Substantial Speakers: Casters/wheels instead of feet.

[Send Margaritas]

I'm a glutton for punishment. Open mind though.

Bought a copy of Speaker Building 201 (Ray Alden). He is a sadist. Beer inspired woodworking project approaching finishing and assembly.

Listening room is carpet. 120 lbs. speakers.

I've never seen it for home audio/AVR: Casters, like on a desk chair, instead of feet. Would it impact the sound? Is it essentially making a plywood wing screwed on the back of a Lexus?

 

[highfigh]

I'm a glutton for punishment. Open mind though.

Bought a copy of Speaker Building 201 (Ray Alden). He is a sadist. Beer inspired woodworking project approaching finishing and assembly.

Listening room is carpet. 120 lbs. speakers.

I've never seen it for home audio/AVR: Casters, like on a desk chair, instead of feet. Would it impact the sound? Is it essentially making a plywood wing screwed on the back of a Lexus?

Casters have been used for decades, but are a better way to move them than as something to stand on.

What's the goal- moving, isolation, preventing dents in the carpet? Casters certainly won't do the latter.

 

[Send Margaritas]

I was hoping to make moving the speakers easier, with all the benefits of feet/spikes.

I did the same old boring thing and installed feet, fearing the casters might resonate and rattle.

Thanks highfigh for your time.

 

[Alex2507]

Casters, like on a desk chair, instead of feet.

I know TLSGuy has them on a pair of speakers he built.

I did the same old boring thing and installed feet

Pic's, right? It might tip the scales and make this an audio forum again.

 

[Send Margaritas]

They're still in progress Alex2507, but here they are so far, in the middle of the mess creating them. Old School 3-ways...

9.2 Cubic feet Enclosure
- 7.4 feet is vented, tuned to 24 Hz (calculated)
- Two 10"x10"x10" separate internal enclosures for the Mids are sealed

(1) 15" Woofer 32.9 FS 92.3 SPL 8 Ohm 275/550 (RMS/Max)
(2) 8" Paper cone Mids (in series) 95 SPL 4 Ohm 130/260 (RMS/Max)
(1) PT2C-8 Planar Tweeter 94 SPL 8 Ohm 80 RMS

Crossover is 500/3500. Mids and Tweeters attenuated 3db each

This is a learning project to me. Cabinet is Birch Plywood. To be sanded, transtint dye/Wipe On poly finished. Internal area for woofers is lined with acoustic foam. Mid boxes are each lined with foam and will have polyfill too.

 

[Eppie]

For moving heavy objects, Teflon pads can do the job (look for Teflon furniture glides or slider pads). If considering casters, use locking casters that can be locked down so they don't roll. Locking casters should not rattle.

 

[Verdinut]

I have been using ball casters on my three front 8 cf speaker enclosure for years. They are reliable and they definitely won't rattle taking into account the weight of the cabinets.

 

[Swerd]

… Listening room is carpet. 120 lbs. speakers.

I've never seen it for home audio/AVR: Casters, like on a desk chair, instead of feet. Would it impact the sound? Is it essentially making a plywood wing screwed on the back of a Lexus?

Those speakers are 120 lbs, each? At that weight, they would never move at all, even without any feet. Instead of spiked feet, you should consider an audiophile-grade forklift instead of casters to move those speakers .

I would use casters and stop worrying about audible differences between them and spiked feet. I doubt if you are anyone else would hear a difference.

I like the idea of heavy duty 2" ball casters. Locking might not matter with 120 lb. cabinets. Here are two examples, one with a flat mounting plate, and the other with a pole & sleeve mount. Amazon has many more to choose from.

 

[highfigh]

I was hoping to make moving the speakers easier, with all the benefits of feet/spikes.

I did the same old boring thing and installed feet, fearing the casters might resonate and rattle.

Thanks highfigh for your time.

I doubt they'll resonate with 120 pound speakers on them. Casters aren't expensive, although they can be- depends on materials, design, etc.

The one thing I don't like about casters- if the speaker is a narrow tower, it moves the center of gravity/mass higher and they become easy to tip over unless they're outside of the cabinet's 'footprint'. Some speakers have a wider base/plinth or what amounts to 'outriggers' for the spikes and those help to prevent tipping. If the casters are attached to the cabinet without some way to move them outward, they're automatically inside of the footprint, which makes tipping easier than if the speakers didn't have them and if the casters can swivel, the difference can be measured in inches, especially when the diameter of the wheels is larger and the radius of the rotation is large.

 

[Alex2507]

I did the same old boring thing and installed feet

I looked at 'em. Nice job. The feet look hand truck friendly. I wonder what that would weigh in at if it was presswood. Like three back operations?

 

[Send Margaritas]

 

[TLS Guy]

View attachment 70355

Speakers like that need a moving crew.

Removing the drivers saves weight, I had to move them in and move them five years ago to a new residence. Weight with drivers is 350 lb.

Casters will not affect the sound, but even is you do put casters on those you will not easily move them.

 

[head_unit]

Seeing this old thread, did anyone consider LOCKING casters? I had some I was going to put on Wharfedales then life intervened. The idea of the casters was so when nobody was home I could move the L/R farther apart into what would be the traffic pattern if people were home. And also because Wharfedale had a totally STUPID system, spikes but then instead of rounded thread-in substitute feet they had metal pucks for the spikes to go onto, except if you tried to move the speakers the spikes would pop out of there and scratch the floor if you were unaware. D'oh!

 

[Verdinut]

Seeing this old thread, did anyone consider LOCKING casters? I had some I was going to put on Wharfedales then life intervened. The idea of the casters was so when nobody was home I could move the L/R farther apart into what would be the traffic pattern if people were home. And also because Wharfedale had a totally STUPID system, spikes but then instead of rounded thread-in substitute feet they had metal pucks for the spikes to go onto, except if you tried to move the speakers the spikes would pop out of there and scratch the floor if you were unaware. D'oh!

Locking casters what for? Unless your floor is off level, there is no need for locking casters! Locking casters are irrelevant when it comes to isolate a speaker cabinet from a floor.

 

[Eppie]

Seeing this old thread, did anyone consider LOCKING casters? I had some I was going to put on Wharfedales then life intervened. The idea of the casters was so when nobody was home I could move the L/R farther apart into what would be the traffic pattern if people were home. And also because Wharfedale had a totally STUPID system, spikes but then instead of rounded thread-in substitute feet they had metal pucks for the spikes to go onto, except if you tried to move the speakers the spikes would pop out of there and scratch the floor if you were unaware. D'oh!

See post #6 above.

 

[highfigh]

Locking casters what for? Unless your floor is off level, there is no need for locking casters! Locking casters are irrelevant when it comes to isolate a speaker cabinet from a floor.

Kids, dogs.....