cement blocks for speaker stands? (1 Viewer)

[Brian Nelson]

Okay, I was looking on the HTadvice.com page and I stumbled across their suggestion of using cement blocks as speaker stands. Is this a good idea? How does it affect the sound of bookshelf speakers? I'm about to get started on my home theater system which includes Polk RTi28s or RTi25s for the front speakers, and I'm not going to have enough right away for a decent set of speaker stands, so I was wondering if this whole idea of cement blocks would work temporarily because they are inexpensive. Any suggestions on how to make this work?
Thanks!

 

[John Garcia]

There are plenty of things you can use as temporary stands. Cement blocks probably aren't going to be a great idea when you consider you will need them about 26"-30" tall, unless you are sitting on the floor. At craft stores they sell plant stands that look like marble columns, you could also make your own out of PVC pipe and particle board for very cheap.

 

[Brian Burgoyne]

I used cement blocks on a temporary basis and they were OK as long as I kept reminding myself that it was temporary. I used some square patio blocks as a more firm base and since they were only 2" thick I could experiment with slightly different heights so that when I ordered speaker stands I could chose the height that I liked the best. You will see stands of various sizes: 24,26,28,30,etc. Sometimes depending on your seating, how tall you are, location of tweeter in speaker, etc. a couple of inches can make a bit of a difference.

 

[Dirk Grace]

Decor'd odor. But functional. .

 

[Ted Lee]

the main benefit of speaker stands is to get the tweeters up to ear-level and "open them up" from the floor.

so, you can use pretty much whatever you want. if you're really curious, try testing with different materials. i suspect, regardless of what you use to elevate the speakers, they'll sound the same.

i've used milk crates, xerox paper boxes, and (now) proper stands. imo, they all worked about the same - the proper stands just aesthetically look better.

btw - my stands were pretty cheap. about 70 bucks for the pair from circuit city. i think the manufactuer is called 'chicago'.