Concrete/Cement Speaker Stands?

[wrecked_porsche]

Hey guys, I've been away from HC for about 2 months (I miss you rascals ) due to some major home renovation and because I took up 12 weeks of industrial attachment as part of my Eng degree graduation requirement.

Anyway, I wanted the get opinions from you guys about using solid cement/concrete blocks for speaker stands. You see, since my house is undergoing renovation anyway, there are a lot of bricks and cement just lying around. I figure I'd just ask the construction guys to make me a stand like the one below:

The pic above is not mine; it

[Dusty Chalk]

Yup, should work great. Dew et.

[Pars]

You might look into giving them a finlsh like they would do on concrete countertops. Many commercial stands provide the means for mass loading with lead shot or sand. I would think solid concrete would work pretty well and shouldn't be very resonant (if at all).

[Mastergill]

Yeah, concrete makes excellent speakers stands. I suggest that you screw on top a thick aluminium plate to have a perfect plane surface for your speakers and like i've done you can insert spikes into that plate (point up).

You need a good paint over the concrete, because it may leave dust.

I call that my best and cheapest tweak ever! The improvement on the soundstage was spooky with deep controled bass. There's no energy loss into the ground, the stand can't vibrate.

[swt61]

Solid concrete will not be as anti-resonant as a hollow stand filled with shot or sand, but it should work fine.

[n_maher]

Just be cautious with how big you make the stands, figure somewhere in the 125 to 150lb/cu-ft for solid concrete. So a 12" x 12" x 24" tall stand would weigh a gut-busting 300#.

[kevin gilmore]

What you really want is solid marble pillars (the real stuff not synthetic)

[wrecked_porsche]

Yup, should work great. Dew et.

So, its Dusty

[luvdunhill]

I think soapstone would be a better choice than granite and marble.

The Indian varieties are denser than granite and marble, as should be cheaper.

swt61 would be glad to carve it up for you.

[swt61]

Can you please tell me why this is so? I'm not trying to be an , I really am curious. I have seen posts online about people saying that the lead shot/sand wastes the energy of the speakers or something to that effect. Won't the sand/lead shot cause millions of tiny vibrations themselves as they absorb and dissipate the speaker vibration? Sorry if this is a dumb question, its late and I've had a long day. I'll give it some thought tomorrow when I can think straight.

My understanding is that the movement (minimal as it may be) of the sand or shot is what actually dissipates the resonance. Whereas a solid material carries the resonance through its mass. The structure of the sand or shot is actually able to absorb and deaden the vibrations, where the solid material is only able to at a much smaller degree.

I'm sure someone else can explain it much better than myself, but your question is far from dumb.

swt61 would be glad to carve it up for you.

You've got to give them the inside story!

[Augsburger]

Why make the the stands solid concrete? As Steve pointed out it may be better to design the stands with the bottom 1/4 as a solid concrete block the middle 1/2 hollow chamber filled with sand and some lead shot then the top 1/4 solid concrete or a granite plate. I use granite under all my amps, speakers and CDPs, it seems to help but better yet looks very cool.

[Mastergill]

Aha! Someone who has direct experience with this. I don't get the part about the spikes pointing up though. Could you please elaborate on that a little more please? Thanks.

I meant, like with some commercial stands i wanted to have the speakers decoupled from the top with spikes. There's spikes under the speakers with the point up, it will leave some marks under the speakers but that's not a problem for me.

I don't think you can beat concrete or granit as a resonance-free material. Polished granit would be very nice but i don't want to know the price. Concrete is very easy to work with, you can mold it in any shape you want and it's dirt-cheap.

[Torpedo]

I'd bluetack the speakers to the stands instead of spiking them. A firm attachment would transmit the speakers' enclosures resonances into the stands, which is you want. Not that spiking is bad, it would get the same results, but damaging the speaker base.

[Dusty Chalk]

So, its Dusty

Edited August 28, 2009 by Dusty Chalk

[swt61]

and it's dirt-cheap.

Unintentional pun points!

[skullguise]

I got some 12" x 12" x 16" H granite blocks from a stone dealer in NH. $50 a pair, he used a mini-forklift to put them in my car, and my neighbor and I lugged them upstairs to my room.

Back in the day, I had a pair of VMPS Ribbon Monitors (taller than avg. "monitors") on them, driven by a Pathos Twin Towers integrated. Used a Symposium-like shelf under the VMPS's. Some of the best sound in my house ever (especially before the room became my wife's "office," and now I can't get much of anything to sound really good here).

I also used a smaller piece of granite, maybe 14" x 14" x 5-6" tall, and sat a Carver Sub Jr/ on it. Crossed it over at ~40Hz, and it extended my system quite nicely. The granite base seemed to help with the one-note quality of the bass.