DIY stand for your Surround speakers
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In search of surround speakers stands for my Cinema 10s, I browsed many options including Monoprice & Amazon. My requirements were simple:
- The heights should be exactly where I can set the speakers at my ear levels while sitting in my theater seat.
- The speaker stands should have a minimalist profile.
- The stand should be dark in color.
- Of course, the stand should be sturdy and should be able to hold Cinema 10 easily.
After weighing my options, I decided to go the DIY route so I could build them exactly how I wanted. As it turns out, the process was extremely simple. You should be able to follow along and customize any part of the build you want.
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Tools & Parts Required
- 4×4 8 feet long regular white wood. I got mine from Lowes and it was less than 15 bucks. Note, the actual dimensions of the wood is 3.5 x 3.5 and it can hold cinema 10s easily.
- MDF board. I had quite a few pieces of leftover MDF from my last build of Audience 212 speakers. I ended up cutting the leftover boards to size.
- Wood glue
- A Saw to cut the wood and MDF. I ended up using my miter saw but you can use any saw you have access to: Table saw, track saw etc.
- Brad nailer (optional). After I glued the wood and MDF boards, I used my battery powered Ridgid brand brad nailer to nail the board to the wood. You can, as easily, use screws or a hammer and nails.
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Etc
I am building four stands in all, each stand being 2 feet tall. I took the 8 feet long 4×4 lumber and cut it into 4 equal pieces of 22 & 1/2 inches length. There would be 3/4 inches thick MDF board on both ends of these pieces, thereby giving me an exact length of 24 inches or 2 feet (22 1/2 + 3/4 + 3/4).
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The Base
I am using 12×12 MDF board as the base of these stands. I cut 4 pieces of 12×12 from my leftover boards. Each of these boards will be glued to the 4×4 lumber, precut to 22 1/2 inches length.
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I glued the 4×4 lumber in the middle of the 12×12 MDF board, using wood glue. I then used the brad nailer to attach the board to the lumber.
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Cut 4 MDF pieces 14″ x 8″ in size, the exact dimension of the Cinema 10 bottom. The speakers will rest on these pieces. Glued and nailed it:
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The Paint Work & Wrap up
The stands were painted with leftover paint I had from the HT room paint job. I wanted to paint them jet black but this dark gray color looks outstanding. Moved the stand in the HT room and placed the surround Cinema 10s on them.
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Conclusion
The final cost of the 4 stands? 15 bucks (including taxes). Of course, using the leftover supplies helped with the cost but anyone starting fresh should still come out a lot cheaper compared to buying them.
Go ahead, build your own! Let me know if you have any questions.
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Dang this is awesome! I opened this ready to say, make sure you fill them with sand, but you went all out and just did a completely solid build, no sand required. That is pretty awesome! Curious, how are they holding up the cinema 10’s? DO you find them relaly sturdy? I might make these for mine. I am still contemplating hanging them on the wall as well. I haven’t made a final decision, but this might just sway me.
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I had a similar dilemma – Hang the Cinema 10s on the wall or use a stand. As you know, the Cinema 10s are not the lightest speakers or the smallest. Hanging them on the wall would have required me to add some sort of support on the wall, the speakers would sit on. I did not want to screw anything on the speaker body – like a hook or something. Besides, using a stand allows me to tweak their positions a bit, moving them around to find the best possible position and angle.
The 4×4 lumber provides more than enough strength for these stands. The 3/4 thick MDF board is perfect for the speaker “seat” as well as the stand base. For a heavier speaker, I probably would glue two MDF boards together.
These stands are not very heavy which is exactly what I was shooting for, but its something to keep in mind if the stands are to be used in a heavy traffic area with people potentially bumping into them. The stands are very sturdy and can easily support a Cinema 10 and a “half” 🙂 The whole project should not take more than a few hours. You have to post pictures here if you end up building these 🙂
PS: I saw a couple build videos of stands with 50 lbs or even 100 lbs sand poured in the hollow bodies of the structural support. Did NOT find them appealing 😀
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So far…
The speaker stands have had no issues after almost one year of use. These stands can easily hold Cinema 10 speakers. I am glad I went the DIY route!
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Stands are near the top of my list of things to build once my Maslow arrives.
Is there anything that you would change if you were building from scratch again?
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One suggestion I would make looking at these both as an upgrade for you @Nate and as a consideration for you @UnknownSpectre would be to add 4 feet or spikes to the bottom of each
Adding 4 feet or spikes to the bottom will drastcily reduce the contact area between the floor and the stand meaning they will be more stable on uneven surface and you will get much less vibration down through the stand and transmitting into the floor to resonante/radiate outwards cleaning up and tightening the low end response of your speakers
You have 3 options for this ranging in price and acoustic performace, all 3 options will improive the mechanical stability on uneven ground
Option 1 – cheapest, least effective acousticaly
square feet made of small pieces or offcuts of timber approx £8 per speaker standOption 2 – moderate price, decent acoustic performance
spikes or domed rubber speaker stand feet approx £30 per speaker standOption 3 – expensive, absolute best acoustics performance (what I have under all the speakers in my home studio/office and I highly reccomend for best sound possible)
isoacoustics iso-stands or isopucks, these would actually sit on top of the stand under the speaker approx £100 per speaker and the stand probably still want some type of feet on the stand itself for stability but very much worth the cost IMO
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That’s an excellent suggestion, Josh.
I remember my JBL tower speakers came with metal spike feet and I used them to place those speakers on a carpeted surface. I think I am going to pick Option# 3 for my DIY stands. Will post pictures once done.
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If you go option 3 your looking at the ISO-430 if you go for the iso stand
If you go with the iso pucks youll need 2 packs of 2 per speaker
if the speaker is under 32kg (70lb) you can go with the white ringed pucks, if its over that youll need the purple ringed pucks -
Sounds good. I think putting metal spikes around the four corners on the base… The MDF board should still hold up! Thinking out loud here!
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I have not had a single issue with the stands… But looking at @Chedwin comment below about using metal spikes at the bottom…. Not a bad suggestion at all. A quick search on Amazon returned this:
https://www.amazon.com/Zerone-Suspension-Subwoofer-Amplifier-Turntable/dp/B07DPRMC4B
I just might upgrade these speaker stands with the metal spike! Apart from that, I have been very happy with them.
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If you go with spikes on the bottom of the stand Id suggest going about 1.5″ in from the edges if you have a 12″ square base (3d model in metric but gives you the idea)
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Looks like Amazon carries them too: 4-Pack ISO pucks
Now I want to order a few of them for the LCRs & Subs too as well as the Surrounds. I would think using the ISO pucks would eliminate the need to use metal spikes for the speaker stands?
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Correct, acoustically the Iso pucks would do everything by themselves
Using pucks you’d only need to spike or feet the stands if they are unstable on uneven ground
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That makes sense.
My LCRs and Subs are sitting on a flat concrete floor so ISO pucks alone should do the trick for them. Surrounds stands, however, are placed on carpet. I might try the spikes for the stands, with the surround speakers sitting on ISO pucks.
And I thought I was done with the Home Theater 😀
Thanks for the tips.
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no problem 😄
double check the weight ratings for each puck size, I like to keep under 90% of the combined capactity of pucks (4 white are 80lb 90% 72lb, 4 purple is 160lb so 90% 144lb)
https://isoacoustics.com/pro-audio-isolation-products/iso-puck-series/
if 4 are not enough you can use more per speaker to increase the weight limit, LCRs should be fine with 4 but subs might want 6x purple!
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yes! The Subs are extra heavy – 21″ drivers with a GSG supplied MDF body & ample bracing. I may only do the LCRs & Surrounds and hold off the subs for now. There’s a plan to upgrade the Subs by using a dual driver cabinet from: GSG Audio Design. A single cabinet would use both of my 21″ drivers and it will also allow me to add another dual driver cabinet fdue to its smaller footprint.
You know how I said earlier that I was done with HT? Yeah… forget about that 😀
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