Speaker stands

edbert

Alright, I am going to have to get some speaker stands for my monitor 40s. My only question is, what kind. Here is my situation, I have a small living room and I have a 3 month old who will be wanting to pull up on things in the very near future which could include my speaker stands. I can think of a way to anchor the speaker stand itself to the wall, but I need a speaker stand (if there is one out there) that would hopefully hold the speaker on the stand and not fall off if it gets bumped or pulled on a little. I realize this may be an unreasonable request, but it's worth the shot.

Thanks!

Eric

Rivethead

Eric, I'm in the same boat, except an 18 month old.

Do a google search on plateau stands and sanus stands. They seem to be good quality (I'd love to hear thoughts on this from other forum members). Some of them can be filled with sand or shot making them very heavy and difficult to pull over. Looks like I'll be spending $60-$90 for a pair shipped. I'm leaning towards getting metal ones vs. wood.

My question: what's the proper height to get? I've got RTi4's which are 12" high. I think I want 30" stands which would put the top of the speaker about 42" off the ground...about even with the top of my tv, but lower than my center channel (CSi3) which is on top of the tv.

Are there any guidelines on speaker height I should know about?

One final off-subject question to the forum.....can speaker wire go bad? Until my new speaker wire arrives (12 AWG), I'm using 14 AWG wire that's 20 years old (I had in high school!). Surprisingly, everything sounds great. But if speaker wire can go bad (as I suspect) I should be amazed when I get everything hooked up with new wire.

Thanks!

phileth

I've wondered this myself guys. I am considering some speaker stands for my front speakers, (Polk Rti4). Currently they are sitting on top of my entertainment center which is about 5 ft. high, probably a little too high for the best sound. I want to eventually move them off to the side on stands about the same height as the TV. I've seen some Sanus stands on Crutchfield that look very nice, but it seems that the speaker is just resting on the stand with nothing to hold it in place. It looks as if one little bump would send it crashing to the floor. I've got 3-year old twin boys at home too, so I want to keep them as safe as possible (the boys and the speakers

Any suggestions for a really good sturdy speaker stand?

Rivethead

Guys I stumbled across this one today:

http://www.accessories4less.com/cgi-bin/item/PLATF30B

I'm leaning towards metal, so it caught my eye. One of the lower priced metal stands I could find, which may not necessarily be a good thing.

polktiger

phileth wrote:

I've wondered this myself guys. I am considering some speaker stands for my front speakers, (Polk Rti4). Currently they are sitting on top of my entertainment center which is about 5 ft. high, probably a little too high for the best sound. I want to eventually move them off to the side on stands about the same height as the TV. I've seen some Sanus stands on Crutchfield that look very nice, but it seems that the speaker is just resting on the stand with nothing to hold it in place. It looks as if one little bump would send it crashing to the floor. I've got 3-year old twin boys at home too, so I want to keep them as safe as possible (the boys and the speakers

Any suggestions for a really good sturdy speaker stand?

I have RTi4s on the sanus stands, and I would not consider it sturdy. It is fine for me, but the stands can't weigh much more than the speaker. I would not have them if I were worried about them being knocked over. Now - I have engineered some stands while in college using 4x4s and a bag of quickrete - I would trust those in a hurricane or for building a small bridge, but they were not easy on the eyes. (They were supporting some 75 lb floor standers - part of the wall - o - sound where if your ears weren't bleeding it was not loud enough)

tryrrthg

see www.partsexpress.com for good inexpensive speaker stands. fill them with sand and/or lead shot to mass load.

An old audiophile trick of holding bookshelf speakers to stands is use reusable adhesive (poster putty) to hold your speakers to the stands. It does a fantastic job. I use it on my speakers.LINK

edbert

Okay, I drew this up on Google Sketchup(great little program by the way). Everything is to scale. See attached images for different views and measurements. Can anyone think of a way to secure the speaker to the stand without having to box in the speaker based off this design? This would be literally one 4x8 sheet of 3/4" MDF, two 3"dia 10ft. long and one 1"dia 10ft. long PVC pipe and 8 carpet spikes. Any modification ideas are welcome as well as anything you see that might pose a structural problem.

Thanks!

Eric

shawn474

I have these (http://www.partsexpress.com/pe/showdetl.cfm?&Partnumber=240-740). You can fill them with sand but it takes a little modification; the description says you can, but you have to drill holes in the tubes to fill them. They come with rubber pads that grip the speakers well. I have a two year old and was worried about them toppling as well, but no problems so far.

Shawn

tryrrthg

edbert wrote:

Can anyone think of a way to secure the speaker to the stand without having to box in the speaker based off this design?

Am I completely invisible? From my post above:

tryrrthg wrote:

An old audiophile trick of holding bookshelf speakers to stands is use reusable adhesive (poster putty) to hold your speakers to the stands. It does a fantastic job. I use it on my speakers.LINK

no structural issues. I built some just like that several years ago for my Dynaudio's

here is a link to some of the original DIY speaker stands

http://www.tnt-audio.com/clinica/stubby_e.html

edbert

sorry tryrrthg, i didn't even read that before I posted. I would like something a little neater than putty if I can. I have found some wall mounts for the Monitor 30's that use a skid proof material and a clamping type fixture to hold the speaker up. I would like to have something more structurally sound like that. I know the putty would work, I would just personally like something more permanent. Any ideas out there?

tryrrthg

Neater? you won't see it and no, it won't harm your speakers in any way.

Trust me, it's more permanent than you think. It is literally work to get the speakers off the stands with the putty on them. Just work them off slowly if you ever need to take them off the stands. My 50 pound speaker stands will fall over before the putty lets go, at least with the stuff I used. At a whopping $2-3 to try it, you should give it a try, but it's your world, not mine...

oh, if you do decide to try it, buy the 3M brand putty, or something, instead of the generic.

Good luck and have fun building your stands. it's a fun little project.

edbert

Well, if you say it's that strong I just might have to try it. I guess I could make a small lip around the bottom so that I could put the putty inside of that and then place the speaker on top of it and you wouldn't be able to see the putty on the sides. Also, do you recommend not filling the tubes up all the way in order to keep the stand from being too top heavy?

tryrrthg

You only need a small pea size ball of putty on each corner of you speakers, it won't show at all unless you smash it down too close to the edge.

Fill the tubes all the way, or fill the bottom half with lead shot and the rest with sand. I used two 4" PVC columns on each stand (each 22" long) and my stands probably weigh 50 pounds each or so.

vhabaygiurbm

Sanus all the way

roscoe1972

Bought some sanus stands and they included 3M double-sided foam tape to secure the speakers. There were just 4 triangular pieces for each corner.

My experience with these stands, Sanus Systems EF-SATB Euro Foundations, is that the max weight of 10 lbs. is really pushing it, especially if you want them high.

I am currently looking for stands for RTi6/4 and like these
SANUS SYSTEMS EF-28B 28" Euro Foundations

Ricardo

Some people won't like doing this, but I drilled the bottom of the speakers and put a threaded insert in the center. My stand's bases have 4 rubber supports in each corner and a hole in the center; one screw keeps them tight.

pblanc

Check out thetwistergroup.com Look under audio/speakers/stands. Quite a selection and prices are good. Check out the shipping charges, though.

ledhed

edbert wrote:

Okay, I drew this up on Google Sketchup(great little program by the way). Everything is to scale. See attached images for different views and measurements. Can anyone think of a way to secure the speaker to the stand without having to box in the speaker based off this design? This would be literally one 4x8 sheet of 3/4" MDF, two 3"dia 10ft. long and one 1"dia 10ft. long PVC pipe and 8 carpet spikes. Any modification ideas are welcome as well as anything you see that might pose a structural problem.

Thanks!

Eric

I built some just like those. There is a thread here: http://www.polkaudio.com/forums/showthread.php?t=32356&highlight=speaker+stands
You can't tell but the pics but it is 2 pvc pipes in line with one another

pano1967

I got monitor 40's and I got them on my wall with Polk B-Tech 77 wall brackets. They are $59.95 a pair here online and they are real sturdy and will hold your monitor 40's with no problem. Also they wont damage them because they "grip" them with sides that squeeze to their size. I hope that helps.

edbert

Well, I think that the WAF is about at it's limit right now, not to mention we have lots of baby things around the house and there is just no room for stands. I'm glad to know that the B-77's hold the Monitor 40's because I had considered that. I have a less than ideal situation with wall space and high traffic areas. See the link in my sig to see my current situation.

hearingimpared

.....................

edbert

?????????????????????

Sami

Here are some pictures of my DIY stands. Work very well for LSi7's. Filled with sand, just make sure you seal them good. I would suggest solid wood instead of MDF.

http://skylinegtr.homeip.net/gallery2/main.php?g2_itemId=19474

hearingimpared

edbert wrote:

?????????????????????

If you wanted to know what the ...................... was, I was subscribing to the thread.

Deadof_knight

take the driver out and bolt them to your stand using one of the t-nut , type fasteners the nice ones. They will look nice and they will definetely stay attached to your stands.

janmike

Check out Plateau. You can mix & match (vertical column - oval, square, black or silver; wood, cherry, black) you can fill them with shot, sand or whatever. They are very sturdy and they look good.

Plateau Stands