DIY Speaker Stands for Dali Zensor 3

akhilkhanuja

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Jun 24, 2013
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kolkata
Just wanted to share my first DIY experience of making stands for my new Dali Zensor 3. Finally left the Sonodyne sonus 2504 floorstanding-speakers and bought the affordable Dalis which I found vfm.

Needed stands, but didn't want to spend 8-9k as of now. So after lookin at many designs on the Web, decided to build am all iron one, keeping design simple and the quality heavy.

Started today morning at 11 am & finished by 6pm.

All locally procured Materials used. Attaching some pics in the pdf document.

2 pcs heavy iron pipes of 30 inches each. Length chosen after considering tweeter at ear level, speaker dimensions, sitting position etc. Pipe sheet is more than 2.5mm thick . Outer Circumference is 7.5 inches.

2 top plates measuring at 9*12 inch. 6m thick iron sheet
2 base plates 12*12 inches, 10mm thick sheet.
All 4 plates weigh 20 kgs. Pipes are quite heavy too.
Total cost of pipes = 400
Cost of sheets = 1100
Cost of welding & grinding / rounding the edges = 500
Total cost except painting (due) = 2000/-
Trying to get a matt black finish by either spray painting or powder coating whichever is economical. Tips on the same welcome.

Hope they look decent. They`re damn heavy and stable. Have not thought about adding spikes yet.
 

Attachments

  • diy.pdf
    253.3 KB · Views: 388
Good job on the stands. And it was done very quickly!!

You may want to reduce the top plate dimensions to 7x9. Ideally 1" less than speaker footprint. Add silicone dampeners on top plate to truly float the speaker.
Spikes are required for leveling and possibly proper coupling with floor.
Looking at the last photo, you do not want vibrations to disturb the wine rack.
Powder coating will give it a nice look but may cost more.

Cheers (applies totally to you ;) ),
Raghu
 
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Sir I seem to have lost some bass by putting on the stands. Earlier for few days the speakers where kept on ottomans/pouffes much lower than these stands and bass was awesome. But tweeters weren't at ear level. Still they sounded fantastic and powerful. But now very ordinary. Tweeters now are at ear level.

I also found if I stand higher than tweeter level, or stand on the phone bed which is my listening position, bass is awesome. Implying speaker is sounding better with the tweeters being below ear levels

Painting is still due. Should I reduce stand height by a foot or so?
 
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I got stands recently. The bass is a bit more precise now and is not shaking the room. Earlier the bass was sometimes flabby and shaking. This was when I had them on plastic stools or end tables. Something to do with resonance I guess. Since they are coupled to the floor directly, need to ask my downstairs neighbor if hears thumping sounds.

Move the speakers in front (overhang) and check.

Normal sitting position puts the ear at 36 to 42 inches. Depends on how tall you are and how straight you sit. The stands you have made can be reduced to 25-27 inches (incl spikes) depending on how tall the speakers are.

Don't hurry. Listen for a week or so.
 
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After putting on stands the tweeters are exactly at 42 inches. So is my ear level when I'm sitting on my bed which is my primary listening spot.
 
Rest the speakers on brass or steel spikes. The top of the spike can be flat so that speaker bottom rests on it. As saheb11123 suggested, use three per side as it is easier to level using three than four.

The lower plate that sits on the floor must also be spike coupled to floor, preferably threaded for level adjustment.

Your ear should be at the level of midway point between tweeter and mid woofer driver.

Play around with speaker placement to achieve good balance of sound.
 
Personally I believe is the heaviest possible mass loading, so I vote for full fill:)

My stand is 75 kilos. Per side.
 
My stands should be 30 kg as the 4 plates alone are 20kgs. Rods at least 5-7 kgs each or more.

Your stands are 75 kgs... And i was thinking that 25 - 30 is too much. Now I'm feeling good about my pair
 
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Spikes, mass loading, gel pads will help.
Experiment. Use dry sand (moisture can eventually cause rusting over a period of time). Since it is DIY, you can fill the column starting with 60-70% and work your way up/down until it starts sounding right.
My stands are about 20Kg each and are complementing the speaker very well.

Cheers,
Raghu
 
I was once told it is best not to fill completely with sand and use few domestic steelwool scrub pads in between at intervals.
Do experiment to find how you like it best.

Yes, the sand HAS to be completely dry.
 
Update - wasn't satisfied with the bass response. Did lot of consulting with experienced fm's of Kolkata and browsing the Web, went back to Local Dali dealer - discussed the issue with him & measured the norstone stylum stands and saw that the height of the columns is not more than 24 inches. Hence went for height reduction today and reduced column height by 6 inches. Then gave it to a two wheeler paint shop for Matt black paint. Approx charges quoted by him 1k. Delivery by Thursday. Eagerly awaited.
 
Paint is in progress, eagerly waiting for the finished product. Although now I'm thinking that I should've used stainless steel pipes and wood plates to avoid finishing hassles associated with iron rods and plates (time, cost etc). Anyways it'll be a good learning.
 
Hi everyone. Paint finally done. And here's the final product.
9bcf1e2595c2686fee9751bb6eab7623.jpg
 
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