Need Help with Physical and Aesthetic Centre of Gravity on Speaker Stands (w/pic)

[David Eisan]

Hello everyone,

I started on my first bit of woodworking not related to home renovations tonight for the first time in a real long time.

I lost the shelves that my small bookshelf speakers rested on and I wanted something to hold them off the floor beside the TV.

I almost got them done tonight but I got stuck with the physical and aesthetic center of gravity placement of the vertical post vs. the top and bottom platforms.

The speakers are 20 year old Infinity RS1000's that I replaced the main drivers in two years ago due to surround cracking from age.

I am at a loss at where the vertical post should meet the top and bottom platform so they look good and don't topple.

http://www.federatedtool.com/david/img/splayout.jpg

Any ideas?

Thanks,

David.

Every Neighbourhood has one, in Mine I'm Him

[Tim Morton]

I would try and go for the aesthetics, and find what looks good to your eye. Then couple the stand to the floor using a heavy steel or lead plate hidden in the base.

[Joe Jensen]

Also, most speaker stands have spikes to couple the stand to the floor. I don't buy the audiophile perceived benefits, but the spikes do let you get through any carpet to get solid contact with the floor. If you are going to put them on carpet they will be tippy without spikes...joe

[James Phillips]

Hello everyone,

I started on my first bit of woodworking not related to home renovations tonight for the first time in a real long time.

I lost the shelves that my small bookshelf speakers rested on and I wanted something to hold them off the floor beside the TV.

I almost got them done tonight but I got stuck with the physical and aesthetic center of gravity placement of the vertical post vs. the top and bottom platforms.

The speakers are 20 year old Infinity RS1000's that I replaced the main drivers in two years ago due to surround cracking from age.

I am at a loss at where the vertical post should meet the top and bottom platform so they look good and don't topple.

http://www.federatedtool.com/david/img/splayout.jpg

Any ideas?

Thanks,

David.

Every Neighbourhood has one, in Mine I'm Him


Put the post in the center of each platform. This will give you the most stable base. I would consider making the lower piece a little larger than the top. This will add stability and if you do not make it to large will not really change how it looks

[David DeCristoforo]

I'm with James on this. Center the platforms. The bowed post is going to look good regardless of where the platforms are attached. Offsetting them might look interesting but the effect will slight and most obvious only in "plan" view which is rarely seen by the eye because of perspective.

How well these stands will balance with the weight of your speakers is another question. The only way to know this is going to be to place the speakers on the stands and see. If they are too "tippy" you could simply screw them to the floor (gasp!!!). I made some similar stands and they work well but the speaker boxes are very small and light weight and the bases have more mass.

Another idea: Double the thickness of the base platform by laminating two pieces of wood. But before you glue them together, rout out a matching space in each piece and fill the space with lead shot. You can pour the shot after the pieces are glued together by drilling a hole in the bottom of the mortice into the cavity.

[David Epperson]

Really, so long as the CG of the speaker box is inside the area of the lower stand base (as in directly vertical from that point), the stand will be stable. The closer to the center of the base, the more stable. From the looks of it the CG of your vertical support will not be inside it's own wood, closer to the back of the tennons, so these should probably be close to center of back edge of tennon right at the center of the base (as you have the lower base positioned.). But that is also assuming that the CG of the speaker will be located at close to the center of the top plate.(assuming both plates located the same in the final assembly.) But so long as the CG of the whole is within the area of the base, you're good.

[Steven Wilson]

David, make the top shelf thinner (or bevel the edges to lighten it up) and make the bottom thicker and a bit larger (more so in length). The column looks massive and needs to balance between the base and the top, as is it's a bit over powering.

[Cliff Rohrabacher]

I started on my first bit of woodworking not related to home renovations tonight for the first time in a real long time.

Isn't that a good feeling~!!

My shop got trashed, my tools lost, beat, and broke from decades of house renovation spanning homes in three states and lastly stolen during one ugly moment in an otherwise smooth divorce.

It felt soooo good to rebuild and start over.

Anyway that's a really nice stand. My first instinct was to set a speaker on it get it to balance naturally step back and see how it looks.

[Noah Katz]

You could put a nice piece of granite under the base piece.