Built me a center speaker stand this past weekend (1 Viewer)

While this site was down, I decided to get the Klipsch RC-52ii center off the Bose woofer as a temporary stand, and mount it above the plasma TV.

Went to Home Depot and $60 later, I had some Poplar wood.

I broke out all of my power tools for this weekend project: circular saw, drill, 10" chop saw, router and biscuit joiner (I'm not Norm Abrhams so I don't do mortise and tennon, but I probably could).

I started around 1:00PM and finished initial build with glue all dried, by 7:00PM. The cut-out at the base is relief for a raised portion of the base of my Viera.

Sunday was so warm, I was able to get two coats of furniture black. If you look, you'll see it appears a bit 'weathered' which is what I was going for since our furniture has that look to it, even though it will sit behind the TV, never to be seen again.

The weight of the Klipsch is 22 lbs. but I can tell you this thing could hold both my floor speakers and the sub-woofer... just for testing, I sat myself on this stand... I'm over 170 lbs. I rocked this stand side-to-side, back and forth. It is SOLID.

I finished installing it Wednesday. I used two of the wall mount holes in the plasma, to secure the stand with some M8 bolts and plastic spacers. The Klipsch has a front and rear level hole. Using my Craftsmen laser level equipment, I aimed the speaker down to just above the top of the couch where our ears should be. Then, using the "front" level hole, I bolted the unit to the stand. It is not going anywhere!

I know my wife's concern about it falling and believe me, if it's falling, the TV will be falling as well and if that's happening, we have likely have a much bigger issue than the TV and center channel (earthquakes above 6.0 would be one of those things.)

Enjoy the picutres.

Overbuilt, just the way I like it.

Nice, Built like I hang shelves, I test them by hanging from them

What can I say; having lived with Ikea/Copenhagen/Scandia furniture all made of press board, one gets tired of expensive non-custom made furniture. Sure, when I was young and poor, that's what we could afford. These days, either we pay more for real wood, or I build it myself. In this instance, seeing what was available or lack thereof, I knew not only could I build it to specifications, it would last longer than the TV or anything else. BTW, it can double as a sturdy TV tray.

Love it!

I wasn't aware Home Depot offered anything like poplar. In another application, the wood finish would have been nice on its own--with a little stain and finish. All I ever see in places like that is pine (and usually filled with knots).

And like you said, custom-built and stained is always a much better way to go than most of the junk that's out there.

Nice work.

Thanks Mike.

Home Depot, at least where I'm at, have the major hardwoods available most of the time: Red Oak, Maple, Alder and Poplar. I didn't feel Oak was required but they didn't have Alder but I knew Poplar could handle it so that's what I chose. The top and bottom came from 24" x 24" board, but the 2x1's came from different planks but I didn't care about the 'color' since I was trying to color match it to the furniture and as it turned out, the two planks were of different colors - one was a light colored while the other had a lot of olive tone in it. Had it been a clear stain or light stain, I would have been a lot more careful in my selection.