My DIY stereo rack, since some have asked [Archive]

emorphien

12-17-2006, 11:52 AM

I built this earlier this year... I'll discuss it a bit after the images

1:
http://www.morphien.com/media/images/stereo/system.jpg

2:
http://www.morphien.com/media/images/stereo/threaddetail.jpg

3:
http://www.morphien.com/media/images/stereo/top.jpg

4:
http://www.morphien.com/media/images/stereo/topdetail.jpg

So that's it, also that's my stereo. New speaker stands (not DIY) and new speakers will get tossed in there in a month or so.

Basic design of the stand was one 3' x 6' sheet of 3/4" MDF, four 1/4" threaded rods and an assortment of nuts and washers to hold it all together.

A friend has a similar one, except using heavier duty rods (3/4") which I felt was overkill. It can flex a bit if you shove it but otherwise it's very stable, and that's really fairly dependent on how much you tighten it anyway.

I had a friend help me drill the holes in each corner of the boards, they're slightly larger than the rod so it floats a bit. I used the neoprene rubber washers on the top two shelves as much for the illusion of vibration isolation as to protect the MDF surface and paint.

Painting MDF is kind of a pain, particularly on the cut edges since it's not perfectly smooth and absorbs a bunch of the paint. I could do it better but ultimately got what I wanted and didn't care to go overboard on it. The paint was just a semi-gloss black latex which I rolled on.

I realize that my speaker cables are too long, I'm going to put some shorter ones on there in the next week. They were fine before, but now that I have a new desk and have rearranged, they're going all over the place.

kexodusc

12-17-2006, 05:27 PM

Very Nice, not to dissimilar from mine, except mines about 6 feet tall with more shelves, and MDF spines. I used paint, but if I did again I'd use vinyl laminate like what PE sells...cheaper and way easier.

kexodusc

12-17-2006, 05:28 PM

Hey, I have a pair of those!!! Same color.

emorphien

12-17-2006, 06:15 PM

I might consider doing something with vinyl down the road. Probably is easier, and more durable. And you have a pair of what? Speakers, stands? Ya lost me!

kexodusc

12-18-2006, 05:33 AM

No, the Axioms...The vinyl is reasonably durable. If your amps are quite heavy or have sharp edges or anything like that, it would be worth spending a few dollars at a hardware store to put soft felt feet on them. But, then again, if you aren't rubbing your gear against the vinyl, it'll be tough enough. It looks nice at least.

JoeE SP9

12-18-2006, 04:29 PM

A couple of years ago I built a dual flexy rack ala TNT Audio. One 4x8 sheet of MDF makes 12 18"x24" shelves. I also used 4 3ft lengths of 5/8" all thread, one 50 piece box of nuts, 50 steel washers, 50 neoprene washers and one can of black paint. I put 2 rods in the middle and 1 on each end. I had the lumber yard cut the MDF and used a buddy's drill press and a homemade jig to get the holes in the shelves in the same place. Total cost around $95. The box of nuts at $48 was the largest expense.:idea:

emorphien

12-18-2006, 05:25 PM

squeegy200

12-19-2006, 11:38 AM

I think mine cost me a total of $40 or 50 to build. I just bought a couple small bags of nuts and washers. The neoprene ones were probably the most expensive part :p The neoprene ones I used also don't all have the same inner diameter.

I too built a couple of these in different configurations. The final outcome was a simple stacker but the options are endless with this design.

Its stable enough for my turntable and cost me ~$60 for Oak ply and the threaded rod. All parts available from home improvement store.

Ill likely do another with emphasis on aesthetics to reduce the industrial appearance and blend more with my decor. Sure beats the $300+ alternatives in the store. And if you don't put up any vertical panels, its acoustically transparent in your listening environment.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v78/squeegy200/Home%20Audio/Flexi_1.jpg?t=1166557017

ericl

12-19-2006, 12:14 PM

I've built a couple of those.. one using MDF, the other using Maple cutting boards. Mine had three legs instead of four. The maple sounds so much better! :p (note sarcasm)

SlumpBuster

12-19-2006, 12:32 PM

hermanv

12-19-2006, 04:47 PM

Nice; your turntable might like it if you put spikes on the bottom of your rack. You should be able to find some that just thread onto the "all thread" rods. On the other hand if the floor isn't solid, the spikes could make things worse.

If you upgrade your speakers the whole spike or no spike issue will need to be revisited depending on how much bass energy ends up in the floor.

As you probably know, turntables usually sound best when sitting on something rock solid, this is not true if what they are sitting on vibrates with bass.

emorphien

12-19-2006, 05:11 PM

I agree with you. I've played with a couple things, but currently haven't got any really big problems with it since the rack is fairly solid and vibrations don't seem to permeate it. I don't have tons of bass coming out of this setup, and don't expect to with a speaker upgrade. I'll see when I get there :)

jrhymeammo

12-20-2006, 03:57 PM

I think this a pretty popular design. I did two last winter as LP racks. I used 12" wide poplar planks cut to 3' lengths wiht 5/8" threaded rod. Finished the planks with natural stain and semi-gloss poly.

It is the stongest LP rack I've ever had. I finally found an affordable and good LP solution after years of looking. :cornut:

Hey Slumpy,

Could you tell me how you have you records rested on both ends? Did you endup getting a couple of 12 inche squares so records dont rest on threaded poles? I`ve had my eyes on 4x4 bookshelf from IKEA, but S/H is $240 for a $150 item:yikes: . So, gonna build myslef a LP Rack 4 Sho!!!

DiscoRage

01-13-2007, 07:12 PM

My father helped me build one like this last year. I got the instructions from http://www.tnt-audio.com/clinica/flexye.html

The site suggests three legs instead of four, which is what I did. My stands are made with some pretty ugly MDF with unfinshed edges. I've never gotten around to replacing the shelves with something nicer. I'm thinking of using clear acrylic or tempered glass.

emorphien

01-13-2007, 08:24 PM

Thanks for the link, I'm not sure I've seen that before but that's probably where my friend got his idea. He actually did 3 legs but eventually added a fourth. I thought about doing 3, but preferred the look and rigidity of four.

nightflier

01-19-2007, 04:24 PM

Nice rack (and I'm talking about the audio rack). Here's my DIY experience:

I built a similar rack (4 shelves), after having purchased a Salamander one from Audio Advisor. After putting together the Salamander, I figured I could do this too. Well... w/o a dedicated wood shop, that's not as easy as it looks. But I did build one.

I used the thickest rods I could get my hands on, which was probably overkill and only served to increase the cost of the nuts & washers. I did use only three rods, though, which according to TNT Audio makes it easier to balance the rack on the ground. That's true, but then it's also easier to have the whole thing off kilter w/o really noticing until you're sitting down to enjoy your music and realizing you've got some more nuts to adjust.

I used MDF-type particle board, and then used regular stained wood baseboard edging to finish the egdes. It took a few tries to get the edges to match the MDF, but it was a lot nicer looking afterwards than just painting the edges. Also, since the baseboard is wider than the MDF, it actually looked like a my shelves were thicker than they really were, although the fact that this hid the nuts and washers under the shelves did kind of gave the illusion away.

One more issue with MDF is that it's pretty dense stuff and you really need a solid drill to get through it - my rechargeable was hardly up to the task. And lining up the holes exactly wasn't easy either, although having just three of them made minor errors easier to hide. In any case, it's probaly better to have them professionally drilled at a qualified shop. TNT Audio suggested using two boards glued together, but that was too much work and would have killed my drill. If I do this again, I would probably use a sheet of nice oak on top and MDF on the bottom with oak baseboards so that it would be easy to match the stain all around.

It cost me about $140 (mostly Home Depot) to put the whole thing together. I sold it to a friend for about $100 when I needed something bigger. I sort of wish I would have kept it.

emorphien

01-19-2007, 05:13 PM

Agreed, a handheld drill could have issues with MDF. I had a friend help me and we used a drill press on campus. Definitely didn't hit $100 in building mine, maybe $60 but yours sounds a bit fancier.

I have a couple possible upgrades/expansions in mind for mine, including a "side" shelf or something to put CDs and things on and I could always refinish it in a different way. I like your edge trim idea too, I may look in to that a bit.

spasticteapot

01-25-2007, 09:42 PM

I built this earlier this year... I'll discuss it a bit after the images

So that's it, also that's my stereo. New speaker stands (not DIY) and new speakers will get tossed in there in a month or so.

Basic design of the stand was one 3' x 6' sheet of 3/4" MDF, four 1/4" threaded rods and an assortment of nuts and washers to hold it all together..

I'm in an art metal and glass class, and I hope you are'nt too angry when I say that I have every intention of ripping off your design and re-making it with glass and steel.

Very clever!

emorphien

01-25-2007, 10:11 PM

I'm in an art metal and glass class, and I hope you are'nt too angry when I say that I have every intention of ripping off your design and re-making it with glass and steel.

Very clever!
Whatever you do, share some pictures with us!

hermanv

01-26-2007, 09:08 AM

I used to have one of those wood entertainment system cabinets, you know, they hold a TV, VCR and a set of shelves with glass doors at the side and then some storage in the bottom. Mine was about 5 1/2 feet tall. I had my TV and stereo stuff in it. The wooden cabinet wasn't damped. The system actually sounded hollow and boxy (with ESL speakers yet). I did have a vacuum tube pre-amp at the time.

I damped all the shelves and got rubber feet, it helped a lot but there was still some hollowness left in the sound. Because of it's size and heat, my power amp sat on the top of this cabinet. Ha, I thought, I'll cut a marble slab to put under the power amp, that'll dampen that wooden sound. Well it did, but the sound ended up "glassy", sure enough a tap on the new marble piece sounded just like tapping glass.

I know it's a long winded story, I also know glass is quite pretty and very popular for stereo racks. My experience says that rack construction and materals can be very important if you strive as I do for the vey best possible sound. If you must have glass please consider a layer of dampning material glued to the bottom. There is a sticky backed asphalt paper made for this purpose available cheap from Parts Express (and others I'm sure) or maybe a thin plywood bonded to the bottom of the shelves?

Anyone else have experience with rack construction affecting sound?

nightflier

01-28-2007, 08:49 PM

Just out of curiosity, Mapleshade sells similar audio racks that are uber-expensive. The shelves do look very thick, but I'm still curious, are charging too much for these?

emorphien

01-28-2007, 09:35 PM

Just out of curiosity, Mapleshade sells similar audio racks that are uber-expensive. The shelves do look very thick, but I'm still curious, are charging too much for these?
Funny you mention that, I was looking at the Mapleshade catalog today (and giggling). I looked at those racks (as I have before). I don't have the materials or the ability to manufacture one exactly like those, but I don't imagine it's so complex as to justify those prices. FWIW I think Audio Advisor in their catalogs (and i'm sure online) have similar ones that aren't anywhere near the price of the mapleshade ones from what I recall.

ellisr63

05-25-2007, 10:51 AM

I made one of theses also years ago... I glued 2 layers of MDF together for each shelf. Work great!

higherfi2

05-29-2007, 01:23 PM

Hi, I have done almost the same thing in the past, with the rods, etc. I usually use birch veneer plymood, and then iron on veneer strips to the edges. You could do the same with the black, and get a smooth edge. P.S. This is also a great, easy, and attractive way to build a 6'" Amp stand, to keep your monoblocks off the floor, :idea:

calegrant

07-07-2007, 07:10 PM

Woke up this morning and saw this thread as I was doing my morning website rounds....the glue on my oak veneers is now drying, stain and edging tomorrow then the final assembly! Already prefit everything and it worked great, very sturdy even without lock-tite on the bolts which I'll do afterwards, they seem to want to loosen up when moved. Hope it turns out as well as yours did!:cryin:

emorphien

07-08-2007, 04:24 AM

I didn't need any Loc-tite, even when moving the thing mine stayed solid.

Good luck though!

nightflier

07-09-2007, 11:10 AM

Wow, I didn't know this thread was still active. A couple of notes:

- Have you considered putting spikes on the bottom, instead of having the whole shelf rest on the carpet?

- Also, when I made my shelf unit, I went a bit wider with my shelves. While this affected stability, I'm sure, it also gave it a more squat and stately appearance. And I could fit my Aragon components on it, which don't fit on standard-width shelves.

- For those contemplating 3 posts instead of 4, make sure the posts are on the side-edges, even if that doesn't look symmetrical. I currently have a "trendy" shelf unit that has 3 posts, but the 3rd, thickest, post is in the rear which is a pain for cabling.

- If you have thick shelves, I saw online that someone had attached these to the back of each shelf: http://www.cyberguys.com/templates/searchdetail.asp?productID=2157. They allow one to run the cable along the width of the shelf, thus making it less visible. Adding two conduits behind the rear vertical posts, will also hide the cables going down & up.

I'm not really a big fan of running cables together in a conduit because it affects the sound and picture, but for some people the aesthetic benefits are worth it. Then again, I've put wheels on the bottom of racks to move them from room to room, so I guess that defeats many sound-isolating benefits. Maybe if someone designed feet that could change from spikes & back to wheels at the push of a lever... Hmmmmm, maybe I should market that....

emorphien

07-09-2007, 01:41 PM

I use the cable routing on my surround system in the other room, but only for the power cables and digital audio cables (optical and coax) because it's a short run. I also run the video cable from the older DVD player through the bundle, for some reason. Everything else roams free, same with the stereo rack (I don't have enough wires on my stereo to care about management)

calegrant

07-09-2007, 02:32 PM

Finally done and extremely happy with the results appart from the color of the shelves. Used 3/4 MDF with oak veneers with natural stain. Probably going to change to cherry at a later date, not interested in taking it appart anytime soon. All said and done it probably cost around $75 in materials/supplies but I searched a long long time to find a rack with shelving placed like this and could never find anything. Going to be making another at a later date for cds but with thiner cherry shelves and brass hardware/posts. I'll keep this thread updated with it!

http://gallery.audioreview.com/showphoto.php?photo=2922&size=big&cat=500&ppuser=249670

http://gallery.audioreview.com/showphoto.php?photo=2923&size=big&cat=500&ppuser=249670

O'Shag

07-17-2007, 07:15 PM

I have two racks by Bello.

emorphien

07-17-2007, 08:16 PM

And I have Target overpriced speaker stands... good for you then?

O'Shag

07-17-2007, 08:35 PM

I have two Bello Rack as pictured below. Never one to leave well enough alone, I thought the shelving could be made better. As it turns out the solution as is so often the case was to be found at Ikea. I picked up Lamplig hardwood beech kitchen blocks for each shelf. these blocks are great because they have a large surface area and one side has a lip which acts to anchor each block to the shelf edge and prevent sliding. It also looks real perdy. Beech is a really good choice for components and I've noticed differences when placing components on these blocks. Anyhow here is the picture of the base shelf, of which I have one on each side (audio 2-channel left and HT right)..

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ih=004&sspagename=STRK%3AMEWN%3AIT&viewitem=&item=140131796950&rd=1&rd=1#ebayphotohosting

O'Shag

07-17-2007, 08:53 PM

Emorphien,

seem to have struck a chord. No offence meant. The last Bello stand I bought as pictured above I paid only $103.00 for. That puts me out of pocket $50.00 over your stand so I lose out. I could have bought a CD or two with the money saved. Bravo for your effort to tackle the problem yourself, but I wanted to start with a rack I thought looked good according to my personal tastes and could house several components. As I mentioned above I tweaked the unit with Beech harwood blocks, so I guess you could say that puts me out $100 over your stand. All money saved counts....

emorphien

07-18-2007, 03:57 AM

O'Shag

07-18-2007, 01:42 PM

And I have Target overpriced speaker stands... good for you then? :incazzato:

:idea: Oh really? I got the impression that the comment above was designed to insinuate I'm some fool with more money than sense, and perhaps you said this because you may have felt I 'rained on your parade' - which I didn't. Of course I may be wrong..

I just wanted to share what I have, as you have done. In the context of tweaks, I said I purchased some beech blocks from Ikea that work well with the units I have (I did post a link to a picture). As this thread is with respect to tweaks; what I wrote should make sense, but perhaps I should have elaborated a bit more.

emorphien

07-18-2007, 02:52 PM

You just said you had Bello racks, nothing about about mods so it was out of place. Enough already though, you're clogging up the thread, let the DIYers come and post their creations if they like!

O'Shag

07-20-2007, 04:07 PM

Emorphien,

I'm always pleased to find such warm welcoming folks such as yourself on forums. You are sure encouraging to others. Judging from your extensive audio system I can tell you are in a position to criticize others who may have been stupid enough to buy components costing over $600.00. Also, judging from the 'tweaks' you have, I can see why you feel justified in telling me to get lost. Your 'power conditioning' and cable management system look great. Despite building and tweaking A/V systems for myself and my friend for years, and despite the fact I've gone through what must be twenty times more gear than you, I felt humbled by your DIY 'rack'.

And speaking of your masterpiece. I've seen this design on positive-feedbacks site. Its a very simple design that I could put together in two hours or less, but functional and acceptable when finished to a good standard. If you can stand the criticism - after all you did display it and request comments - your attempt looks, well a bit rickety. I'm sorry - I know your as proud as punch. Perhaps next time you'll do better - when you save up another $49.00.

By the way, I'm by nature not given to criticism, but I can give as good as I get.

MicahZ

07-17-2009, 07:17 AM

I wish I were that talented. I tried to DIY my rack but butchered it so badly. I ended up buying a rack from 2postrack.com (http://www.2postrack.com). Not nearly as awesome as a DIY cause I love it. Someone should sell the DIY rack.

Very nice work.

JoeE SP9

08-12-2009, 07:16 PM

hermanv

08-13-2009, 10:13 AM

When I bought truly first class materials and made my own cables, they were cheaper than commercial cables, but not by that much.

When I bought Cardas connectors, Vishay resistors and Shalco switches my passive pre-amp was cheaper than a quality commercial unit (i.e. Placette) but not by much.

And when I helped a friend build a quality equipment rack (3/4 all thread, maple shelves) it was cheaper that a commercial unit, but again not by much.

My point is that quality costs money and that the myth that high end is seriously overpriced is just that, a myth. Sure you can spend more that it's worth (buyer beware) but a quality part of a sound reproduction chain just wont be cheap.

There is a great deal of satisfaction and pride in DIY. But anyone who thinks they can copy a $500 item for $50 is deluding themselves. :)

nightflier

08-24-2009, 11:51 AM

Here is one I worked on recently, actually I should say "we" since I used my friend's generous collection of wood-working tools. We used Salamander posts & bolts, but we used custom-purchased, pre-drilled shelves (these were actually from a wood-shop on the East coast that makes kitchen cooking boards, of all things). We also switched out the rubber washers for some that I just happened to find at an industrial shop that where of a much higher quality rubber (and we could have them completely free). We went with the Salamander spikes instead of the casters and used custom machined floor-protecting disks, with hard damping plastic under them.

All-in-all it was extremely solidly built and stable, but that's what we were going for. I don't now if it would be appropriate for a record player. Actually, I've always wondered whether a rack should be coupled to the ground that way or not. Yes, everything is more taught, but then it also has to absorb the bass from the speakers & subs.

If I have more time, I'm going to repeat the above experiment with a few tweaks. I also want it to have a more artistic / fancy look, so here are some thoughts:

- It will be pyramid shaped, with wider, thicker (perhaps glued together) shelves at the bottom. I'm thinking two of the largest shelves on the bottom, two middle sized ones in the middle, and two small light-jobbies on the top. Since I can get them custom-made, it shouldn't be too hard to do.

- The posts will not be Salamander because I need them to be more substantial (there go the savings). I do want them to be exactly vertical, even with the pyramid shape of the whole thing. This will also mean that the components on the bottom shelves will have to be slid in from the side since the posts will be narrower on the front than the actual component. It will still have three posts, with one in the back and two in the front.

- Finally, I would not tighten the shelves to the posts, having them rest on the bolts and washers instead. If I use the right kind of vibration absorbing washers, that should provide considerable damping with the weight of the component pressing down on the shelves enough, I'm guessing.

- For the feet, I will likely stay with spikes and floor-protecting disks.

Anyhow, just some thoughts...

frahengeo

08-24-2009, 12:36 PM

I built mine back in May this year. I used 11/16" maple plywood with solid wood edging. With the exception of two joints, all joints were dado/glue joints. For the exception, I added 4 "L" brackets for added strength to support my rather heavy Amp. About half of the shelves are adjustable, and the other half, permanent. Thought about installing doors, but decided that an "open" design would be better for heat dissipation.
Since it was designed to house 12~14 components, it was going to be big. I opted to build three separated and stackable pieces to better manage the weight during installation. From an aesthetics point of view, it is rather dull like a plain bookshelf, but extremely sturdy and functional. Didn't bother staining, but applied three coats of polyurethane for protection.
All in all, it was a fun project and this was the first time that I had enough space to consolidate all components for the first time.