suspending monitors from the ceiling

Bad move.

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. 

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

@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

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