How To: Make your own Granite Plinths

[Aerial Man]

Just set up the system in a new room, and with kids around I thought it would be wise to kiddie proof my Tannoys as much as possible. I am sure that I was not the only one wondering how to make their speakers more stable and/or more appropriately suited to a wooden floor, so I did it and have decided to write a how to.

I have the Tannoy Revolution Signature series speakers and so they were pretty unstable especially using spikes on a smooth floor surface, so I needed to find a solution.

Found these in Wilko's for around £2.50 per piece. Granite trivets are the perfect size for the front DC4t's and will probably suit other models just aswell.


Next I made a template from a piece of paper and a crayon to mark the positioning of the floor spike threads.


Then I lay the template ontop of the Granite Trivets, and using the missus nail polish I mark the Trivets for hole cutting.

 

[Aerial Man]

I buy 3x 8mm diamond hole saws from eBay £5 delivered


Set up the bench drill (on the slowest speed setting) with a chip pan and water deep enough to submerge the drilling surface for cooling and lubrication.






Once they are all ready, I take off the old foam pads and replace them with felt pads.

 

[JonnehG]

But... you've defeated the purpose of actually using the granite plinths? The spikes are still going to go straight through and touch the floor, rendering the plinths useless as an isolation device?

 

[Big_Si_Owen]

I just put the spikes onto 4 x 1p coins to stop them damaging the wooden floor... Cheapest bit of AV I've ever owned!

 

[Aerial Man]

Once all holes were cut through the Granite , I set about bolting them to my speakers utilizing the threads normally used for floor spikes.






I bought new bolts from B&Q and used Grolsch bottle seals as washers inbetween the speaker bottoms and plinths.




And here is the finished articles, much more sturdy than before and look good too.




Also found a good mounting solution for the rears, they are tricky speakers to find mounts for but the Btech Aviball mounts are perfect for this job.

 

[Aerial Man]

I just put the spikes onto 4 x 1p coins to stop them damaging the wooden floor... Cheapest bit of AV I've ever owned!

Doesn't stop them being knocked over though

 

[Aerial Man]

Does nobody want to make this a sticky ?

 

[Gixer1970]

I think they look great, I have 3 kids and one of my Kefs has taken a tumble already. Does that extra bit of weight make all the difference ?

so when does your order book open !

 

[Aerial Man]

I think they look great, I have 3 kids and one of my Kefs has taken a tumble already. Does that extra bit of weight make all the difference ?

so when does your order book open !

LOL, yeah it does make all the difference especially with the Tannoys because of the shape (abit robin reliant esque).

Improves the sound aswell

 

[bob1]

looks like just the thing i need ,what size and weight are the Granite trivets?
I was going to use some steel plate sprayed black but they look much better.

 

[Aerial Man]

The trivets are 7,3/4" and weigh about a kilo each. If you want more weight you can always make more plinths and stack them with rubber washers inbetween and longer bolts.

I think 3 trivets per front speaker would pretty much lock them to the floor and be even better for sound, but the 1 each for me seems to be enough and has the desired effect.

If you have bigger speakers you could also buy the granite chopping board and then cut that down to the required size.

 

[bob1]

Thanks for the info ,i popped in to wilko's while out this morning so i,ve seen them in the flesh ,yes the chopping board would be more like it as i need a 30cm square.

 

[Aerial Man]

Thanks for the info ,i popped in to wilko's while out this morning so i,ve seen them in the flesh ,yes the chopping board would be more like it as i need a 30cm square.

You may need somthing like this for cutting to size
Bright Ideas Professional Diamond HackSaw Blade - 12"

Failing that, I bet your local Stonemason is better equiped and could cut Granite to size pretty quick.

 

[gbjbaanb]

I just put the spikes onto 4 x 1p coins to stop them damaging the wooden floor... Cheapest bit of AV I've ever owned!

I use £2 coins, the sound quality is *so* much better than pennies.