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Forte speaker stand design


iaRIVR

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Planning on doing some work on my Forte IIs and making new speaker stands is on the list. Right now I have a very simple setup with a pair of heavy old 2x4s, vertical, between a double layer of mdf on the bottom and a single layer on the top. Probably not important but they get the speakers up about 8-10" and work okay.

 

One key is they sit on suspended wood floors. My current plan is to build a very solid box with a double layer of mdf (1.5" thick) filled with sand. I would put thin rubber furniture feet under the box, then spikes under the forte's to couple them to the box. The reason for putting the spikes between the speakers and the box is it seems like a lot of weight on the spikes and floor. I'm open to any suggestions.

 

My goal is to bring the speakers up 8-10", not create a void under the speakers, and make them sound as good as I can.

 

Am I on the right track with either of these designs?

Stands.png

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19 hours ago, veloceleste said:

I would decouple the speakers from a suspended wood floor. 

 

I see that now, I think I'll skip the spikes and focus on decoupling. So many opinions... having a very productive Friday reading up on stands.

 

Thanks!

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Sadly, I don't.  Guess that makes me a poser?

 

As I understand it, one couples their speakers to the floor (spikes, &c.) to improve focus and clarity, while another uncouples their speakers from the floor to improve focus and clarity.  And both get the expected results!

 

Perhaps I've missed the detail that a solid-surface (unsuspended) floor needs the spikes and the trampoline floor (suspended - 2x10-16s on only 16" centers with no bridging, like in the house momma said "I want it" so we did ['cause anywhere with her is better than any other where without her -- 11 years together without the first argument!]) - where was I - suspended floor needs speaker isolation?   Or is that backwards?

 

I've never had heavy floorstanders before so I wouldn't know.  My Fortes (III) are sitting directly on lightly-glued-down "flip-house" carpet in the basement and seem to do everything as best as can be done, though I've not experimented further than positioning.

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  • 1 month later...
9 minutes ago, Swann36 said:

As a newbie here why would raising the speakers using a solid lift reduce base ? 

Raising the speaker reduces the room boundary reinforcement of the bass driver.  The closer it is to a boundary like a wall or floor the more bass you'll have.

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3 hours ago, CECAA850 said:

Raising the speaker reduces the room boundary reinforcement of the bass driver.  The closer it is to a boundary like a wall or floor the more bass you'll have.

what is the length of lets say 34 Hz? you are suggesting that raising a Forte up 14" off the floor is going to mess with the coupling of such a long wave? In a speaker baffle so long as drivers are within 1/4 wave there is no real issue. I think the stand is not going to pose a problem.

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8 hours ago, moray james said:

what is the length of lets say 34 Hz? you are suggesting that raising a Forte up 14" off the floor is going to mess with the coupling of such a long wave? In a speaker baffle so long as drivers are within 1/4 wave there is no real issue. I think the stand is not going to pose a problem.

It doesn'tjust play 34hz.  How high up does the woofer play?  How far up in the cabinets are the drivers?  Speakers have always seemed to lose some bass when I take them off the floor.  You can always create a temporary stand, set them on it and see if you like it.

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the tuning frequency is around 36 Hz so with room gain it has reasonable output at 34 Hz and below though it is rolled off compared to say 40 Hz. response. Where the woofer is does not make a lot of difference as it is not the woofer which is making the bass the passive takes care of the bass. Rise the speaker up and some of the bass wave wraps around the cabinet to cancel out rather than being reflected forward off of the floor or baffle. For this reason wide baffles are preferred to assist in launching the bass wavefront to a lower frequency.

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  • 4 weeks later...
On 9/30/2019 at 12:06 AM, glens said:

As well are preferred solid surfaces from which the riser/stand are made, to conduct the waves uninterruptedly to the floor as opposed to creating a void of any size.

I agree with you, it will be really cool! As a designer, I really like your project, maybe you will appreciate my project on structural glass roofs, this is a great option for your country house.

Edited by Hugo Copeland
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On 9/29/2019 at 4:06 PM, glens said:

As well are preferred solid surfaces from which the riser/stand are made, to conduct the waves uninterruptedly to the floor as opposed to creating a void of any size.

I have them up on two post stands now, for me getting them up was a huge improvement. Well, maybe not "huge" but worth it. I read a quote from Mr. Klipsch about not having a void below the speaker, which is why I was going to make the stand as solid as possible.

 

Another thought I had was to take the mid and tweeter out of the cabinet, seal and brace it to maintain the same volume, and then add a second box above for the mid and tweeter. I'd have to reveneer, but it would keep the woofer and passive at the original height while elevating the mid and tweeter as much as I like.

 

Anyone seen anything like that?

Edited by iaRIVR
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