71 pound amp... Particle board furniture. GO!

kuntasensei

So I have a Parasound HCA-1206 arriving in the next few hours. Unfortunately, there is nowhere for me to put it except on top of a cheapo armoire made out of particle board. I used to have a 29 pound receiver on it before, but... 71 pounds is a whole other monster. So here's the question, folks: What's the best way to shore up the top of this thing? I was thinking a 1"x2" under the cabinet top, screwed through the sides of the cabinet, would give it enough strength not to bow, but I could be wrong.

My only other alternative, it seems, is to put it on top of my equipment stand and get a center channel stand to put in front of that. Any ideas would be appreciated!

See pics for what I'm working with here. The place I'm putting it is where the Belkin PF60 is in the pics (left armoire).

SolidSqual

I like these as a nice alternative to wood: http://www.soundocity.com/Soundocity%20Component%20Stands.html

I know you are looking for reinforcement of the existing particle board piece, but maybe you should just call it quits.

EndersShadow

Honestly I would look into building yourself a Flexy DIY rack. Easy to do, totally customizable and not too expensive depending on the parts you use.

You could use really thick shelves that will hold everything.

codyc1ark

Meh, I think your worrying too much. I think it'll hold it just fine. Can you sit on it? :cheesygrin: Try to sit on it, assuming you weigh more than the amp, you'll be fine.

EndersShadow

codyc1ark wrote: »

Meh, I think your worrying too much. I think it'll hold it just fine. Can you sit on it? :cheesygrin: Try to sit on it, assuming you weigh more than the amp, you'll be fine.

This just sounds like the start of a PFB thread.... So to test if the cabinet would hold the amp I decided to sit on it and.......

dkg999

I would screw a 3/4" piece of plywood to the top, either on top or below the current top. The alternating grain of the layers of plywood actually gives it less flex under load than a 1x4 piece of pine. Use lots of screws, glue if you don't care about recovering the original state of the piece.

kuntasensei

Unfortunately, I'm stuck with the stupid armoires. Can't ditch 'em. And that sucks, 'cause if it were up to me, I would have put a VTI stand across that whole front wall and had my screen on the wall instead of free-hanging. So I'm forced to try to shoehorn this amp into the existing furniture until I buy another house (at which point I plan to have a dedicated room, so no worries). Also don't really want a standalone amp stand out in the middle of everything, for evil pet reasons. (See my past stories about the dog using my RTi70 as a fire hydrant and Polk kindly sending me a new baseplate.)

The plywood thing may be a good plan. I was thinking more of 1"x2" cross-members underneath, but that's worth a look. Either would be hidden by the cabinet doors.

Of course, I may just unpack it, set it in place and see if the damn thing bows. I'm just trying to get some options, 'cause I really want to hook it up tonight! :cheesygrin:

chumlie

While i don't agree with his testing method, i think Cody's correct. Or just use the plywood on top. Wouldn't bother with the screws.

BlueFox

EndersShadow wrote: »

This just sounds like the start of a PFB thread.... So to test if the cabinet would hold the amp I decided to sit on it and.......

....hold the amp in your lap.

kuntasensei

I bought two Parasound amps in the last two weeks... I'm not about to go to the doctor over it, guys!

nwohlford

It is hard to tell from the picture, but some of these old units were built to handle the old, large CRT TVs, so 70lbs would be nothing. I have my 110lbs amp on something that looks pretty cheap, but it was meant to hold that weight with the 30"+ CRTs.

gdb

Put it on.......if it sags, take it off, then reinforce. Simple.

obieone

"Hold my beer a second, I wanna try something...":razz:

kuntasensei

nwohlford wrote: »

It is hard to tell from the picture, but some of these old units were built to handle the old, large CRT TVs, so 70lbs would be nothing. I have my 110lbs amp on something that looks pretty cheap, but it was meant to hold that weight with the 30"+ CRTs.

Actually, the two armoires used to be the sides of a single entertainment center with the middle part holding a 27" tube TV (which I removed to put that Sanus stand in between them). So maybe I'm being overly concerned. Good call on that. Hadn't considered it.

As I was typing this message, UPS showed up with the amp. Pulled it out of the box, set it in place... Shelf seems fine. It's a little too deep for the shelf, but I popped the thin back piece out and pushed it back with no worries. Looks weird there... but should be just fine for now. Over time, I could definitely see it bowing though. May throw a 1"x2" under there just as a precaution.

And now, I grab a handful of old junk RCA cables to hook it up until I order some ICs from BJC. :cheesygrin:

decal

You gave up a lot of strength of the unit by popping out the back, no matter how flimsy it seems to be.

kuntasensei

No no... the back was seriously a piece of 1/8" flexible MDF that just sits in the back in narrow channels. It has no structural value whatsoever. If it were the back UNDERNEATH the cabinet top, I would agree.

The good news is that the thing fits. The bad news is that one of the channels is very obviously bad on the amp, and I tried swapping cables, running different speakers on it, etc. Contacted the seller by PM.

ken brydson

obieone wrote: »

"Hold my beer a second, I wanna try something...":razz:

That made me laugh. Not sure why...:cheesygrin:

gdb

ken brydson wrote: »

That made me laugh. Not sure why...:cheesygrin:

You might be a redneck ! Sorry, couldn't resist.:cheesygrin: