Need advice for wood selection for speaker stands (plan linked)

[Mears]

I'm making these very simple speaker stands for my apartment:

me just start out by saying that I am quite new to woodwoorking. I am deviating from the illustrated plan slightly since my speakers aren't the same dimensions, and I am raising the height of the stand to ear level (from a sitting position). That being said, I'm trying to figure out what type of material I should use for the base to keep the stands from being wobbly. I am using pine for the upright pieces and for the top. To stay consistent, I thought I might be able to find some 1" pine that's wide enough at Home Depot, but either I didn't look hard enough or it wasn't there. The 3/4" didn't really feel heavy enough, so I'm wondering if the extra 1/4" would even help in that respect.

I'm starting to wonder if maybe I should go with a fiberboard. I'm going to paint everything black, but I was also thinking about edging the top and bottom pieces with a router and I'm not sure if that's possible with fiberboards.

[Edwin Pawlowski]

Thickness won't make any difference. If you go higher, make the base a little larger to compensate for the sway of the longer "pendulum". If you make it wide enough, even 1/4" will be heavy enough. With the added height, a 12 x 12 base is not out of the question, for stability.

MDF routs easily and smoothly. It paints up nicely too, but you'll need to seal the edge as it will be absorbed there more than the flat surfaces.

[The3rd Earl Of Derby]

My $750 speakers would look out of place on that type of stand.

[Mears]

[The3rd Earl Of Derby]

If I get time tomorrow I'll take a pic of them.

I don't know what watts? your speakers are,and whether you have the decibels right up at times but the base on them stands are going to vibrate on the floor. You need something with a heavy base and lined on the bottom with felt.

[Edwin Pawlowski]

Yes, but your dick is half the size of his.

[leonard]

use MDF, make sure the speakers are not your main bass drivers at the height your thinking of.

Len

[The3rd Earl Of Derby]

Well if this is anything to go by...

I had a bet with a bloke that mine was bigger than his. He said prove it,so I took him to a bridge over a motorway(freeway) and asked him to dangle his tool over the side,he did and it went half way over. I took mine out an flung it over the side and started hopping up and down. He asked why I was hopping up and down? I replied.... I'm dodging the traffic. :-P

[The3rd Earl Of Derby]

If you do construct this type of stand use Formica/Laminate kitchen worktop as the base with round rubber doorstops cut in half as the feet.

The Formica/Laminate base can look good in black speckled or black marble effect.

[Paul Franklin]

MDF works well for this because it is dense and paints well. You can use two layers glued together for the bottom to get 1 1/2 inches and add weight.

Consider replacing the separate uprights with a square column that you fill with dry sand to add lots of weight. On my stands, I used pieces of six inch PVC drain pipe for the uprights and filled them with sand.

Consider using speaker spikes on the base, especially if you have carpeting:

(Lots of good speaker stuff at the site above)

Good luck!

Paul