ishwash Posted April 30, 2018 Share Posted April 30, 2018 (edited) NOTE: THIS THING EVOLVED WITH TIME. DON'T BOTHER READING ALL OF THIS THREAD UNLESS YOU JUST WANT TO. SKIP TO MY POST OF 8/22/2018 TO SEE WHERE I ENDED UP WITH IT. This is sorta common sense: You spend a ton and bring new big-box speakers home to sit on tile or hardwood. You use a furniture mover to get them near their resting place, but you are not quite there. Well, no problem, you can tip them and "walk" them to where you want them, so you do that. Then you rotate them a bit and sit them down. Yikes! You tipped them too far and you damaged the bottom edge in two places. Curses, my new speakers! Or you buy used ones and somebody already damaged those bottom edges before you. Or in mopping or after a water leak in the house, you notice water damage to the bottom of your speakers because they are not far enough off the floor.. There may be other solutions but I'll show you mine: Permanent dollies! You need to build permanent dollies for those big honkers. Even Forte's and Heresies can be protected with the permanent dollies. With the smaller ones, the casters or rollers, whatever you wanna call them, will partially show because their risers are not deep enough,, but with the big ones, LaScala and Chorus, maybe Cornwall and Khorn wont't show either, but I can't say for sure because I don't own them. I can only speak for LaScalas and Chorus. My casters have 1-1/2" dia rollers, available from Amazon, and you can purchase locking ones if you want them, I didn't. Here are some pics of my dollies and a view of the speakers with the dollies installed: There is also a picture showing the protective grill that I placed over the passive woofer of the Forte III and my Chorus II's. The dollies are not attached to the Chorus or the LaScala; the speakers just rest on them. I used thin foam PVC as a means of holding the dollies together. The Heresy required Velcro to keep them in place on the bare bottom (no riser) Heresy. I used too much Velcro and will never be able to get them back off easily. Don't use that much...okay. Edited August 22, 2018 by ishwash To show my final take on this endeaver. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
derrickdj1 Posted April 30, 2018 Share Posted April 30, 2018 I like this! I use something like this on most my subs. The other have wheels. Getting to old for manual hard labor, lol. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ishwash Posted April 30, 2018 Author Share Posted April 30, 2018 Other Pics: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ishwash Posted April 30, 2018 Author Share Posted April 30, 2018 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ceptorman Posted April 30, 2018 Share Posted April 30, 2018 Very nice work.....love the floor Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dirtmudd Posted May 1, 2018 Share Posted May 1, 2018 Freedom from cavities. The space under a speaker box formed by mounting it on legs can destroy the bottom octave of response and deteriorate the next 2 octaves 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ishwash Posted May 1, 2018 Author Share Posted May 1, 2018 Thanks for the positive responses. . Klipsch and most all speaker manufacturers could solve this problem by adding skirting and casters to the bottom of the speaker, but they don't. As a result every large, heavy speaker that is used on a hard floor will likely show bottom edge damage. I have experienced it 3 for 3 for the used speakers I have purchased. This is a serious problem. If you love your speajers as I do, you move them around many, many times. Damage will result if you don't take great care while moving them. Also, your wife needs an assist since she will be probably be cleaning and mopping under them, she needs to be able to move them. It is my opinion that the only speakers that may have been impacted when I did this was the Super Heresy, which has great bass and still do, thanks to Claude. Also I have a happy wife that adores my mods to these speakers, and I won't damage their bottoms moving them around for her, in fact she can move them all by herself. On carpet people like spikes (which raise speakers up, probably more). How in the heck do people clean under those speakers?.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wvu80 Posted May 1, 2018 Share Posted May 1, 2018 I don't like spikes or rubber feet, I've removed them from all my speakers. If the speaker needs a long ride through the house I put them on a towel and pull. For that last little bit as they go to their final resting place, a rubber mat available from Harbor Freight for $6 (set of 4) or from Lowes for $20 makes sliding quick and easy. Although I cut the rubber mats with scissors to fit, my CF-4 demonstrates the rubber pads I like. In this case it easily slides straight back into that tight little cubby hole. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ishwash Posted May 1, 2018 Author Share Posted May 1, 2018 I'm sure that works very well, wvu80. The problem with any non-permanent method is the non-thoughtful or sort of macho feller who says, hell, I can move them speakers, just gedoutta the way; or us old guys who have passed on and who want to leave our cool stuff to our kids, or whomever, and the kids hire some thoughtless yayhoo who attempts to move them to storage; or you have simply gone to town and your son is there with his mom (and says the last part of the above sentence to his mom) who is needing to clean under them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peter P. Posted May 2, 2018 Share Posted May 2, 2018 Dolly bases are a brilliant idea. Building a skirt around the dolly to hide the wheels is even smarter still. Good job. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ishwash Posted May 2, 2018 Author Share Posted May 2, 2018 Peter P., thank you much. I would like to skirt the Forte's and the Heresy's in better so the wheels won't show, but may not go to the trouble. Old guys like me don't always get around to doing what they know should be done. May just skirt the back bottom in only, then there would be no cavity impact on bass response. It can be bare wood too since it doesn't show. I am pretty weary of trying to match coatings. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rxonmymind Posted May 6, 2018 Share Posted May 6, 2018 When I bought the Bell's I (for once) had the mind to also rent an appliance dolly with moving blankets. With inches to spare going down a spiral staircase it took a little over 10 minutes to get down "only" 8 or so stairs. If I ever find one on CL or estate sale for cheap it's mine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ODS123 Posted May 6, 2018 Share Posted May 6, 2018 Love the dollies! Thankfully, I don’t have to regularly move my speakers. If I did, I’d build a set:) To get my Cornwall iii’s into positions are used these.... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sunburnwilly Posted May 6, 2018 Share Posted May 6, 2018 Something like this would look nice Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ishwash Posted June 8, 2018 Author Share Posted June 8, 2018 The magic sliders are nice. I just got a pair of Crites Cornscalas, his son says they weigh 140 lbs apiece; (their bottoms were bare, btw) I expect their weight would eat up a set of magic sliders pretty quickly. Sunburnwilliy's dollys look particularly good, my grandmother would like them to move her speakers with, haha, thanks for the laugh; took me a while to catch on. I said to myself "what the hxxx" when I saw your post! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shakeydeal Posted June 8, 2018 Share Posted June 8, 2018 I have the magic sliders under my khorns. Work great. Shakey 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators dtel Posted June 8, 2018 Moderators Share Posted June 8, 2018 Not a big Klipsch speaker but it needs to be moved often. It's a center channel, Forte ll, it needs to be in front of the sub for movies or Tv, otherwise it can roll out the way and sit on the side of the right MWM. I know a base like this is not the best for sound but it's not for music but movies and there is no difference with the sub behind it, it's crossed at 80hz anyway. It's just much more convenient to just roll it out the way, I got the idea from my first sub I made, which was 5 Cf and heavy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HDBRbuilder Posted June 8, 2018 Share Posted June 8, 2018 GRIPPERS, man, GRIPPERS!! I have been telling folks on this forum for YEARS...if you are putting your speakers on a smooth-surfaced floor, use GRIPPERS...they are peel and stick (on one side) black neoprene foam which has a pebbled surface on the NON-Stick side...and they will COUPLE the speakers to the floor and give you BETTER bass response, but if the speakers are NOT coupled to the floor then you also run the risk of destabilizing the tweeter and or midrange drivers within the speaker cabinets, which causes the higher frequency signals to "warble" to some extent because the cabinet is not actually STATIONARY. If the action of the woofer has a chance to keep the cabinet from remaining STABLE, it can adversely affect the performance of the higher frequency drivers in the cabinet. Think of Grippers as "spikes" for a smooth surfaced floor. When positioning the speakers, ESPECIALLY on carpeted floors...just lay down FLAT a super-duty contractor garbage bag....put the speaker atop it, and slide it around to where you want it to be, then tip one side and get the bag out from under that side, then tip the other side and remove the bag the rest of the way. Too easy! Don't laugh about the grippers on smooth-surfaced floors, until you have heard from the forum members who have tried them! If your speakers came with little metal "gliders" on the bottom, pull them out ...and use grippers in their place. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dirtmudd Posted June 8, 2018 Share Posted June 8, 2018 On 5/1/2018 at 9:27 AM, wvu80 said: I don't like spikes or rubber feet, I've removed them from all my speakers. If the speaker needs a long ride through the house I put them on a towel and pull. For that last little bit as they go to their final resting place, a rubber mat available from Harbor Freight for $6 (set of 4) or from Lowes for $20 makes sliding quick and easy. Although I cut the rubber mats with scissors to fit, my CF-4 demonstrates the rubber pads I like. In this case it easily slides straight back into that tight little cubby hole. That's funny i use the same mat... Under my speakers.... And the do Come in different options... Faux hard wood .... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wvu80 Posted June 9, 2018 Share Posted June 9, 2018 3 hours ago, HDBRbuilder said: If your speakers came with little metal "gliders" on the bottom, pull them out ...and use grippers in their place. I am finishing up a couple of DIY 15" subs right now and I was wondering what, if anything I should put on the bottom. I usually use those multi-purpose rubber mats cut to the size of the sub. I have some of those grippers I use on a couch to stop it from sliding around and to protect the floor. Andy, what size would you recommend for these 3 cuft boxes, and in what thickness? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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