Gentle reader,
I am excited to see that the page views for my humble blog is rapidly approaching 75,000! It truly does humble me that so many folks take the time to look at and read my blogs. I greatly enjoy reading your comments as well. Lets me know that my efforts are well received and worth my time.
First, I took on the task of going through each and every one of my LP records. All 2000+. I examined each one and carefully listed: Label, composer, piece(s), year made/recorded, number of discs and disc condition. I realized that I have ENOUGH music! As a result of this decision, I swore off stalking thrift stores. "What? But that is where you get most of the cool stuff you write about!" True that, but I was also spending a lot of time and money doing so. And, as I said, I have enough music. And other things too. Time to enjoy them!
That being said, I had put my greatly improved Minimus 11 speakers on ebay because, I have ENOUGH speakers. Much interest, but no one was biting. I'd moved them in here, placed them atop the oak speakers with Blu-Tak to hold them in place and as I listened to them, I realized just how wonderful they sounded and withdrew them from ebay.
Well, they made the number of speakers in this room to three pairs: Bose 301s up near the ceiling on those TV wall mounts that I told you about, the aforementioned oak speakers, also told you about them. So, I decided that I would look for some sturdy stands for the M-11s. I stopped at the local Goodwill store after work yesterday. It had been a LONG time since I was there last. Went right to the back and started looking at all the electronics. They had a nice Speakercraft woofer, which I thought about and did not listen too. Then I saw they had a couple of nice A/V receivers: Pioneer and Kenwood. The latter is newer, heavier and has digital inputs. Nonetheless, I auditioned both and chose the Kenwood seen here. More on that in a later post:
I like the aluminum face plate, nice to see makers going back to that. It might be "the new black". Also, it is very simple. Not even a folding down cover. Turns out it uses a two-way remote unlike any I have ever seen. Expensive, those remotes are! Amazon to the rescue, they had exactly one for $40.00 so I snatched it up. Again, more on this in a later post. Just wanted to show you it.
To my delight, they had a number of metal speaker stands and I bought two of the four ATLANTIC brand ones that they had: $3.99 a piece! Can't beat that! Here is the completed speaker mounted to the stand:
The bases are cast iron, more like commercial speaker stands are made of than consumer one. A little beat up, but for the price.....
I used a combination square to find center on the bottom and after removing the top plate (below) from one stand, marked the hole locations, selected appropriate screws, drilled the holes and tapped the threads........ The Minimus 11 cabinets are die-cast aluminum and one would think drilling into them would be easy. Well, easier that steel, yes, but the alloy is quite strong and heavy to prevent ringing or other unwanted sounds to interfere with the music.
Below is the height-adjustable shaft with the top plate removed.
Below is said plate reinstalled upon the shaft. No snickering, please.
And below is the assembly securely mounted to the bottom of one of the speakers. I chose hex-head screws for ease of installation and maximum torque.
Above is the completed pair. I chose 52" high as the ideal height to fully receive all the music as it attempts to get to me around the monitor and the racing simulator's monitor and other stuff I may have piled on the little table next to this desk that I use for Internet photos.
The left one in the place occupied for so long by the oak speakers. Please ignore the condition of the carpet.
Above is the right channel speaker. Yes, that is a real rifle. a 22LR lever action AKA "Cowboy" rifle. Sadly, it is missing necessary parts inside to make it work. Something my "Pistol-packin' mama" wife intends to correct someday.
Now, as you may not recall the oak speakers, here they are, freed from their former locations. I will be offering them on ebay shortly. My ebay ID is: rfcollectin, if you are interested. Local pick up only! WAY too big and heavy to try and ship.
Thanks for looking!
Scott
Well, they made the number of speakers in this room to three pairs: Bose 301s up near the ceiling on those TV wall mounts that I told you about, the aforementioned oak speakers, also told you about them. So, I decided that I would look for some sturdy stands for the M-11s. I stopped at the local Goodwill store after work yesterday. It had been a LONG time since I was there last. Went right to the back and started looking at all the electronics. They had a nice Speakercraft woofer, which I thought about and did not listen too. Then I saw they had a couple of nice A/V receivers: Pioneer and Kenwood. The latter is newer, heavier and has digital inputs. Nonetheless, I auditioned both and chose the Kenwood seen here. More on that in a later post:
To my delight, they had a number of metal speaker stands and I bought two of the four ATLANTIC brand ones that they had: $3.99 a piece! Can't beat that! Here is the completed speaker mounted to the stand:
Now, as you may not recall the oak speakers, here they are, freed from their former locations. I will be offering them on ebay shortly. My ebay ID is: rfcollectin, if you are interested. Local pick up only! WAY too big and heavy to try and ship.
Scott
