Levelling Forte 3s

[HiFiRuss71]

I live in an older house and the [concrete] floor tens to dish toward the middle. Speakers at or near the corners of the room, tend to lean in and point downward a bit. This is not ideal, as the Fortes are borderline in height relative to my non-too-high listening position in the first place. They still sound superb, but the Aspergers in me can't cope with things that don't look level and they won't sound worse if they are!

 

The four metal hemispherical underneath are obviously useless in this regard. I'm assuming they are easily levered off, but just having bought the Fortes, don't really want to invalidate my warranty. So, the alternative is to stand them on something,which would also raise them up a couple of inches.

 

What are people using to level their speakers?

 

Russ

 

[Emile]

Haha ... happens in newer homes also   I just use self-adhesive felt pads (for my wood floors) ... cut them to size if you have risers ... double/triple them to "balance."

[glens]

I would not do anything which significantly causes an open gap between the cabinet and floor.  My first instinct would be to insert acutely-wedged shims as needed.  Here in the ex-colony tapered shim stock is readily available at building-supply stores.  It's typically available in ~14" lengths going from ~1/16" to ~1/4" thick by ~1-1/2" wide, usually cedar, sometimes pine.  You slide them over each other (reversed) until the desired thickness is achieved.  A short length can then be cut from the pair, with nothing more than a fresh-bladed utility knife.

 

Seeing that you'll be shimming the fronts of the cabinets you'd then have to "deal with" their visibility, hahaha. 

 

Alternatively you could pry out the metal feet and in those locations drill and press in threaded inserts for use with (low-profile) adjustable feet, saving the metal domes for covering your handiwork should the need arise.

[HiFiRuss71]

8 minutes ago, glens said:

I would not do anything which significantly causes an open gap between the cabinet and floor.  My first instinct would be to insert acutely-wedged shims as needed.  Here in the ex-colony tapered shim stock is readily available at building-supply stores.  It's typically available in ~14" lengths going from ~1/16" to ~1/4" thick by ~1-1/2" wide, usually cedar, sometimes pine.  You slide them over each other (reversed) until the desired thickness is achieved.  A short length can then be cut from the pair, with nothing more than a fresh-bladed utility knife.

 

Seeing that you'll be shimming the fronts of the cabinets you'd then have to "deal with" their visibility, hahaha. 

 

Alternatively you could pry out the metal feet and in those locations drill and press in threaded inserts for use with (low-profile) adjustable feet, saving the metal domes for covering your handiwork should the need arise.

That's a sensible suggestion. I had also considered chopping boards with spikes drilled in.

 

American Walnut chopping boards are a thing (I bought two to stand the monoblocks on, as they'll match the Fortes) even in the Colonial Mothership.

 

Unfortunately, due to your resistance to falling in line with the Papist measuring system, the boards you can get over here, are a few millimetres (like inches, but more useful globally) too short to match the width of the Fortes.

 

Nonetheless, it's pretty damn close and means the speakers are untouched. When the bits and bobs I have purchased for the amps turn up, I'll have a try with then under the Fortes.

 

Russ

[glens]

Ah, but you see, the shims of which I "spoke" can be cut down to ~25mm squares, as you'll surely need different thickness at each corner.  But if you're intent on raising the boxes you can use the butcher-blocks and tear off matchbook covers to fill the gaps as needed at the corners to achieve plumb enclosures.

 

Better yet, break out the precision level, determine the various differences required, and have your cabinetmaker fashion substitute bases (which simply screw onto the cabinet bottoms).