concrete stands

[dongrod]

Hi guys.
I would like to ask your opinion regarding concrete speaker stands. I understand that concrete is very much dead to resonance. Does it mean that concrete can be a very good speaker stand?
Thanks

[N. Abstentia]

I would imagine it could be just fine, but rather hard to cast into stand shape. Just like a big boulder would be ideal as it's acoustically dead, but not very practical. I would also think concrete would be prone to breakage, as it's pretty brittle.

[dongrod]

I would imagine it could be just fine, but rather hard to cast into stand shape. Just like a big boulder would be ideal as it's acoustically dead, but not very practical. I would also think concrete would be prone to breakage, as it's pretty brittle.

Disregarding some factors like hard to cast, prone to breakage as its pretty brittle, etc., can you not say that concrete is an excellent speaker stand (not just fine) by just considering its characteristic as being very heavy and acoustically dead? Could you tell me what are the characteristics of an excellent speaker stand?
Thanks again.

[N. Abstentia]

Oh yeah, anything hard and acoustically dead makes a great speaker stand. Not sure how you would mount carpet spikes on concrete though...I guess the point I'm trying to make is this ...Yes concrete would work fine, but no better than high quality stands that are already made.

As long as your stand anchors your speakers properly, puts them at the right height, and is free of resonance it's a good stand. But on top of that are the little things such as carpet spikes, wiring channels, asthetics, etc. that make the difference.

[kexodusc]

Concrete isn't acoustically dead, in fact, it can be highly reflective. That being said, I doubt you'd notice an audible differenc using concrete.
Infact, I use to cinder blocks as a/v furniture (and as a kitchen table) back in my university days...Man, cinderblocks were the speaker stands of choice.

[Woochifer]

Concrete would work great as a speaker stand, it's the practicality that I would question. You want something that's inert and stable for a speaker stand. Concrete fits the bill, but other speaker stand options that are more versatile, attractive, and practical for a living room work just as well.

[Ryanm]

If you know what you're doing with concrete, it's not all that hard to cast, I would think it might be hard to get the stand itself thin enough so as not to be top heavy, but the spikes for the carpet etc can all be done, can even make some molds to make concrete "feet". It's not as hard to do as it looks on paper, and the concrete could be painted afterward to make it more aesthetically pleasing.

[Kursun]

I have cast plaster speaker stands for my surround speakers. Each is an MDF enclosure filled solid with plaster. At the bottom, there are MDF braces that were put in place before the plaster was cast. I'm happy with them. Really heavy and solid... Vibration? no such thing.

[kexodusc]

I recently finished 8 solid MDF sands filled with kitty litter (clean). These things are more solid than any Sanus stuff I've owned, and look alot better than steel (picture doesn't do it justice)...matches the speaker project I've got going perfectly.
No resonance or vibration or anything like that...they're stiff as a board.

http://ca.geocities.com/sdupre0828@r...ker_stands.htm

Err...the webpage needs work, especially if you use Firefox...not bad for my first go though.