If you're of a certain age, you'll immediately recognize this image:
It's from an ad for Maxell cassette tapes that came out in the early 80s, when making mix tapes was the thing to do. There are a couple things to notice about this image. First, it looks like they took the seat cushion off the chair - that guy is sitting much too low. Second, the speaker is the famous and much- sought-after-by-collectors JBL L100. That speaker was designed to sit on the floor, though JBL and others sold stands that would raise them up a few inches and tilt them back to aim the tweeters and midrange sounds at your ears. A lot of speakers of that era (and even some current product) were similar size and designed to sit on the floor, and the first thing a lot of people did was put them on stands.
I recently restored a pair of Quad ESL-63 speakers that were made in the early 80s, and designed to sit on the floor, just like those JBLs. They sound great, but the high frequencies radiate from the center of the speakers, only about 21" off the floor. I made feet for them that tilt the speakers back 5 degrees to try to beam the highs toward my ears but when I'm sitting in a chair (upright, not extreme slouching like the guy in the picture), my ears are about 40" above the floor. I feel like I'm sitting in the balcony at a concert when I listen to the Quads, and I don't like it, especially when I compare them to the B&W 703 S3s that are at or even a little above ear level when I'm seated. My hot girlfriend, who wears hearing aids, pointed out that the Quads sound much better when she sits on the floor. I tried it- she's absolutely right! These speakers need stands!
Quad and another company called Arcici used to sell stands for these speakers, but they are a bit pricey when you can find them, and didn't really lift them very high. I tried setting the speakers on boxes that were about 275 mm (11") high and it was a big improvement, but they were still a little too low, so I decided to design some stands myself. I didn't want to spend too much as I consider them temporary and plan to rebuild the speakers into 989s with two more bass panels per speaker.
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| Quad ESL-63 in factory stands. |
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| ESL-63 in Arcici stand. |
Knowing how these speakers are built, I prefer the factory stands over the Arcici stands. The difference is that if the floor is uneven (like in my condo building) the Arcici stands can put twisting torque on the driver enclosure. The good thing about them is they center the weight of the speakers and make them less likely to get knocked over.My stands are a kind of hybrid of the factory stands and the Arcici stands- I support the speakers from the bottom like the factory stands (but not nearly as prettily), but use long feet and center the weight to make them more stable, like the Arcici stands.
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| CAD render of my t-slot aluminum stand design. I used 1" square t-slot for most of it, with 2 pieces of 1" x 2" t-slot for the verticals. The orange feet and the pieces at the bottom of the speakers are all identical 3D printed TPU parts. |
I used some 1" t-slot material that I picked up at a scrap yard and had sitting in storage for a couple years. I wasn't really sure if it would be rigid enough, but after I bolted the first stand together, I breathed a sigh of relief. It's very sturdy and rigid.
I was able to cut, mill everything square, and drill all the holes in a couple hours at the makerspace. Then I had to tap the holes- ugh! The ends of the verticals (8 holes) and the ends of the cross piece (2 holes) had to be tapped for each stand.I used the following t-slot pieces:
1"x1" t-slot:
2x 190-200 mm (top of the stand, attach to the speaker bottom)
2x >=350 mm (the bottom feet of the stand)
1x 452 mm (the cross piece- must be exactly this length)
1" x 2" t-slot
2x >=250 mm (the vertical pieces- I used 292 mm)
The 3D printed parts at the speaker and on the floor are all the same:
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| 3D printed TPU foot. These attach to the speakers by screwing them to the bottom in place of the feet that come on the speaker. They are also secured to the t-slot using a 1/4"-20 button head cap screw and t-nut. |
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| The foot attaches to the t-slot using a cap screw and t-nut. |
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One of the stands, assembled (but the feet aren't secured yet). The yellow pieces on top will screw to the bottom of the speaker, then they will be secured to the stand using cap screws and t-nuts. Yes, I know, the color is less than ideal, but it's what I had on hand).
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One of the speakers on its stand. It is quite sturdy, and stable despite being lifted about 350 mm (14") off the floor. One benefit of raising them is that my cat is less inclined to use the speakers as a scratching post. I'm sure she'll switch back to scratching the B&Ws! Now if I can keep her from chewing on the power cord...
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| Both speakers on stands. Project finished (until I reprint the feet in a nicer color). I'll use the t-slot to dress the cables a little neater. I'll be rearranging the furniture when a new chair arrives in the next week or so. |
Assembly- invert a speaker, take off the feet and screw down the new TPU feet.
Assemble the rest of the stand, then invert the stand and insert it into the TPU feet on the bottom of the speaker. Secure the stand to the speaker using cap screws and t-nuts. Done!
Update 5/9/25
Some people might prefer to use only 1"x1" t-slot to build the stands. I came up with a slightly modified version that uses two 1x1 pieces to replace each 1x2" vertical. It might even be more rigid than my original design:
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| This version replaces the 1x2 verticals with 1x1 verticals. You still have to tap the same number of holes, but this might be more rigid than the original design. |
The speakers aren't very well designed from a mechanical perspective. The stands are attached to the speaker where the original feet were, screwed into steel speed-nuts that mount on the plastic electronics enclosure of the speaker. The length of the stand provides a lot of leverage against those speed-nuts and the plastic box, so you have to be a little careful when moving the speakers with the stands attached. If you set the speaker down too hard on one leg or the other it's entirely possible that some of the plastic will snap. Be careful!
