Speaker Stands

[Kris Cook]

I apologize up front for the rough sketches.

I am building some speaker stands from walnut that I have laying around and was starting to mill lumber and realized I might want to go a different route than I had planned.

I will try to explain.

The legs were going to be about "L" shaped with the front face about 2" wide with the connecting side piece 2" less the thickness of the stock for an overall width of 2". Essentially a 2"x2" L-shaped leg with stretchers connected with stub tenons.

As I started looking at the width of the lumber I have I realized the front pieces will end up more like 1-3/4" which would make the side piece about 1" wide. Hope this makes sense. Wondering if this might look a little odd.

The other option would be to forego the side piece of the "L" and just have a one-piece leg. The stands are only 24" tall and I think the stands would be plenty strong enough. This brings up the issue of connecting the stretchers. I can still go with tenons on the front but would have to some sort of notch/half-lap let into the side of the leg. I think there is enough width on the leg to have a stub tenon on the inside and a lap/notch on the outside.

The stretchers do need to be at the same height as there will be a shelf sitting on them. The shelves top and bottom will be plywood, and set into rabbets which should help with stability also.

Speaker Stand Front 2.jpg
This Pic gives a general idea of the connections
Speaker Stand Front.jpg
This is just a front view showing OA dimensions and drawer.
Speaker Stand Cut List.jpg
This is a cut list using the 2 boards I have.

[Scott Winners]

Are these for surround or main speakers?

For mains with woofer drivers in them I strongly encourage auditioning the drivers with variously sized spacers underneath before building.

For surround drivers you (we) have a lot of flexibility.

Either way, the acoustics in the room are going to trump all the 'standard/ classic/ basic' theory. If you can, stack up some empty shipping boxes and phone books to find what driver height works in the room and build that. Or build what look very much like end tables or bed side tables at a versatile height and then spacers under the drivers to optimize them in the room.

If your stock is well seasoned half lap joinery for the stretchers will likely provide very good service life for surrounds, but I am very nervous about putting bass drivers that far off the floor even with full on retard M/T joints.

[Kris Cook]

Are these for surround or main speakers?

For mains with woofer drivers in them I strongly encourage auditioning the drivers with variously sized spacers underneath before building.

For surround drivers you (we) have a lot of flexibility.

Either way, the acoustics in the room are going to trump all the 'standard/ classic/ basic' theory. If you can, stack up some empty shipping boxes and phone books to find what driver height works in the room and build that. Or build what look very much like end tables or bed side tables at a versatile height and then spacers under the drivers to optimize them in the room.

If your stock is well seasoned half lap joinery for the stretchers will likely provide very good service life for surrounds, but I am very nervous about putting bass drivers that far off the floor even with full on retard M/T joints.

Scott - thanks for your input.

These are two-way speakers weigh 23 lbs. each. I am not concerned about weight as the stands will be the exact width of the speakers which will carry the weight to the floor through the legs. I wouldn't do this if I had to worry about kids knocking them off of there.

Your are right about auditioning the speakers and I will do that. I don't have options for imaging as regards horizontal spacing but I will play with the height. I will say though my two other considerations for height are - tweeters at essentially ear level, and enough height in the stands to use as record storage.

For the legs I decided to go with a lock-miter and keep the two pieces the same width. This will look better I think than what I was thinking previously and will also have the benefit of wrapping the grain around the leg.

I am now thinking the bottom shelf will actually be horizontal strips let into a dovetail notch in the rails.

This turned into more of a rabbit-hole than I was intending but I guess that is part of the fun of it.

[David Publicover]

I think the change to the shelf will be better. I was concerned it could add some resonances as a flat panel although not so much with stuff on it. Ear height while seated is the normal placement for tweeters on the stand. I was playing with a couple pair of B&W speakers yesterday and my 24” stands are a little too short.
The stands would be plenty stable with records underneath but you’ll have to be careful that you don’t knock a speaker. A couple bits of Blu-tac adhesive putty would probably be a good idea.
I’m looking forward to seeing them as I think they’ll look sharp!

[Kris Cook]

I think the change to the shelf will be better. I was concerned it could add some resonances as a flat panel although not so much with stuff on it. Ear height while seated is the normal placement for tweeters on the stand. I was playing with a couple pair of B&W speakers yesterday and my 24” stands are a little too short.
The stands would be plenty stable with records underneath but you’ll have to be careful that you don’t knock a speaker. A couple bits of Blu-tac adhesive putty would probably be a good idea.
I’m looking forward to seeing them as I think they’ll look sharp!

Thanks David.

I will start a build thread in the "Projects" section. Hoping that may keep me motivated to get these built.

[Kris Cook]

Well I decided to go back to the "L" shaped legs. I was going to inset the top so that it was flush with the top of the legs. I realize now this will show the end grain at the tops of the legs. The top will be 1/2" veneered MDF. I also ordered some walnut edging when I ordered the veneer so now I am thinking just edge the top and set it on top of the legs.