[Big Red Machine]

I'll post some photos soon, but first a story:

I drove Jim, Mike, and Sam nuts with my rattle problem.  I had my HT3's back to the shop twice because I could not get them to stop rattling.  Especially on 2 or 3 tracks I kept playing that excited them in such a way that no matter what I tightened on the inside or Jim relgued or bolstered could solve it.  I really felt like I would need new cabinets or external xovers, or something drastic to solve this.

So finally I realized that whenever I touched the cabinet to try and feel where it was coming from or dampen something it did get a little better.  Duh!  I was planting it tighter to the floor and that was the problem.

You would think the weight of the speakers and the spikes would be enough, but with my laminate floor it was not working.  There is a tremendous amount of bass generated by those TC Sounds woofers.  Taming that would take a drastic step.  So I removed the spikes and placed the plinths on 2 slabs of 1/4" Sorbothane and shazam!, problem eliminated.



Only thing now is the speakers are sitting lower than I like them and I want them taller.  So I batted around a few ideas and sketched this up at the dentist's office Friday afternoon.  I cut and laminated 1/2" MDF strips into 1.5" slabs, glued and screwed them up and left them to dry.



And then Saturday I had to go school clothes shopping - yuck, so they sat until after dinner.

I mitered the pieces so that I could make a 4 sided box (fake plinth) that was 1/4" larger than the actual plinth on the speaker.

[Big Red Machine]

Here's one assembled and being puttied up to try and hide those seams and nail and screw holes:



Here are the components: an MDF board, 1.75" thick closed cell high density foam I just happen to have laying around (I knew it would come in handy some day), and the 4-sided box:

[Big Red Machine]

Here's the sandwich of foam, MDF, and speaker:



Now slip the "box" over the whole thing from the top:

[Big Red Machine]

A better shot.  And yes, they WORK!!  I can add little rubber feet under any parts that rattle, but none have tonight, so I'll let them go as-is for now.



I love building things.  How do they look?  Too thick?

[jsalk]

Pete -

They actually look pretty good in the photos.  And my ulcers are not quite as bad as they were a short time ago. 

I am going to ask "philistine" for a short review of the impact of the granite plinths he had made for his HT3's.  I found a local supplier of granite who said he could build plinths for us as well.  If they work as I am told they do, perhaps we will add this as a potential upgrade as well.

- Jim

[zybar]

Looks nice Pete.

What about using something like stone or granite instead of MDF?

If not the real thing, what about a faux granite finish instead of plain black?

George

[Big Red Machine]

Should have Jim veneer them to match!

[JP78]

i think you should definitely have a matched veneer...those speakers are far too beautiful to have a less than ideal foundation...though i will say that your idea itself was certainly clever .  i believe if you matched the veneer and the super plinth be the same width and length of the current base the look will be stunning.