Help with hi-fi storage and furniture

Gamefreak501 · 24 Apr 2006 at 22:31

Hi everyone,

Well, my room is nearing completion, just the carpet needs to be fitted, here are the before and after shots:

Before

After

Sorry for the quality...they are just quick snaps.

But anyway, my speakers are 23cm x 22cm x 40cm WxDxH.

I am looking to have that wall where my computer stuff is to for my bed as it is straight, and use my uneven wall to have a desk and some speaker stands.

Here is where the problem starts. Do I go for a separate rack unit for my amplifier (with the foresight to add a DAC, CD Transport and a tuner at a later date) and put my speakers on stands, or could I get away with putting my amp and computer on a desk (I'm replacing that desk as it is falling apart) and then add some speaker stands? Just that racks are expensive, and it's proving difficult finding one to accomodate my large amplifier that is cheap enough.

I was looking at various Apollo and Atacama stands which all seem to have plate sizes of about 18cm by 18cm or something...is that really going to be enough for my Heybrooks?

I'll be looking to buy some of those spike shoes, as the stands will be on carpet. What will be the best way for my speakers to stand on the speaker stands? Will blu tac suffice, or are those neoprene pads more advisable?

I cannot think of anything else which I should raise, all help greatly appreciated!

happytechie · 26 Apr 2006 at 16:06

personally I'd go for a seperate rack unit for the amp / cd player and then some nice stands for the speakers. This will give you the flexibility to move the speakers if needed at a later date + give you the best sound quality from the speakers

wrt mounting the speakers to the stands I've always used pea sized blu tac spheres and not pushed the speaker down too hard. It's always works well enough for me. wrt to spikes from stands to floor, if the floor is carpet over wood I'd just push the spikes through the carpet to the floor below for a nice firm base. Ig the floor below the carpet might be exposed at some point the you'll need to use pads to protexct the floor from damage by the spikes

HT

edit: when I ran standmounts the speakers were always bigger than the top of the stands and I had no problems apart from the time when I knocked a speaker off the stand in a drunken episode and broke the coil of the bass drivers inside

Gamefreak501 · 2 May 2006 at 11:35

Cheers for the help there,

Anyway, I am awaiting the delivery of my desk (a £55 job from a catalogue shop) and then in a week I will be buying some Apollo or Atacama stands for my speakers as well as a rack. Any particular racks I should look at to house my NAD C320BEE amplifier?

It measures 435x290x100mm WxDxH, and I have had major problems finding a rack that it will fit on.

Also, should I be looking at other brands of stands for my speakers?

Cheers again!

Matt · 2 May 2006 at 11:58

Do you just have the one component?

Oh and if you'd have bought a Cyrus you wouldn't have this problem

tom_nieto · 2 May 2006 at 12:01

Racks can be very expensive, and it doesn't look like you've got a huge amount of room. I would concentrate on speaker stands for the moment and leave your amp on the desk. You could invest in an isolation platform to get rid of vibrations from your PC and speakers, but in a solid state amp I'm not so sure of the benefits. Look at one when you really need it. I could do with one, but I've not found one that I really like, and I'll be moving all my kit about shortly too.

EDIT: lol Matt, Cyrus is the nice space saving option

Gamefreak501 · 2 May 2006 at 12:07

Cheers for the fair points!

The amplifier is the only component I have at the moment

I have not been able to get hold of any more components yet because I have been very busy with other things. I will, however, be getting a DAC, CD transport and at some point a DAB tuner within the next three months, when I should have my first car

Perhaps I should get Cyrus stuff, or some other equipment, hopefully some valve components. But I want at least two to four more years out of my speakers as I will have major problems matching speakers with components and in that four years or so, I will hopefully have my own place, which will demand new furniture, new equipment and other expenses!

agw_01 · 2 May 2006 at 12:35

Hmmm, with the talk of using blu-tac between the speakers and stands, I've just had an idea...

How about placing a sheet of say, dynamat on the top of the speaker stand. Would that help to reduce the amount of energy from the speaker going through the stand and into the floor?

tom_nieto · 2 May 2006 at 14:18

If you do plan to get a lot of components, then a rack would be the obvious answer. I wouldn't just buy cyrus because of the space saving nature, sure it's a plus point, but you should definitely try to listen to some things first!

syfer · 2 May 2006 at 14:40

Standmounts tend to be more stable (arguably sound better too?!?) if spiked under the speaker as well as under the stand. This is more than adequate for walking near them etc, just try to keep away from them as much as possible.

The Blu-Tac blobs are a good alternative if you really don’t want to spike the speakers but not as stable obviously. There is a product out there, can’t think right now but it’s basically a nylon type disk with a pit drilled in one side for the spike, with a flat surface on the other. You can either fix them to the bottom of the speaker or a wooden floor with double sided tape then spike that instead of the wood? A home made version of this are 2p coins, flattened on one side & pitted with a drill or punch on the other, again sat on a wooden floor under a kit rack or stuck under a speaker. Also, it costs from as little as 16p for a single set!

Gamefreak501 · 2 May 2006 at 14:42

tom_nieto said:
If you do plan to get a lot of components, then a rack would be the obvious answer. I wouldn't just buy cyrus because of the space saving nature, sure it's a plus point, but you should definitely try to listen to some things first!

I do plan on getting other components. I have been planning for a long time, but I need to listen to various hi-fi systems. I remember hearing a Jungson amplifier with a CD Player (I don't remember which CD Player it as, but it wasn't as high end) it just sounded so good with my speakers, so I will be looking to get something that sounds similar

edit: I am not sure about spikes though. I have a new carpet that I wouldn't want to wreck with spikes from the speaker stands. I was thinking of putting some feet on the spikes, that would at least protect my carpet.

As for mounting the speaker on the stand, when I got my Heybrook speakers, the dealer told me that he just uses blu-tac, which may be good enough. I don't mind using spikes, although I don't know if that will cause damage to my speakers when they are mounted - I would prefer to mount them on the stands as uninvasively as possible whilst still keeping them stable.

tom_nieto · 2 May 2006 at 16:44

Blu tac will be fine, it'll also act as a bit of an anchor rather than spikes which could be rather unstable. You might have to drill them into the bottom of your speakers too, which I don't think you'll like.

As far as spikes on new carpet etc lots of people use pennies (or £2 if you're rich) to good effect. I don't think you'd need to splash out on purpose built contraptions for balancing your speakers on really.