Would it be stupid to stick a pair of bookshelves on a glass cabinet?

[Lewis Sheppard]

So my mum thinks that if the speakers are quite heavy it shouldn't make a difference. Does it? Do I NEED a stand or can I do without?

 

 

[Deaf Cat]

As long as you think the glass cabinet is strong enough... why not?

 

Stands, as would putting them on the carpet, may give a slightly different presentation to the music.

[Guidof]

My guess is that if you isolate the speakers from the cabinet (not couple them to it), you may get away with it. But I never tried a glass support. In any event, most "bookshelf" speakers tend to sound better not on shelves or cabinets but on proper stands.

 

Regards,

 

Guido F.

[Lewis Sheppard]

As long as you think the glass cabinet is strong enough... why not?

 

Stands, as would putting them on the carpet, may give a slightly different presentation to the music.

Yeah I reckon so, I have heard it completely changes the sound or something, wondered if anyone else can elaborate?

[Lewis Sheppard]

My guess is that if you isolate the speakers from the cabinet (not couple them to it), you may get away with it. But I never tried a glass support. In any event, most "bookshelf" speakers tend to sound better not on shelves or cabinets but on proper stands.

 

Regards,

 

Guido F.

Yeah I gathered but I don't really have enough money to be buying stands at the moment. How would you isolate the speakers?

[Deaf Cat]

Blu-Tack, sorbothane, squash balls, innertube, rubber door mat, silicone, :-)

anything squashy I think goes towards isolation,

Brass / Steel speaker spikes I think couple rather than isolate, and probably not a good idea on glass ;-)

 

Have a play. another area to investigate ;-)

[Guidof]

Yeah I gathered but I don't really have enough money to be buying stands at the moment. How would you isolate the speakers?

 

For an inexpensive way to decouple (some) the speakers from the cabinet, buy 6 anti vibration pads available for 99 cents each at PexSupply.com and place 3 of these under each speaker. Can't go any cheaper than that. These will not be a perfect solution, but they will help.

[Lewis Sheppard]

Blu-Tack, sorbothane, squash balls, innertube, rubber door mat, silicone, :-)

anything squashy I think goes towards isolation,

Brass / Steel speaker spikes I think couple rather than isolate, and probably not a good idea on glass ;-)

 

Have a play. another area to investigate ;-)

Yeah, I don't even want to try spikes on glass lol. I'm just gonna try a load of different things tbh, hopefully work very well.

[PopPop]

 

 

I built these shelves with 1/4 inch glass and cantilevered the shelves out from the back on 1" square steel tubes. The amp and the CD on the middle shelf have a combined weight of 45 pounds, the DAC and the power supply weigh about 30 pounds. Glass is very strong if it is supported adequately.

[Lewis Sheppard]

 

 

I built these shelves with 1/4 inch glass and cantilevered the shelves out from the back on 1" square steel tubes. The amp and the CD on the middle shelf have a combined weight of 45 pounds, the DAC and the power supply weigh about 30 pounds. Glass is very strong if it is supported adequately.

It's not really the weight mate, it's more about the vibrations from the speaker/bass. Thanks though, at least now I know it can hold it definitely.

[Lewis Sheppard]

For an inexpensive way to decouple (some) the speakers from the cabinet, buy 6 anti vibration pads available for 99 cents each at PexSupply.com and place 3 of these under each speaker. Can't go any cheaper than that. These will not be a perfect solution, but they will help.

I think I'm going to get some rubber feet or some of what you mentioned. Thanks guys, helps a lot.

[Melvin]

I built these shelves with 1/4 inch glass and cantilevered the shelves out from the back on 1" square steel tubes. The amp and the CD on the middle shelf have a combined weight of 45 pounds, the DAC and the power supply weigh about 30 pounds. Glass is very strong if it is supported adequately.

 

Very nice, simple and clean. Love the look.

[davidbeinct]

Very nice, simple and clean. Love the look.

 

Ditto. That's a gorgeous setup.

[PopPop]

Thank you. Best of all, I'm thrilled with the sound and so lucky to live in the first world.

[iago]

Do I NEED a stand or can I do without?

 

If you need a stand depends mainly on the space between your shelf and the wall. Certain speakers sound better when they are placed at a distance from the back wall. You should find out the minimum distance first before deciding if you want stands.

[Sam Lord]

Glass is a GREAT damping substance. If I had a heavy, strong glass platform I would *couple* my speakers to it. Or if I could afford it I would couple them vertically but allow them to wander at subsonic Hz horizontally using high quality bearings like Aurios. If I were to use Blu-tack for coupling I would keep it very thin (as you always should), which basically acts like glue. Just be sure the baffle of the speakers are flush with the edge of the glass or well in front of it. Never use soft materials like rubber feet under speakers, ever, unless they are so thin (like1/32") that they will not allow any detectable movement of the cabinets. It would simply allow the cabinets to oscillate, not good.

[Lewis Sheppard]

Glass is a GREAT damping substance. If I had a heavy, strong glass platform I would *couple* my speakers to it. Or if I could afford it I would couple them vertically but allow them to wander at subsonic Hz horizontally using high quality bearings like Aurios. If I were to use Blu-tack for coupling I would keep it very thin (as you always should), which basically acts like glue. Just be sure the baffle of the speakers are flush with the edge of the glass or well in front of it. Never use soft materials like rubber feet under speakers, ever, unless they are so thin (like1/32") that they will not allow any detectable movement of the cabinets. It would simply allow the cabinets to oscillate, not good.

Ah, this is what I wanted to hear. I will try some blu-tack underneath it then thankyou. What setup have you got?

[Guidof]

Ah, this is what I wanted to hear. I will try some blu-tack underneath it then thankyou. What setup have you got?

 

What you want to hear is not necessarily what you should​ hear.

[Sam Lord]

What you want to hear is not necessarily what you should​ hear.

Guidof, if you are only repeating something useful, that the Lewis should use stands, that is generally true, you want to bring the speakers out into the room as iago suggested. But the heavy glass shelf should work well. Now it is certainly possible that the resonant frequency of that system of back-anchored, weighted glass will be in the audio range, but glass in nearly every case will be far better than metal or wood or MDF.

 

How heavy are your speakers and how heavy is the cabinet? Do your speakers have ports in the back? If there are ports then you really should get them out enough for the ports to breathe. However that actually becomes an opportunity, because you can place very absorptive material like thick wool or sandbags behind the ports to break up the wall reflections from the ports.

 

Finally a really cool option in case the speakers actually would be flanked by books: put the speaker baffles flush with the books. Bingo, instant near-infinite baffle with front diffraction problems solved.

 

Since you asked, my system is in my signature below, the speakers are an unusual monitor and 2x sub combination on massive stands with essentially perfect time coherence: <2mm tweeter-to-woofer error and <5mm woofer-to-sub wavelaunch error for the centrally seated listener. It sounds very good.

[Sam Lord]

What you want to hear is not necessarily what you should​ hear.

Guidof, if you are only repeating something useful, that the Lewis should use stands, that is generally true, you want to bring the speakers out into the room as iago suggested. But the heavy glass platform should work well. Glass in nearly every case will be far better than metal or wood or MDF.

 

Lewis, how heavy are your speakers and how heavy is the cabinet? Do your speakers have ports in the back? If there are ports then you really should get them out enough for the ports to breathe. However that actually becomes an opportunity, because you can place very absorptive material like thick wool or sandbags behind the ports to break up the wall reflections from the ports.

 

Finally a really cool option in case the speakers actually would be flanked by books: put the speaker baffles flush with the books. Bingo, instant near-infinite baffle with front diffraction problems solved.

 

Since you asked, my system is in my signature below (I usually hide it, it's a waist of scrolling space for most readers), the speakers are an unusual monitor and 2x sub combination (one sub per main spkr) on massive stands with essentially perfect time coherence: <2mm tweeter-to-woofer error, <5mm woofer-to-sub wavelaunch error for a sensibly located listener that sounds very good.

 

Cheers, Sam

[AudioDoctor]

Why would you need to put a book shelf on another shelf? I don't get it...

 

;-)

[AudioDoctor]

 

 

I built these shelves with 1/4 inch glass and cantilevered the shelves out from the back on 1" square steel tubes. The amp and the CD on the middle shelf have a combined weight of 45 pounds, the DAC and the power supply weigh about 30 pounds. Glass is very strong if it is supported adequately.

 

Is that a Magnum Dynalab integrated?

[PopPop]

Yes, MD208 that I bought from Hi Fi Sound about 5 years ago. It's sitting in a box at the moment because I replaced it with Primluna Dialogue amp that I think suits the Maggies better. I really like the MD tuner section and I'm torn between selling or just finding another place for it in my home.

[AudioDoctor]

Yes, MD208 that I bought from Hi Fi Sound about 5 years ago. It's sitting in a box at the moment because I replaced it with Primluna Dialogue amp that I think suits the Maggies better. I really like the MD tuner section and I'm torn between selling or just finding another place for it in my home.

 

I have never seen one out in the wild. What do you think of the sound quality?

[crisnee]

Lewis, how concerned are you with the sound quality of your system? If not too concerned then it doesn't really matter much how you place the speakers on the shelves. But if it is a major concern then you're thinking about it all wrong.

 

Where and how you place the speakers in your room is probably the most important thing you can do re SQ (sound quality) once you have a minimally decent system. Whole books have been written on how to set up speakers in rooms so they sound the best they can.

 

Chris