Widescreen Gaming Forum

For setting up 3 (22") monitors for surround there are at least these options.

1. Use the stands that come with the monitors.
2. Raise the monitors on a box or similar.
3. Use a triple stand. I'd favour Ergotron LX Triple/Dual Display Lift Stand
4. Use 3 single arm stands. I'd favour Ergotron LX Desk Mount LCD Arm

The first two options, apart from anything else, take up desk space that the last two do not. So I'd appreciate any thoughts or experience on the pros and cons of the last two options. Which would you go for (or have gone for) a triple stand or 3 single arms?

The potential disadvantage with a triple stand is that you can't increase the angle at which the outer monitors meet the centre monitor. Have those of you with triple stands ever felt like you'd like wrap the 3 monitors around you a little more but could not?

The potential disadvantage with 3 separate arms is that it may be difficult to securely lock the 3 monitors in a straight line. By straight line I mean such that the top and bottom edges are aligned along a horizontal plane, regardless of the angles you set up on a vertical plane. Have those of you with single arms had this difficulty?

I actually use an LX triple myself, and I quite like it... The only quibble I have is that there is not quite enough room to move the monitors "behind" each other to hide the bezels, although it can be done by putting the 2 side bezels in front, although most of the angle is lost. :(

However, as compared to the stands that came with my monitors, this is way better, so I'm not complaining...

The only thing with the triple is that there might not be enough room for 22" monitors, or at least it would be very close...

I modded a Neo-Flex HD and DS-100 to hang three 22" monitors off the wall:

http://www.widescreengamingforum.com/wiki/index.php/Ergotron_Neo-Flex_HD_%26_DS100_Triple-Monitor_Stand_%28Featured_Review%29

Ibrin, I had previously skimmed passed your review as I'm a tenant and therefore not interested in wall mounting. However, your review is instructive for my situation as:

* You described getting the monitors off your desk as "life changing". That shows that even if I'm not interested in a wall mount I'm probably not going to be interested in using the original monitor stands or sitting them on a desk. Clearing one's desk as much as possible seems desirable.
* Your warning, for a triple mount, to get a second person when mounting the outer monitors is important. I wonder whether another workaround, if one doesn't have access to another human, is to lie the monitors face down on the carpet?
* A triple monitor stand might have alignment problems:

I have yet to get all three monitors to line up perfectly. The largest issue is that the outer monitors sit about an 1/8" lower than the center. I believe this is because the monitor arms are torquing (twisting) down slightly, causing the monitor to drop. It's not a big issue, and is really only evident when starting at the Windows desktop.

Is this a flaw in the DS-100 which the LX triple lift does not have?

Note that CyberCrist's report, My personal review of Ergotron LX Triple Display Lift Stand, does not address the issue (in virtue of his or her situation not being applicable):

Also you'll notice that the side monitors are slightly higher then the middle monitor. This has NOTHING to do with the Ergotron product; rather the placement of the backside mounting plate on the Chimei monitors is not the same height as the Samsung.

HowlingBlue, thanks for pointing out the bezel issue. I probably won't be interested in hiding bezels by putting one behind the other (it would be nice if manufacturer's had interweavable bezels). However, the freedom to do so now counts as an advantage for 3 separate arms.

Howlingblue, do you have any issues with the LX triple and getting a perfect alignment? What are the size and weight of the monitors you are using?

HowlingBlue, thanks for pointing out the bezel issue. I probably won't be interested in hiding bezels by putting one behind the other (it would be nice if manufacturer's had interweavable bezels). However, the freedom to do so now counts as an advantage for 3 separate arms.

I'm going to mess with it later to see if maybe I can make it work, but the monitors can be placed in front of each other for the same effect, it just doesn't look quite as good. :?

Howlingblue, do you have any issues with the LX triple and getting a perfect alignment? What are the size and weight of the monitors you are using?

I haven't had any real issues with the stand and alignment, except that I had to special order some screws, since the Viewsonic panels I use (19" widescreen, not sure of the weight.) have screw holes that are abnormally shallow, which caused the screws to bottom out too soon, and the monitors to hang in an insecure fashion. That might be something to look into.

As far as alignment with the correct screws though, they are as close as possible to aligned with each other, with maybe a slight rotational difference, but it's not noticeable, unless you're a bit OCD like me. :)

Perhaps we are all, on the forum, a little bit OC :)

I had to special order some screws, since the Viewsonic panels I use (19" widescreen, not sure of the weight.) have screw holes that are abnormally shallow

I'm favouring a ViewSonic VX2262wm, so this may well apply to me. Was the special order to your local hardware store, viewsonic, or ergotron?

As for alignment, mmm, with 22" monitors (I have checked that the dimensions are within Ergotron spec, despite their stated 21" limit) the rotational/torsional effect might be pronounced! 3 seperate arms may even afford better alignment!

Edit: Favouring "VX2262wm" not "VX2260wm"

Perhaps we are all, on the forum, a little bit OC :)

[quote] I had to special order some screws, since the Viewsonic panels I use (19" widescreen, not sure of the weight.) have screw holes that are abnormally shallow

I'm favouring a ViewSonic VX2260wm, so this may well apply to me. Was the special order to your local hardware store, viewsonic, or ergotron?

As for alignment, mmm, with 22" monitors (I have checked that the dimensions are within Ergotron spec, despite their stated 21" limit) the rotational/torsional effect might be pronounced! 3 seperate arms may even afford better alignment!

I ordered them from my local hardware store, and it took about a week. Just in case you need the information later, the screws that are included are Metric 4x10mm, which were a bit too long, so I got and used 4x8mm, and it worked perfectly with mine.

I don't mean that there's anything wrong with the stand when I say the alignment is a bit off, it's basically a function of the way the monitors attach to the arm. you place the bracket that the monitor is screwed into onto the arm, and then basically turn a screw with a plastic gear on the end, which tightens the bracket until it stays in place.

The bracket is designed to rotate slightly as well, and it's also held in place by the screw and gear, so when you lock it in place, it might turn a slight bit (about a mm) as it finishes tightening, so that's the really small alignment I'm talking about. It can be defeated if you are careful, it just wasn't worth the time when I was assembling it, although I'll probably fix it later.

EDIT: Also, let me say that compared to the "stand" that my monitor came with, this monitor stand is much, much better. The stand the vx1940w comes with only has tilt, and it's very clumsy. This stand has height, tilt, and saves space, so I'm definitely happy, even with the slight quibbles.

Just wanted you to know that even though I have complaints, this stand is definitely a good buy, especially if the stand your monitors come with is as cheap as this one. :D

HowlingBlue, thanks for the screw info.

The bracket is designed to rotate slightly as well, and it's also held in place by the screw and gear, so when you lock it in place, it might turn a slight bit (about a mm) as it finishes tightening, so that's the really small alignment I'm talking about. It can be defeated if you are careful, ...

Your writing was clear in this passage. However, just to confirm I've understood you, you mean: the bracket can be tilted (or "rotated") forward and backward so even if there was large rotation across the main beam (which there is not in your case) this can be compensated for.

Note, I saw your edits about this stand being a good buy compared to the stand(s) the monitor(s) are sold with.

just to confirm I've understood you, you mean: the bracket can be tilted (or "rotated") forward and backward so even if there was large rotation across the main beam (which there is not in your case) this can be compensated for.

Unfortunately, no, but that would be a good idea... Basically, the stand is 3 major parts: the "stalk" that the arm sits on, a long curved aluminum beam, the "arm" that the monitors hang from, and the monitors, which have the bracket I'm talking about VESA mounted into them.

The screw's main purpose is to tighten and loosen the bracket so that you can get the monitors off the arm, and also so that you can slide the monitors along the arm to get them closer/further from each other. But the bracket is able to rotate, so that you can turn the monitors on their sides, if you want 3 vertical monitors, for whatever purpose (wouldn't work with TH. :( ) This rotation is also held in place by that same screw, so as you tighten it into place, it can slightly rotate the monitor a bit further.

The monitor arm itself seems solid enough that it would take a large amount of force to make it bend, so I don't think that even 22" would cause problems, but I guess it is possible...

HowlingBlue, Ok I believe I've got you.

Anyway the bottom line seems to be this. From your experience 19" monitors can be lined up, if you are careful, to satisfy Obsessive Compulsive types like ourselves. This is likely to apply to 22" monitors (that can fit on the arm in the first place).

I debated on this aswell and I ended up going with 3 single arm mounts. The cost was much cheaper then a single 3 LCD mount. You can still buy them but at the time I did their stock was pretty limited.

http://www.geeks.com/details.asp?invtid=MA2790-PB&cat=MON

Mounting them had a few tricks to get by. I didnt have to attach them to a wall but the back of my desk's hutch.



They are off in the pic but I was able to line them up better. You can raise the hight. I also took a single 3'x8" board and drew out the areas to attach the mounts. Pre drilled the holes in the mounting board and used it as a guide to put the same holes in the hutch.

Thanks Mumm. Your setup looks sweet. Those 20 inchers look wide yet not too wide.

I was able to line them up better

Do you mean you tried a triple arm, like the Ergotron LX Triple/Dual Display Lift Stand?

The center LCD was the same model as the others but slightly older. It may have been the reason it was a touch lower then the other 2. I raised it a bit to make the tops all flush.

bentley, concerning the issue of whether or not the LX triple Mount Stand can handle 3x22 in screens...

I called Ergotron to ascertain exactly this. Response was that it all had to do with the depth of the monitor you intend to use. Do not recall the exact ratios that we discussed, and my monitor choice has changed since I made that call so I will have to ring them again, but the gist is that the Ergotron tech had an extensive list in front of her that she leafed through to try to find my monitor choice. She was looking for the dimensional specs so she could then tell me for sure whether or not they would fit. I am sure that if you give them a call, they'd be more than helpful

Of course, that means getting up at 0300 Oz time to call them. Perhaps you could just stay up late with a few good movies :wink: .

All kidding aside, this issue is a potential showstopper. Nothing would be worse than to be terribly excited to receive all your hardware, go about getting nearly all of it set up, start installing that last monitor only to realize that they are too deep and won't mount :shock: :x :evil:

the issue of whether or not the LX triple Mount Stand can handle 3x22 in screens...

Yes, thanks for raising this issue. The response you got from the Ergotron tech is as I understand it. You have to check the width and *depth* of your candidate (or actual) 22" against the maximum specs of the LX triple Mount stand.

Fortunately you can just check this online.

From the Ergotron LX Triple/Dual Display Lift Stand Dimensional illustrations (PDF) one can see, for example,
you can have a maximum width of 20.25" (514.3 mm) for a maximum depth of 2" (50.8 mm). Less wide monitors can be more deep.

For my favoured 22" monitor, Viewsonic VX2262wm, I thought I had checked this. I had not. The viewsonic site is silent on the "without base" dimensions.

Svr, a forum user with this monitor model, might help us here in Upgrade vx2262wm.

Exactly. I don't know about you, but during my shopping, ALL the potential monitors I looked at were sans a base-less depth dimension. That's what made the call to Ergotron so eye opening. Apparently they have the base-less depth measurement for a plethora of 19-22 inch monitors available on the market today.

Good luck :)

I've emailed Ergotron and Viewsonic (australia). No response from either. If a company doesn't respond to your requests before you buy their product it doesn't bode well for their responses after. :(

Anybody else got experience with 3 separate arms and getting them to line up (I'm now more inclined to go for non ergotron products)?

I ordered a couple articulated arms for my monitors and they line up nicely, with plenty of rom to adjust. Plus with arms you can aim your displays at funky angles. It took some doing to get height adjustment and a transition board, as the baseplates were wider than my wall studs....

Got 'em at monoprice.com. shippiung to Canada was double the product price but was still half of what i'd be forced to pay from local stores. All steel and take up to 60lbs each.

I dconsidered Ergotron when i started looking at mounts but there was no way I'd pay so much.

hey, my typing isn't so bad for a guy that lopped his fingertip off. Ow.

In case anyone is interested in the Viewsonic VX2262wm:

* From the Ergotron LX Triple/Dual Display Lift Stand Dimensional illustrations (PDF) one can see, for example,
you can have a maximum width of 20.25" (514.3 mm) for a maximum depth of 2" (50.8 mm). Less wide monitors can be more deep.

* Viewsonic VX2262wm specs (Thanks Viewsonic USA support for pointing me this way.) gives dimensions (without base) of width 508mm x depth 64mm.

I did some plotting in Excel. The Viewsonic VX2262wm is right on the limit for the LX Triple lift.

As for single stand V separate arms:

I ordered a couple articulated arms for my monitors and they line up nicely, with plenty of rom [sic] to adjust. Plus with arms you can aim your displays at funky angles.

Thanks Abram!!! That tips me toward 3 separate arms. If you can line em up then the freedom to have any angle you want seems like a considerable advantage over a single stand.

I'll report back when I get 'em.

I'm now contemplating 3 separate arms. Specifically 3 of the Innovative Evo 5645.

This is a model for those with a deep desk like myself. It might be the only model in the "EVO" range that can get the monitors high enough, regardless of how deep your desk is.

There is a good video of the basic model, the Innovative EVO 5545.

These arms are gas lift, allowing you to reposition monitor without nobs or screws. They are bloody expensive at $AUD 481 each. However, I think I'm in love.

I will be looking to verify that they have the millimeter accuracy when fully extended, as it seems they might based on the video.