DIY Granite speaker/amp stands Argos special

Been experimenting lately, bought 4 argos granite chopping boards, stuck 2 together with silicone sealant, drilled 4 dents in top for speaker spikes, added some thin wood round the sides for decoration and sat these on 4 michell tenderfeet, (short ones £8 for 3 from www.britishaudio.co.uk), no real reason for using these other than needed shallow feet to stop granite sliding on carpet, then sat speakers on top, now my floor is concrete with laminate on top covered in carpet(with underlay), now the difference is not huge but the bass seems slightly better defined, (differences may be due to speaker being a coiple of inches higher)too early to tell if different or better, but for less than £85 not to shabby a tweak and looks nice in a domestic situation., also prevents her indoors from bashing the bottom of your speakers with the bloody hoover, (real motivation for trying this)This tweak may give better results on suspended wooden floors, especially if you substitute silicone for an innner tube.


PS could also be used to sit speaker stands or amps on I suppose. I also tried just one plinth(they are 16mm deep by 300x400) but it seemed to ring a bit.

 

Have you tried using the granite without the spikes and cones attached? I've done this sort of comparison myself and subsequently I got rid of all spikes on my speakers (hifi and A/V) and just have them sitting directly on the granite. I find that spikes dilute the benefits of the granite. Also, see if you can get a large slab to put between your rack and the floor - I found this to be an even bigger improvement than for the speakers.

 

Bit of a problem due to way speakers are manufacture, they have an extra thick bottom with alu legs, spikes are screwed into legs, taking legs off could cause some problems as I believ they are screwed in but are then fixed with epoxy, tried to use platforms with out tenderfeet, but they slid about a bit, tenderfeet stop them moving.

Will investigate slab for rack though, thanks.

 

AK,

Why not just use some Mana stands and be done with it? You know it makes sense.

 

2 Reasons Neill Nothing wrong with the sound, don't know if difference I mentioned is in my mind, built them as Missus has chipped the paint off one of the corners with the hoover, built these as had a couple of spare granites, and they cost less than £80 not the £400 that John wants for a pair of his, which incidentaly are too high for my needs.

And the missus wouldn't like the mana or the cost, besides if she hit them with the hoover she could end up chipping the paint away and they then wouldn't be balanced any more

 

Totally agree - in fact I believe granite bases are the most cost effective upgrade I've ever encountered. £200 for both my hifi and A/V system to sound 100% better, so why pay more for a name?

 

Superb work, look great imo!

 

AK, if you could source those granite slabs direct and finished the wooden edging nicely, you could probably sell those. Put a SENSIBLE markup on, and you'd probably get some business, at least from the forum members.

 

Cheers guys.

Stumblin' the problem making and selling them is cost to post these buggers are quite heavy, they are pretty simple to make, they seem to be better than 1 slab(ie don't ring when tapped) and this may be down to using two slabs speparated with silicone.

They really are easy to make, the wood surround is the tricky bit, but I had a mitre saw and a router already so it was pretty easy, you could always butt joint the wood, and if you used longer "feet" the wood could hang below the granite and make them look even thicker. Issac it would be pretty easy to wrap some wood around your plinths(the inspirartion for mine) and "glue" them on with bathroom sealant.

If any forum memebers want to try but are unsure about how I went about it PM me and I try and help, although it's pretty straightforward.

 

AK did you ever think of placing an inner tube between the two layers and trying out some suspended support?, would have thought that it would give a good result and wouldn't have been too hard to implement. I ask I'm thinking about nicking this idea myself!

 

Philip - I've tried this and find it too wobbly for speakers (but use it for equipment).

I've got the argos granite to not ring at all by blue-taking it to the amp table frame (which still needs sand...).

 

Hmm cool, thanks Isaac gonna give that a go, although agos is not to be found in sweden so off to the large hardware store tonight armed with only a credit card and a phrase book!

 

Hi Philip, the inner tube idea would work I supect but I have a concrete floor so didn't think I'd need it, good luck on the building.

 

i have been thinking about doing something similar, and had been planning to use 30mm thick granite slabs (because the thinner 10mm slabs seemed to ring...). having seen your's, i was wondering if you thought using the 30mm slab with a generous layer of silicon bonding it to a 10mm slab might be better? having more mass to keep the speaker steady, whilst isolating the speaker from the floor more. (i was thinking about 5mm of silicon) i am very impressed with your wood working! that's the bit i would struggle with, without any access to appropriate facilities. i'm sure i could find somewhere to make it for me, but adds to the expense....

 

30mm granite is good . If you go this route, I'd put the 30mm on top, so as to have as high as possible a suspended mass.

Of course, to achieve this you could glue several of the argos slabs together. The advantage of this is mana-like, in that each time you're dissatisfied, you can add another phase.

 

LOL like the mana theory!

OK had a look around the store and they sell some really nice 10mm slabs that I can get cut to the right and size then blutak or glue together, the qestion is do I get them cut to the same footprint as the speaker or can I get them cut ever so slightly smaller so they are hidden away a bit?

As I've wooden floors I am considering using some sorebourne (sp?) feet under them and then keeping the spikes on the speaker, ideas welcome.

Thanks guys!

 

i had been thinking that the 30mm slab would be on the top. can anyone think of anything better that silicon? i was thinking that something that was perhaps a bit softer/compliant might work even better. does silison come in different "strengths"? perhaps one that doesn't set as rigid?

 

i had been thinking that either stillpoints between the speakers and slabs, or my existing spikes with rdc cone cups as a (much) cheaper solution, with blue tak holding the cups in place.
for safety sake, i would make them about an inch bigger on each side to prevent toppling.

 

Blake 2 or 3 ten mill slabs might be better, the silicone really does stop them ringing, i wouldn't go to the expense of stillpoints at least not right away, I've used michell tenderfeet (low ones) £8 for 3 I suppose Sorbothane (as you mention) would be a good choice also, TBH I never measured the gap of silicone, you'd need spacers of some sort to put in while the silicone dries, the woodwork is easy i used power tools but would be aesy to mitre using saw and £10 mitre block I also used wood that was about the size I needed, i trimmed off the bottom, but if ou use higher spikes, you could leave an overhang.

 

Blake can you PM me please T. (sorry for the hi-jack Wm)