Speakers hung from ceiling on aircraft cable.


Opinion question:

We are thinking of suspending a pair of KEF LS50 speakers from the ceiling using aircraft cable. Do you think having them not rigidly mounted will diminish bass? Will the woofers cause the speakers to move?

davidclarke
I wonder if there would be a correlation between people who tell you suspending speakers from cables is a bad idea and those that tell you to put your speakers on spring platforms?


In terms of losing bass, just remember that most concert speakers are suspended.


It would also do to research the relative weight of the cone+voice coil compared to the total speaker weight.


In terms of mass in cabinets, that typically improves rigidity.
When I was about 20 I had my speakers suspended with some hi test fishing line. It rawked dude! Probably not something that I’d do now.

It might actually sound okay. Worth a try, especially with some relatively small speakers like those.
This is a practice used in baffleless dipoles for bass and midrange drivers,  where the drivers hang on a swing, however generally not suspended from the ceiling but a frame.

Doing without the baffle avoids vibrations transmitted to the panels. Of course this requires significant eq because of the 6 dB/octave slope before the dipole peak, which is where the drivers should be operated. I'm experimenting with this now.

Anyway, probably not doing much hanging boxed speakers in a swing.