between it and the shelf or mount might work.


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## DqMcClain (Sep 16, 2015)

Balsa is very low density and has a pretty loose grain structure... I could see how that might help dampen vibration transmission. It's also cheap, readily available at craft stores, and very easy to work with. Experiment away!


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