Speaker stands are too wobbly and prone to falling over

[kalrith]

I've been without surround speakers for 4 months as I moved and didn't have any speaker stands (they were wall-mounted at the old house). I don't have much extra money right now, so these stands were all I could afford. I mounted Polk R15 on them. One of the monoprice reviews states, "I use mine for the 12 inch Onkyos. If you put the curved part of the stand to the rear with the speakers facing in the front-this way they wont topple over." I did that, and it definitely improved stability, because the stands immediately fell over when they were installed the other direction. However, something as simple as running past the stands could cause them to topple over. With 3 dogs and 2 cats, I need the stands to be very stable.

I will be running the speaker wire underneath the floor and then up through the speaker stand. My best idea for anchoring the speaker stands is to run a thin cable up with the speaker wire, connect it somehow to the top of the stand, and anchor it in the crawl space under the floor.

Do you guys have any other ideas, or any way to improve or expound upon my idea?

 

[erwos]

Do you have carpet? Perhaps you could use carpet spikes if you do.

Otherwise, consider weighting down the bottom somehow.

 

[kalrith]

The speaker stands have a weight that screws on right below the base, but it's too light and the base is too small to keep it from toppling over. The entire stands will be very visible in our livingroom, so I don't want to do anything unsightly.

The stands will be on carpet. How would I go about using carpet spikes? Would I drill four holes in the corners of each speaker-stand base and screw the spikes through there? Would these spikes work? Does anyone know of any B&M stores that would carry cheap carpet spikes?

If spikes would work, then I think that's a great idea. Thanks, erwos!

 

[spidey07]

Can you fill the tube with sand? Spikes should also help, just poke them through until they hit the subfloor.

 

[Tiamat]

I would install some outriggers to the base so that instead of depending on the triangular base, you can square it off with the outriggers. Maybe 1' x 2"x0.5" wood shim stock screwed to the rear triangle apex at the mid point of the shim stock should work. That way, the other two triangular apexes + the wood shim stock form a square base. The front two apexes of the triangle could have speaker spikes to level it out and provide for non-sliding movement of the speaker stand.

Something like this

 

[kalrith]

spidey, the tubes are hollow and will have the speaker wire running through them. I suppose I could fill them with sand if I somehow sealed off the bottom hole (perhaps with caulk) after running the speaker wire through it.

Tiamat, the stand base is square with four corner points sticking out and then there's an inward (toward the stand) arc in between each point. I'd say the base is probably 8 inches straight across (not diagonally). When you talk about outriggers, is this what you're talking about?

 

[sdifox]

Originally posted by: kalrith
The speaker stands have a weight that screws on right below the base, but it's too light and the base is too small to keep it from toppling over. The entire stands will be very visible in our livingroom, so I don't want to do anything unsightly.

The stands will be on carpet. How would I go about using carpet spikes? Would I drill four holes in the corners of each speaker-stand base and screw the spikes through there? Would these spikes work? Does anyone know of any B&M stores that would carry cheap carpet spikes?

If spikes would work, then I think that's a great idea. Thanks, erwos!

replace the weight with something heavier? if you have screw holes at the bottom of the base for spikes, what you can do is build another base, wider heavier one then screw the current base into it (assuming you matched the screw holes).

 

[Tiamat]

Originally posted by: kalrith
spidey, the tubes are hollow and will have the speaker wire running through them. I suppose I could fill them with sand if I somehow sealed off the bottom hole (perhaps with caulk) after running the speaker wire through it.

Tiamat, the stand base is square with four corner points sticking out and then there's an inward (toward the stand) arc in between each point. I'd say the base is probably 8 inches straight across (not diagonally). When you talk about outriggers, is this what you're talking about?

Oh, I only saw the 3 legs lol. Yeah, outriggers basically are meant to make the base wider which helps with stability. I think you can do something farily inexpensive with wood or metal bars.

The problem is that your stand is top heavy due to the speakers, If you widen the base and weigh it down at the same time, your problems should decrease quite a bit.

 

[iRONic]

Get some adhesive-backed lead weights and stick them under the base. If more weight is required I'd epoxy it underneath the base.

Barring those remedies, just bite the bullet and buy some quality speaker stands.

 

[EvilYoda]

Holy crap those are some thin stands!

I'd suggest spending your time and money on building some DIY flexy stands for your speakers, much like I did a long time ago:

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

They're cheap and easy to make as long as someone you know has a hole saw or a drill press. Everything else I did by hand (I even had Home Depot cut the squares for me, even if they weren't perfectly cut) and each speaker stand weighs probably 30-35lb. I made mine with 3 posts per stand so there's a lot of sand in there

 

[kalrith]

Thanks for all the help and advice everyone, but I just don't think these stands will be safe with the R15 on top of them. I'm an idiot and wasn't even thinking about thin speakers stands with a heavy speaker on top wouldn't be child-proof. With my first kid due on March 10, I should really be thinking about things like that.

I took another look at the livingroom layout and am pretty sure that I can wall mount the R15. I'll then use the stands for my Klipsch promedia surrounds in my office. The stands in the office will be in the corner and behind something, so a toddler would be much less likely to pull the speaker on himself. The promedias weigh a fraction of the R15, so that'll help too.

/thread

 

[Baked]

Eh, you get what you paid for. Those speaker hangers you got are for made for Bose cube speakers. Have you taken a look at the speaker stands at parts express. They have some pretty affordable speaker stands for your bookshelf speakers.

 

[mshan]

Walmart has these assemble yourself "Mainstays" thin 3 shelf book/lamp stands that could be stable if you put some books on the lower shelfs, or bolt it to the wall (they give you the mounting hardware to do that).

They look like this (no back panel), are Mainstays brand, and are about $11 each: http://www.walmart.com/catalog....do?product_id=2629998

edit: you can also use four small balls of Blu-Tak (poster putty is cheaper) to stick the speaker to the top of the Mainstays shelf, too.

 

[alcoholbob]

Don't sweat it...I don't even feel safe with the "heavy duty" stands out there that are in the $400+ range. Even lead weighted with carpet spikes...Especially in California. I went with furniture pedestal stands instead...much better with a larger base and top plate

Then again I had pretty unique requirements, I had giant 40+lb bookshelf speakers.

 

[JDub02]

Originally posted by: EvilYoda
Holy crap those are some thin stands!

I'd suggest spending your time and money on building some DIY flexy stands for your speakers, much like I did a long time ago:

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

They're cheap and easy to make as long as someone you know has a hole saw or a drill press. Everything else I did by hand (I even had Home Depot cut the squares for me, even if they weren't perfectly cut) and each speaker stand weighs probably 30-35lb. I made mine with 3 posts per stand so there's a lot of sand in there

Nice. I've been wanting some stands for my bookshelf speakers and those look like they'll fit the bill. Currently one is on the floor and the other is on my sub. Not exactly an ideal setup.