Stands for Surround System Speakers

I recently acquired a 5.1 home theater system that a colleague was throwing away. After buying a chinese AC3 DAC that didn’t work, getting a refund, reflowing the PCB, and celebrating my new free DAC, I got the system up and working. However, I didn’t have a proper place to position the speakers. I didn’t want to hang nails on the wall behind the TV, and even so, behind the sofa there’s not a concrete wall but an open space to the kitchen, so half the problem would remain. So, what could I do to achieve a simple and cheap solution?

The Answer

The solution I came up with was to build 4 stands (the 5th speaker, the front-center, lies on a space below the TV) out of metal rods welded together.

I bought four 1m square extrusions to place vertically, plus other two to be cut in pieces and weld horizontally at the base, with the help of angled magnets to form a perfect 90 degree angle.

I’m no expert welder, so the joints came out a bit ugly. But hey, the stay firmly in place nonetheless.

Next, I painted the stands with water based paint, which is cheap and easy on the environmnet (and on the nose).

While I waited for the paint to dry, I 3D printed some caps for the top hole of the vertical bar and for the ends of the bottom legs, so they wouldn’t scratch the floor.

Lastly, I tapped an M3 hole near the top to hold a screw for the speaker eyelet to hang onto. Below that, I drilled an 8mm hole to insert the cable and make it run to the bottom hidden inside the vertical bar.

Finished stands:

Overall, I’m pretty satisfied with the minimalistic yet elegant look they give.