[maxwalrath]

Maxwalrath: I have the Gallos too. If I tried what you did with concrete blocks what would I expect to hear, based on your experience?

Hi geezer, that wasn't me, jaywills has Gallos.  I'm making stands for a pair of DeCapo-i's. 

I'm going to get 4 pieces of 8"x8"x8" cinder blocks from Home Depot.
http://www.homedepot.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?storeId=10051&langId=-1&catalogId=10053&productId=100350250&N=10000003+90034+500516

I'll stack them and glue the two together using extra strength epoxy, with the hollow portion forming a column.  I will add 4 inches to this 16" column by adding 4 2"x4"x8" cement bricks...or some other 8"x8"x4" option if I can find one.  Using heavy duty epoxy to glue everything together, this should give me a 8"wx8"dx20"h 64 lb column with .333 cubic feet of space in the middle.  This column should take 36 lbs of sand to fill.  I'll sandwich this column between 2 12"x12"x2" pavers.  All in all, the stands should weight about 130 lbs each. 

I plan on using acresm22's idea of using a little joint compound and sanding paper to smooth the edges and get a nice looking surface, and using the idea from lonewolf's link, use some sealer-primer so they can take paint. 

As for adding mass to the top of the speaker, I'll use (or create from bricks and epoxy as described above) a 20 lb 8"x8"x4" high block of concrete which has also been smoothed, sanded, primed and painted.  Everything will be painted black, with black felt or fabric protecting the tops and bottoms of the speakers.

Pics to follow over the next week or so...

[jaywills]

"Hi geezer, that wasn't me, jaywills has Gallos."

Hi, guys, jaywills here.  I got the 8x8x16 cinder blocks because they were the closest in size to the BrightStar Gallo stands, which are apparently no longer made.  I was looking for an increase in image height that they supposedly bring and wanted something heavy & solid for them to sit on.  As you might imagine from their form, stacking weights on top of them (an idea with which I agree) is not a realistic option.  Therefore, I use "C" clamps to fix the Gallos to the blocks and have the blocks on some small "tiptoes" I got off AudioGon (search "electroplated"--no affiliation) that keeps them from rocking on my hardwood floor.  The 8" block height was also attractive to me because, at that height, my speakers were not in any room frequency nulls.

The sound?  A more realistic image height (I listen ~ 7' away).  I also used the MasterSet speaker placement regime you can read about elsewhere on these forums to set them up & I believe it has been beneficial.  I've not experienced any additional "clarity"  or "image stability" as a result of using them, but I do like the increased image height.  I also use a TacT 2.2x, running GoodVibrations software, and that has improved the sound in my experience.  BTW, I really like the broken-in Gallos.  They replaced a pair of Celestion 600's with a 15" Velodyne sub, a pair of Spendor 1/2's (same sub) and a pair of Quad 63's (same sub).  The Velodyne is now subbing in my HT since the bi-amped Gallos have good bass in my setup.

Of course, YMMV.  Good luck.  My setup, for reference: iMac 3.06/iTunes>usb>Squeezebox3 (Welbourne p/s)>s/pdif (element cable)>TacT2.2x (used for room correction & DAC)>Melos SHA Gold Reference Maestro (pinched-waist NOS 6922's)>Spectron Musician II (mains) & homebrew UcD 400 (2ndary voice coils)>Gallos.  Speltz anti-cabling throughout.

Cordially,

[max190]

My old MA 5i's with spikes were only about 31" in height.  At my LP the tweeter needed to come up around 8" or so.  I went to HD and bought standard concrete patio blocks - (2) 16x16x2, (6) 12x12x2, (2) tubes of liquid nail, and a can of satin black spray paint.

The base was (1) 16x16 + a bead of LN, (1) 12x12 + LN, 2 more times.  Once they glued together I spray painted them.  This solution was inexpensive, very heavy, looked ok, and totally changed for the better the sound of my spkrs.

Here is an old picture of them in my 2-ch room.

[lonewolfny42]

Thanks for the photo Steve... a good idea that worked....nice !!!

[geezer]

Maxwalrath: Sorry for the confusion. (It happens with increasing frequency as the years go by.) Thanks for the construction details, and I'm looking forward to seeing the pictures. Your plans sound great.

Javwills: Based on your experience with the Gallos, I think I'll give something similar a try, probably with a quick and dirty arrangement. Then, if it sounds good, I'll do something more elegant a la Maxwalrath. This won't happen probably until late summer because we're in the process of finishing up a major home remodel and things are still a bit confused.

I do love my Gallos, which I've had for a year. I also have the Gallo sub-amplifier, which I have to turn off when listening to radio. It seems all the stations around here enhance the bass. Mostly I play CDs and DVDs using an inexpensive Philips player as a transport followed by AVA gear: Ultra DAC; Ultra pre; Ultra 550.

Regards, Geezer

[JLM]

I'm using a 2" x 8" x 16" concrete paver with a handtowel underneath as a weight for my Oppo 170 with very good results (by far the best from what little experimenting I've done with such things).  The towel will be replaced with 1/2" birch and will experiment with 1/32" black foam sheeting on each/boths sides of the birch.

[maxwalrath]

I'll be painting the individual pieces of my cinder block project tomorrow.  I'll post photos of the whole project once it's done.  I ended up gluing 2 12" pavers together for both the bases and tops, so the weight will be about 125 pounds without sand.  The three sections of each stand are heavy (40-45 lbs each), so I'll be painting the tops, bases and columns separately before using epoxy to glue the sections together.  I'm getting a little scared about the final weight and thinking about skipping the sand I was planning on adding to the column.  I'd imagine it could help deaden some vibrations...but I think I could move a 130 pound stand and doubt I could handle 40 extra pounds. 

As suggested earlier, I used joint compound and sanded it down to smooth out the surfaces.  This was pretty easy, but I did end up sanding, re-coating, and sanding again which was a little time consuming.  The surfaces are very smooth though.  The 2nd coat may have been over the top...after adding primer and paint I don't know if the minor imperfections after 1 sanding would have been noticeable.

Regarding painting, I want the finish to be as glossy and shiny as possible, and I am planning on using spray paint.  Can spray paint be sanded down to make it shinier?  I have 350 grit sand paper, and figure I would need much finer paper to get a shiny finish...but I don't even know if it is possible.  Does anyone have any experience sanding / buffing spray paint?

[maxwalrath]

http://www.ehow.com/how_2062197_spray-paint-like-pro.html

this sounds more complicated than I hoped...

off to work!

[lonewolfny42]

maxwalrath....

I'll post photos of the whole project once it's done.

Great......

[maxwalrath]

Slow going...got the priming done, will sand and paint tomorrow.  I also picked up some clear coat, which I will apply after the few layers of paint have been wet-sanded.  I'm going a little overboard on what isn't a perfect job of joint-compounding...but we'll see how it turns out  .

[maxwalrath]

Here are pics of my cinder block project 2 years late.  In the finished photos ACI Emeralds are on the stands and Reference 3A DeCapo i's are next to them for scale, then the DeCapo's are mounted on a set of Mapleshade triplepoints. 

I put some felt/adhesive backed floor protectors under the bases to protect the wood floor.  The finish was amazing with black spray paint.  If I recall correctly I used joint compound to fill in all the holes, sanded and repeated where necessary.  Then I used a spray can of sealer-primer, sanded every surface down with automotive (~1200-1500 grit) sandpaper, then black spray paint. 

I then sanded again and added a can of clear / gloss paint...this step is not recommended.  It looked best with just the black paint but I wasn't going to start over.

They weigh about 135 lbs each, cost was about $80 per pair, maybe less. 

I didn't end up filling the centers with sand or "attaching" the three sections of the stands.  Gravity keeps them from any motion or instability.  If I end up in a more permanent home I could see giving this project another try, attaching the base to the column, filling the column with sand, then attaching the top base.  The stands are hard enough to move as is @ 45 lbs per section.

[lonewolfny42]

Here are pics of my cinder block project 2 years late.

Better late than never....

Job well done....they look good....and for 80 bucks...nice !

[e.man]

Interesting, but after all that work is it better sounding than spending $80 on speaker stands that are also easier to move ?

[rollo]

  Nice work guys. FIY there are 75% solid Concrete blocks available as well. Used them for my TT stand. Stacked with a vynl sheet in between to level and filled with sand. They lay sideways so the cell of the block faces upwards. Placed rubber balls [ top only] in the sand and a Maple 2" plinth on top.
   Maxwalrath looking good, just curious if you tried adding a pece of wood atop the stand. The Mapleshade brass footers are more affective when meeting wood preferably Maple. The results should be a fuller sound with nothing lost. Have fun.

charles

[blutto]

...one of the things to consider before painting concrete is that the end result will remove any absorptive capabilities the blocks may have had (...cinder blocks au naturale are actually quite absorptive but yes they are fairly ugly and they also sweat, that is, they release dust into the immediate environment...factory spaces generally paint cinder block walls to prevent sweating which contributes to wear and tear of machinery...but they then have to add absorption back into the room to reduce noise...paint on the walls is money in the bank for the acoustics industry... )...so painting does have advantages but removing absorption from a critical part of the audio chain may be an issue...

Cheers

blutto