Speaker Stands, how cheap can they be DIY'ed?

[Cafad]

I was reading a few posts here on SNA a few days ago and I just happened to read several that mentioned speaker stands within a few minutes of each other.  They got me thinking, speaker stands for stand mounts can cost quite a bit, from a few hundred to a few thousand (in the more exotic cases), but how much do they have to cost to be effective, and can you come up with something that will work just as well for under $100?  

 

OK, I can't answer that yet, but I have started on a 'proof of concept' pair so I thought I'd put them up in their own thread and see what people thought about them, or if anyone had any ideas that could be used to improve them.

 

I started with the easiest components I could get my hands on, bricks, wood and threaded rod.  The combination of these means we get a heavy stand that is very solid, very stable and easy enough to build and pull apart again that it can be easily modified at a later date.

 

The tools required are fairly basic, I had to cut my own wood and threaded rod so I needed a hand saw and a hack saw, I also chose to recess my nuts (no comments please!) so I needed a hole saw and chisel as well.  Next time I might use two pieces of 20mm ply, one sheet to bolt together and one, slightly larger, sheet to use as a bottom base.  The leftover structural veneer I'm using here is a bit narrow, but it was free so it was worth a try.

 

The pics show one finished stand and all the bits to build the second one.  

 

 

I bought the bricks, threaded rod and nuts and washers from Mitre 10.

 

Speaker Stands     Per Stand Component Price each Total Price. Total (kg) Concrete Blocks, 6 3.7 22.2 43.5 8mm threaded rod, 4 3.35 13.4 0.6 Washers, 8 0.16 1.28   nuts, 8 0.22 1.76   Ply or MDF, 4 ? ? 8         Total     $38.64 52.1

 

It took about 3 hours to put the first one together and I wasn't exactly pushing hard, I also mucked up a measurement and had to cut one of the rods twice so I think we can call that both a quick and simple build.  I'll see if I can get to the second one this afternoon and then I can move on to the testing phase later in the week.

[awty]

You spend thrift. I think mine cost about $12 each.

 

Although yours look much more solid.

Had to cut mine down cause they were too tall for the old AR 3-ways. 1' off the ground works best. I also continued the rod through the bottom of the speaker so its all one unit.

 

[Cafad]

You have done well there.  I haven't filled mine with anything yet, so the price will only go up even further.  It may even reach the dizzying height of $50 if I have to factor in the pieces of ply.  Maybe even further if I decide to paint them (and I probably will, but later, after the bank account has recovered).

 

(And I see my cut and paste from excel didn't work either, oh well, that's $38.64 for the components for both stands and a weight of 52.1kg for each stand)

[astr0b0y]

These are great examples and of interest to me as I am one of those people looking at speaker stand options at the moment. Keep the info coming.

[Cafad]

OK, all done.  The new bricks had some ridges on them but I just turned them upside down and slid them back and forth on the concrete floor 3 or 4 times and that smoothed them out.

 

They work, and they're certainly heavier than the standard S2 stands (and the speakers felt like they lifted themselves after carrying those new stands in from the shed).  

 

If anyone follows in my footsteps here the laminated veneer is not quite as flat as I thought it might be, I had to jam a small piece of cardboard under the corner of one stand to make it sit firm.  I guess you could always fit spikes, don't think I will though.  At least not until I've painted them and seen how they end up looking then.

 

Before:

 

 

After:

[awty]

Yes I cheated as I already had most of the stuff lying around and stole the sand from the beach.

 

You could use liquid nails to stick the blocks together so they cant move, fill with sand and then solid render them. Then you would have some nice solid monoliths......maybe need a forklift to move them.

Edited July 30, 2014 by awty

[Phantom]

Hey Cafad.

 

I know a guy who has some Gale 401 speakers and he decided to make some home made stands for them out of concrete blocks. As they are intended to lay horizontally he joined some blocks together and glued some thick foam foam for the top layer, then covered the whole thing with very thick velour.

I can tell you that this works a treat with his Gales and ended up costing him less than $40 for the pair.

 

Some have said its just "not done" but the results speak for themselves ( no pun intended )

[pete_mac]

Ah, besser-block speaker stands! I built a pair many moons ago and they were rock solid and acoustically dead. Pretty ugly though, and only good for a mancave.

 

I should never have thrown them out

 

[Phantom]

@@pete_mac.

 

My mates Gale stands surprisingly have a high WAF as he allowed her to choose the velour to drape over the bessers. She did this with her own colour schemen in mind and they are both happy. She because they look pretty good and "fit the room ". She also liked it that he didn't spend hundreds on stands to get the best out of his Gales.

 

Looks like a win-win to me

[Cafad]

Yes I cheated as I already had most of the stuff lying around and stole the sand from the beach.

 

You could use liquid nails to stick the blocks together so they cant move, fill with sand and then solid render them. Then you would have some nice solid monoliths......maybe need a forklift to move them.

I do like that idea, but filling them with sand may be a bit much for my back to handle, and they don't really need any more weight.  Maybe some 'space invader' foam?

 

 

Hey Cafad.

 

I know a guy who has some Gale 401 speakers and he decided to make some home made stands for them out of concrete blocks. As they are intended to lay horizontally he joined some blocks together and glued some thick foam foam for the top layer, then covered the whole thing with very thick velour.

I can tell you that this works a treat with his Gales and ended up costing him less than $40 for the pair.

 

Some have said its just "not done" but the results speak for themselves ( no pun intended )

Excellent!  And as for the naysayers, well, there's always someone who says something should not be done.  But they are free to not do it themselves, and let us get on with playing about.

 

Ah, besser-block speaker stands! I built a pair many moons ago and they were rock solid and acoustically dead. Pretty ugly though, and only good for a mancave.

 

I should never have thrown them out

 

 

 That works for me pete_mac, because a man cave is what I have.

 

 

Hmmm, if I liquid nails the bricks together then I can take the blocks of wood off and paint them orange and the bricks black.  

 

SNA colours all the way!  Or SNA?

 

Or maybe an orange racing stripe around the middle and a black top and bottom... decisions, decisions... this could take a while!

[Guest]

How cheap?

Most things like this can be DIY'ed for free, really, if you go for a drive around building sites and have a poke through the skip bins.

Builders, brickies, concretors etc rarely take surplus materials with them to the next job so in the bin it goes.

I like what I see in this thread though.

Always good to see people building their own stuff.

Extra points for using beach sand to fill the stand with

If rendering seems too hard, there's always render paint, but it will work out more expensive.

Liquid nails is good but make sure the block is clean first.

Preferably scrub it a bit with a stiff brush and water.

Don't use too much liquid nails, only needs a fine bead.

Edited July 30, 2014 by Dirty_vinylpusher

[clanga71]

I did mine really cheap. Found some off cuts at my local metal supplier and bought a can of spray paint. Pulled out the welder and this is what I made....

If you are in or around Melbourne I can make some stands for you for about 1/2 what they would cost in the shops.

Customised to suit your speakers and the height that you want them to be. I Made some for a DJ......see last pic.

Mick

0455814444

[Saxon Hall]

That is a nice offer Clanga71

The stands you made look quite good

BTW it is best not to put your phone number in posts.(not encouraged on this site)

It is better to communicate by PM.

Welcome to the forum

[Cafad]

The acoustic performance is interesting.  The imaging is not quite as sharp as with my Lenehan stands, and the bass has a slightly different feel to it (slightly more solid but not as tight, it rumbles more effectively but doesn't seem to go quite as deep).  

 

I'm glad I made them, but I think I'll go back to the Lenehans now.

 

(I wonder if they'd perform better if I used steel plate instead of wood?  There is an engineering works just down the road...  I'd have to spot weld the nuts to the bottom of the plate, or something similar to keep the top of the 'top plate' flat, hmmmmm that should be do-able.)

 

 

Edit:  The make concrete blocks in different colours now don't they?  I wonder if we could get some black and orange ones.

Edited August 5, 2014 by Cafad

[Cafad]

OK, I just did a one after the other comparison and I am forced to re-phrase.

 

 

The acoustic performance is interesting.  The imaging is not quite nowhere near as sharp as with my Lenehan stands, and the bass has a slightly different feel to it (slightly more solid but not as tight, it rumbles more effectively but doesn't seem to go quite as deep).  

 

 

Also I should mention that the solid feel to the bass actually extends all the way up into the mids making them feel less dynamic and more like they are chained to the floor and unable to get any air under them.  

 

The effect is absolutely awesome for home theater but not at all what you want for music.

 

Now I just have to try those metal plates.  Bugger!

[Spider27]

On 05/08/2014 at 11:37 PM, Cafad said:

OK, I just did a one after the other comparison and I am forced to re-phrase.

 

 

 

Also I should mention that the solid feel to the bass actually extends all the way up into the mids making them feel less dynamic and more like they are chained to the floor and unable to get any air under them.  

 

The effect is absolutely awesome for home theater but not at all what you want for music.

 

Now I just have to try those metal plates.  Bugger!

 

@CafadIf you don't mind asking, can I ask a question re stands? 

 

would it be sufficient to use yoga block (foam block) for desktop monitor stand?

 

I watched this video and it is definitely better than nothing underneath but not sure how good it is comparing with IsoAcoustic stands.

 

Thank you in advance.  

 

 

[Cafad]

I don't see why not.

And as for the IsoAccoustic stands the foam bricks don't need to be as good as they are only about 1/10th of the price.

[Ugly]

I made up some pine stands and isolated them from the desk with some furniture pads. I wouldn't sweat it too much as long as you get the height right. I.e. it's more important to get the speaker up of the desk.



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[audiofeline]

Interesting.  I suggested to a friend some time ago to make some stands from these bricks as a "proof of concept". I don't think my friend has tried the concept yet, but they would have to be better than what he's currently using. 

 

If the brick stands are liked, they could be wrapped with a wooden covering and stained or painted and (depending on the woodworking skills) they could look like a million dollars. 

 

Many years ago I had each of my speakers sitting on two recycled house bricks.  They sounded much better than when they sat on the floor.  My current speakers have custom stands, so I don't need the bricks.