Mounting Speakers On A Furniture Dolly For Mobility

fuzztone

I'm 73, been messing about for quite a few years. Surprisingly only 3 different spaces including parlor floor of a brownstone with 13 ft ceilings when in college.

My JSE Infinite Slope Model 2's came from the factory with 4 wheels. One wheel might not touch the floor, had to squish in a shim every attempted location, every time moved out of the way ...

After a while, removed wheels, put spikes. no difference except inconvenience and inability to adjust toe-in, push out of the way ....

Gave spikes to my friend, put 3 wheels and rear corner blocks.

Gave JSE's to my son, put 3 similar dual wheel casters on current speakers as noted above.

My friend still has the spikes. You must sit in the middle for imaging. I just encouraged him toe them in more. He did,  better now when off center, but not really.

Mine: X pattern Toe-In for two listeners with a small table in between. Aim left speaker directly at right chair. Right speaker directly at left chair. Creates a wide image, both get a l/c/r spread because you get direct dispersion from far side and more volume from near side, it 'equals' to a very satisfying result. Back to 'normal' toe-in when my chair is centered.

Hello Mitch 41. I put casters on my 15" subwoofer cabinets and Shahanian puts casters on their Obelisk models ($7000/pr ish). Just be sure the casters don't rattle when shaken vigorously. If you can find some with softish wheels, you may solve two problems at once. Happy listening.

I have alway thought about designing a system for this application. It would be an adjustable platform to fit the speaker and have a foot lever to engage the wheels and then when in place the wheels retract and the floor spikes would support the speakers. You could even design them as spring loaded dampening system once in place. always figured we have people paying 100 k for a piece of wire they would surly pay a few thousand for speaker carts.

Yes  use spikes as this will decouple to much and you will loose sound quality and bass detail.

Having had my open baffle speakers on a pair for well over a year, they are excellent for finding best placement in the room, but once that's accomplished, the sooner they are off the dollys, the better. I my case, I didn't have any help, so smashed my big toe, sliding them off

If you listen to a pair of Wilsons on casters (before) and after when they are spiked, the difference is massive and it's not just due to a change in speaker height.

You will probably get less bass higher up and more isolated from the floor which could be good or bad depending. Listen and see. No harm in trying and you will know how it sounds , nobody not actually there can know for sure. Just make sure it’s solid and stable and not at risk to fall and cause damage.

Also having large speakers on castors provides advantage to easily tweak placement for best sound which is always a plus.

Definitely not a good idea. Any good supports made for audio will sound better than those. 

Furniture dollys are on sale right now for $9.99 at Harbor Freight. Heck, the good, solid hardwood ones are only $29.99 each. Buy a couple and try them. You'll never know without trying.

You've got 2 potential issues. Mechanical connection with the floor and additional height. Not sure how you resolve any potential issues with the mechanical connection. However, the added height may be mitigated by a bit of forward lean created by a wooden doorstop wedge inserted below the back center bottom of the speaker. The wedge would allow you to easily try different angles.

As also mentioned furniture sliders work wonders on carpeted floors. 4 of the large round sliders would allow you to move those speakers much more easily and would not add any height.

Good luck! Love the speakers. My current speakers are Infinity RS1.5 from 1980

@elliottbnewcombjr

It looks like you put in the time to get it right.

I'd think that the dollies should affect the sound, as they would move the drivers 3+ inches higher from the floor and therefore affect the blend of drivers at the listening position.  You might check the owner's manual to see what the manufacturer feels is the best height for listening to the speakers (some feel the tweeters should be at ear-height, for example).  I would second the furniture slides--I used them under my Duntechs for years.

if the wheels of that dolly do not wobble, move one to the center of the back, add a pair of anti-tip blocks, make a nice drop on cover, matching wood or painted.

I’ve tried spikes, slip sheets, wheels. Some people believe in springs.

I put 3 wheels on my speakers.

they stay where I leave them, yet move easily enough to adjust toe-in if a friend is listening with me, roll completely out of the way when I need to get behind this or that.

normally forward for best listening, push back some when I need to put 2 leaves, or push back more when I put all 3 leaves in the dining room table for big holidays, parties

Current Speakers:

a. aside from everything else, the axels need to be tight or there will be wobble, no good. I use dual wheel furniture casters with flat top plate, swivel/roll/no wobble. they stay where I leave them, push enough they roll, but no wobble or inadvertent movement.

b. 3 wheels, not 4, for two reasons

1. more weight per wheel than if speaker weight is divided by 4.

2. always stable, no shims needed, no vibration

c. Anti-Tip blocks. two wheels in the front, 1 wheel centered in the back. then add blocks in both rear corners that do not reach the floor, but will hit the floor if/when the speaker tilts just a little.

see 9th photo of my speakers base and innards in my system photos here

in my case, the skirt is close to the floor in the back, preventing tilt. I put a 1-1/2" block above the front wheels to tilt my speakers back some. that aims the tweeter’s up to seated ear height, changes the angles of early wave reflections off floor and ceiling, and approximates ’time-alignment’ of faster traveling high frequencies.

see 1st photo. I have objects on both speakers, the 15" woofers can shake the joint, but there is no vibration, nothing moves on top, and that’s with no special internal bracing. Some of Donna’s favorite things on there. Meaning, the 15" woofers do not make a heavy speaker on wheels move by themselves.

I have 4" rubber casters on each corner of my 200 lb speakers.

• I use furniture movers (plastic disc for carpet, felt for wood) all the time. They work well. Never head any negative effect. I don’t leave them there long term.

+1 on the furniture slides. You can purchase larger ones at Amazon and only use them as needed. Tilt the speaker and slide them under. Take them out when done.

SuperSliders 4724095N Reusable XL Heavy Furniture Movers for Carpet- Quickly and Easily Move Any Item, 9-1/2" x 5-3/4" Brown (4 Pack) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07B87PMKD/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_glt_fabc_DSNZEK9182STWE1E2JXY

what about those disks that you can put under heavy furniture, why  not try those instead ?