Rotating Hi-Fi stand

[ReggieB]

I think the next change to my hi-fi will be to get a new stand. Two reasons - firstly I need another shelf (6 rather than 5), and second more importantly, I am sick and tired of struggling to get around the back of my kit to change cables or install new items. So how best to achieve the second aim:

I've been wondering about mounting the stand on a Lazy Susan bearing (https://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_nkw=lazy+susan+bearing). There are a lot of options for bearings, and the loads some will take seem to be appropriate, and I've even wondered about using a concentric pair. One of the advantages of the Lazy Susan option is that I think it would be fairly easy to have some sort of lock mechanism, that adds rigidity when not rotating.

https://i.ebayimg.com/thumbs/images/m/mfDhHCAfvIoU0dwfC86EzWQ/s-l225.jpg (https://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_nkw=lazy+susan+bearing)

However, more recently I've notices a number of hi-fi rack suppliers offer castors as an option (https://www.hifix.co.uk/hi-fi-racks-heavy-duty-castors-pack-of-4), and I notice that FrostEOne's Stereo Stand plans include castors (https://theartofsound.net/forum/showthread.php?60352-DIY-Stereo-Stand). The more I think about it, the more practical castors seem to be.

http://www.analogueseduction.net/user/products/large/E-2280.jpg

So the big question has to be: Does mounting the hi-fi on castors compromise the sound, and if so by how much? If not a lot, I think I'd prefer the practicality over the absolute sound.

Conversely could castors actually decouple the stand from the floor and improve sound?

Lastly a 6 shelf stand is quite tall - will it become unwieldy on castors?

[struth]

i fitted castors to both my racks(when i used them) and i never noticed any sonic difference to the spikes.. just unscrewe the m8 spikes and bought m8 castors online

[ReggieB]

After a little consideration I went for the castor option, as Grant recommended. I ordered some from ebay (https://ebay.us/hZ5phj), and have finally found a little time to fit them. To be honest I wasn't looking forward to stripping the whole system down and then rebuilding, but it didn't take too long. I was a little nervous that in usual style I'd have brought castors with the wrong sized threads, but in fact they fitted perfectly.

https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/375x500q90/923/beACf9.jpg

As soon as I started putting the system back together everything was just so much easier now that I had plenty of space to work in.

https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/375x500q90/922/e6IziA.jpg

If I'm honest, the end result is still a bloody mess (I'm not a great cabler), but at least it is now a much more manageable mess.

https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/375x500q90/924/tnwVEf.jpg

And only a few leads left over - or perhaps salvaged would be a better description, where I've disconnected stuff in the past and haven't been able to disentangle the leads.

https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/667x500q90/921/EyJigp.jpg

[Leeken]

Looks like one of the pictures of telephone wires in India!

[Sherwood]

Surely this is the "before" rather than the "after" photo! :scratch:

[ReggieB]

If only.

[Macca]

Looks like one of the pictures of telephone wires in India!

https://i.imgur.com/K3JVJTC.jpg

[ReggieB]

This is what I aspire to .... proper wiring.

https://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2015/08/04/15/2B1636C800000578-3185040-image-a-6_1438699426875.jpg

[struth]

I redid mine when i changed to the new unit; its now worse than ever... its pointless worrying about it, its just jammed down out of sight.:eyebrows: mostly

[ReggieB]

To be honest, decent Hi-Fi cables don't bend that well. Particularly mains cables. Well that my excuse anyway.

When I was an technical apprentice in the early 80s I remember being taught to lace wiring looms. I remember it being a particularly satisfying thing to do.

http://www.mostlyaudio.com/_images/lacing/Picture_01.jpg