diff --git a/akka-stream-tests/src/test/java/akka/stream/StreamTest.java b/akka-stream-tests/src/test/java/akka/stream/StreamTest.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..b09f2b04bb
--- /dev/null
+++ b/akka-stream-tests/src/test/java/akka/stream/StreamTest.java
@@ -0,0 +1,19 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright (C) 2009-2014 Typesafe Inc. <http://www.typesafe.com>
+ */
+
+package akka.stream;
+
+import akka.actor.ActorSystem;
+import akka.stream.javadsl.AkkaJUnitActorSystemResource;
+
+public abstract class StreamTest {
+    final protected ActorSystem system;
+    final protected FlowMaterializer materializer;
+
+    protected StreamTest(AkkaJUnitActorSystemResource actorSystemResource) {
+        system = actorSystemResource.getSystem();
+        MaterializerSettings settings = MaterializerSettings.create(system);
+        materializer = FlowMaterializer.create(settings, system);
+    }
+}
diff --git a/akka-stream-tests/src/test/java/akka/stream/actor/ActorPublisherTest.java b/akka-stream-tests/src/test/java/akka/stream/actor/ActorPublisherTest.java
index 341f477194..9682d539b9 100644
--- a/akka-stream-tests/src/test/java/akka/stream/actor/ActorPublisherTest.java
+++ b/akka-stream-tests/src/test/java/akka/stream/actor/ActorPublisherTest.java
@@ -1,10 +1,8 @@
 package akka.stream.actor;
 
 import akka.actor.ActorRef;
-import akka.actor.ActorSystem;
 import akka.actor.Props;
-import akka.stream.FlowMaterializer;
-import akka.stream.MaterializerSettings;
+import akka.stream.StreamTest;
 import akka.stream.javadsl.AkkaJUnitActorSystemResource;
 import akka.stream.javadsl.Source;
 import akka.stream.testkit.AkkaSpec;
@@ -15,12 +13,15 @@ import org.reactivestreams.Publisher;
 
 import static akka.stream.actor.ActorPublisherMessage.Request;
 
-public class ActorPublisherTest {
+public class ActorPublisherTest extends StreamTest {
+  public ActorPublisherTest() {
+    super(actorSystemResource);
+  }
 
   @ClassRule
   public static AkkaJUnitActorSystemResource actorSystemResource = new AkkaJUnitActorSystemResource("ActorPublisherTest", AkkaSpec.testConf());
 
-  public static class TestPublisher extends UntypedActorPublisher<Integer> {
+    public static class TestPublisher extends UntypedActorPublisher<Integer> {
 
     @Override
     public void onReceive(Object msg) {
@@ -35,11 +36,6 @@ public class ActorPublisherTest {
     }
   }
 
-  final ActorSystem system = actorSystemResource.getSystem();
-
-  final MaterializerSettings settings = MaterializerSettings.create(system);
-  final FlowMaterializer materializer = FlowMaterializer.create(settings, system);
-
   @Test
   public void mustHaveJavaAPI() {
     final JavaTestKit probe = new JavaTestKit(system);
diff --git a/akka-stream-tests/src/test/java/akka/stream/actor/ActorSubscriberTest.java b/akka-stream-tests/src/test/java/akka/stream/actor/ActorSubscriberTest.java
index 2340385719..de5da1c7ec 100644
--- a/akka-stream-tests/src/test/java/akka/stream/actor/ActorSubscriberTest.java
+++ b/akka-stream-tests/src/test/java/akka/stream/actor/ActorSubscriberTest.java
@@ -1,10 +1,8 @@
 package akka.stream.actor;
 
 import akka.actor.ActorRef;
-import akka.actor.ActorSystem;
 import akka.actor.Props;
-import akka.stream.FlowMaterializer;
-import akka.stream.MaterializerSettings;
+import akka.stream.StreamTest;
 import akka.stream.javadsl.AkkaJUnitActorSystemResource;
 import akka.stream.javadsl.Sink;
 import akka.stream.javadsl.Source;
@@ -19,7 +17,10 @@ import java.util.Arrays;
 import static akka.stream.actor.ActorSubscriberMessage.OnError;
 import static akka.stream.actor.ActorSubscriberMessage.OnNext;
 
-public class ActorSubscriberTest {
+public class ActorSubscriberTest extends StreamTest {
+  public ActorSubscriberTest() {
+    super(actorSystemResource);
+  }
 
   @ClassRule
   public static AkkaJUnitActorSystemResource actorSystemResource = new AkkaJUnitActorSystemResource("FlowTest", AkkaSpec.testConf());
@@ -55,11 +56,6 @@ public class ActorSubscriberTest {
     }
   }
 
-  final ActorSystem system = actorSystemResource.getSystem();
-
-  final MaterializerSettings settings = MaterializerSettings.create(system);
-  final FlowMaterializer materializer = FlowMaterializer.create(settings, system);
-
   @Test
   public void mustHaveJavaAPI() {
     final JavaTestKit probe = new JavaTestKit(system);
diff --git a/akka-stream-tests/src/test/java/akka/stream/javadsl/FlowTest.java b/akka-stream-tests/src/test/java/akka/stream/javadsl/FlowTest.java
index dd01fcee0a..d83c37eace 100644
--- a/akka-stream-tests/src/test/java/akka/stream/javadsl/FlowTest.java
+++ b/akka-stream-tests/src/test/java/akka/stream/javadsl/FlowTest.java
@@ -1,15 +1,13 @@
 package akka.stream.javadsl;
 
 import akka.actor.ActorRef;
-import akka.actor.ActorSystem;
 import akka.dispatch.Foreach;
 import akka.dispatch.Futures;
 import akka.dispatch.OnSuccess;
 import akka.japi.Pair;
 import akka.japi.Util;
-import akka.stream.FlowMaterializer;
-import akka.stream.MaterializerSettings;
 import akka.stream.OverflowStrategy;
+import akka.stream.StreamTest;
 import akka.stream.Transformer;
 import akka.stream.javadsl.japi.*;
 import akka.stream.testkit.AkkaSpec;
@@ -32,17 +30,15 @@ import java.util.concurrent.TimeUnit;
 
 import static org.junit.Assert.assertEquals;
 
-public class FlowTest {
+public class FlowTest extends StreamTest {
+  public FlowTest() {
+    super(actorSystemResource);
+  }
 
-  @ClassRule
+    @ClassRule
   public static AkkaJUnitActorSystemResource actorSystemResource = new AkkaJUnitActorSystemResource("FlowTest",
       AkkaSpec.testConf());
 
-  final ActorSystem system = actorSystemResource.getSystem();
-
-  final MaterializerSettings settings = MaterializerSettings.create(system);
-  final FlowMaterializer materializer = FlowMaterializer.create(settings, system);
-
   @Test
   public void mustBeAbleToUseSimpleOperators() {
     final JavaTestKit probe = new JavaTestKit(system);
diff --git a/akka-stream-tests/src/test/java/akka/stream/javadsl/SinkTest.java b/akka-stream-tests/src/test/java/akka/stream/javadsl/SinkTest.java
index 4a2666c4e9..25b4e7479d 100644
--- a/akka-stream-tests/src/test/java/akka/stream/javadsl/SinkTest.java
+++ b/akka-stream-tests/src/test/java/akka/stream/javadsl/SinkTest.java
@@ -3,9 +3,10 @@
  */
 package akka.stream.javadsl;
 
-import akka.actor.ActorSystem;
-import akka.stream.FlowMaterializer;
-import akka.stream.MaterializerSettings;
+import java.util.ArrayList;
+import java.util.List;
+
+import akka.stream.StreamTest;
 import akka.stream.javadsl.japi.Function2;
 import akka.stream.testkit.AkkaSpec;
 import org.junit.ClassRule;
@@ -18,17 +19,15 @@ import scala.concurrent.duration.Duration;
 import java.util.ArrayList;
 import java.util.List;
 
-public class SinkTest {
+public class SinkTest extends StreamTest {
+  public SinkTest() {
+    super(actorSystemResource);
+  }
 
   @ClassRule
   public static AkkaJUnitActorSystemResource actorSystemResource = new AkkaJUnitActorSystemResource("FlowTest",
       AkkaSpec.testConf());
 
-  final ActorSystem system = actorSystemResource.getSystem();
-
-  final MaterializerSettings settings = MaterializerSettings.create(system);
-  final FlowMaterializer materializer = FlowMaterializer.create(settings, system);
-
   @Test
   public void mustBeAbleToUseFanoutPublisher() throws Exception {
     final KeyedSink<Object, Publisher<Object>> pubSink = Sink.fanoutPublisher(2, 2);
diff --git a/akka-stream/src/main/resources/reference.conf b/akka-stream/src/main/resources/reference.conf
index 49c055c288..c57b627d57 100644
--- a/akka-stream/src/main/resources/reference.conf
+++ b/akka-stream/src/main/resources/reference.conf
@@ -40,6 +40,9 @@ akka {
         timeout = 5s
       }
 
+      # Fully qualified config path which holds the dispatcher configuration
+      # to be used by FlowMaterialiser when creating Actors for IO operations.
+      file-io-dispatcher = ${akka.io.tcp.file-io-dispatcher}
     }
 
   }
diff --git a/akka-stream/src/main/scala/akka/stream/FlowMaterializer.scala b/akka-stream/src/main/scala/akka/stream/FlowMaterializer.scala
index 7268e68576..8d069f2ad1 100644
--- a/akka-stream/src/main/scala/akka/stream/FlowMaterializer.scala
+++ b/akka-stream/src/main/scala/akka/stream/FlowMaterializer.scala
@@ -184,7 +184,8 @@ object MaterializerSettings {
       config.getInt("initial-fan-out-buffer-size"),
       config.getInt("max-fan-out-buffer-size"),
       config.getString("dispatcher"),
-      StreamSubscriptionTimeoutSettings(config))
+      StreamSubscriptionTimeoutSettings(config),
+      config.getString("file-io-dispatcher"))
 
   /**
    * Java API
@@ -223,7 +224,8 @@ final case class MaterializerSettings(
   initialFanOutBufferSize: Int,
   maxFanOutBufferSize: Int,
   dispatcher: String,
-  subscriptionTimeoutSettings: StreamSubscriptionTimeoutSettings) {
+  subscriptionTimeoutSettings: StreamSubscriptionTimeoutSettings,
+  fileIODispatcher: String) {
 
   require(initialInputBufferSize > 0, "initialInputBufferSize must be > 0")