SANUS SYSTEMS BF-24B Wood Speaker Stands
by Sanus
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List Price: Our Price: $44.99 You Save: $5.00 (10%) Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours Category: Home Theater See more product details |
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Customers in the UK,
Buy this product at amazon.co.uk
for British Pounds
Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of SANUS SYSTEMS BF-24B Wood Speaker Stands
Customer Review: Good looking but disfunctional
Summary: 2 Stars
Briefly:
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I ordered these stands to hold a pair of satellite speakers on a 7.1 setup and I am currently using them but the few design flaws have created major problems and, while I am using them now, I would not order them today, knowing what I know now.
But, here it is, what I hope is an objective review.
Packaging:
They were delivered in a nice box. All parts were packed tight and secure with all wooden panels well protected against scratches.
Assembly:
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It shouldn't take longer than 30 minutes. It basically consists on attaching the 2 pillars to the base and then adding the top to the assembly. It's 8 screws per stand. A Phillips screwdriver is needed.
I was impressed how everything fit perfectly. There were no chips, cracks or scratches.
Looks:
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These are surprisingly good-looking if black finish is what you need. To the extent that you can avoid chipping on scratching them, they don't look 'cheap' at all.
The bottom place allows for the speaker wire to come from underneath but there's no groove so, if you are placing the stand on a hard floor, it would destabilize it but carpets should be okay. Plastic wire covers will hide the wires if anyone would ever look 'behind' the speaker.
Design Flaws:
* BASE*
There is no way you can hide the wire by running it under the base because there is no groove carved in the base for that purpose. If the stand sits on a flat, hard surface such as a wood floor running a wire underneath would destabilize the stand. If the stand sits on a carpet you MIGHT be able to squeeze a thin wire under, if you are using the provided spikes.
* WIRE PATH *
Assuming that you found a way to run the wire under the base, you will find that it's impossible to pass it through the speaker platform hole, unless it's a very thin wire. It was impossible to run a 16 gauge speaker wire through that hole.
* SPEAKER PLATFORM *
If you wire was thin enough to pass through the wall, you will have to deal with the hole being in the center of the platform. The only way you can have the wire going through that hole without destabilizing the speaker is by placing the speaker on its back, facing the ceiling or, if the speakers are small enough, place them on the front half of the platform, possibly destabilizing the stand.
I am currently using these stands in the same way I'd be using a stool to hold the speakers. The wire does not go underneath the base and it does not pass through the holes in the base or the speaker platform. There are no mounting options but I manage to keep the speaker in place with a little Velcro - it works.
Overall:
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Even though the packaging is tight, the assembly is easy and the materials appear to be of good quality I would not order stands of this design again for the reasons I stated above. Therefore, a 2-star rating is warranted because in Amazon's rating system 3 stars mean 'I like it' and I don't.
Customer Review: Great littlr stands
Summary: 4 Stars
I bought these stands to replace the cinder blocks I had been using because I wanted stands a little taller than a block-and-a-half, plus I thought they'd look a little less industrial.
I've read all the reviews of these stands, so I'll try to address some issues other folks have had and offer suggestions.
Assembly:
I had no trouble putting these stands together--no splitting of wood--everything went together like it was supposed to.
But, I'd suggest getting both screws started first, then tightening each equally (like tightening lug nuts on your car). I'd say using a power driver would be a no-no--a screw driver was all I needed.
Stability:
I was a little worried these might be a little tipsy, since my Hsu HB-1 Mk II speakers only weigh 12 pounds. I had planned on using 2 paving bricks wrapped in fabric to weight down each stand to provide more mass, but after a couple of days of the plastic spikes "settling in" to the carpet, this wasn't necessary.
I'd suggest not using the little rubber feet on the top plate, but instead 4 small squares of Handi-Tak (2 or 3 bucks at Wal-Mart or Staples)for better isolation, plus this stuff really holds your speaker to the stand.
Cable management:
A total joke if you're trying to use the itty-bitty holes drilled into the top and bottom plate. Since I use 12-gauge cable, this definitely wasn't an option. But since the plastic strip in back doesn't fit tight up-and-down, it leaves enough room to route your cables under the gap at the bottom and out over the gap at the top of the strip--then just snap in the strip and you're done.
I also was not overly impressed with the 17-language instruction manual, but since there are only 5 pieces in each stand to assemble, this wasn't a major issue.
Overall, I'm very satisfied with these stands
No, they're not made of real wood. Yes, they're somewhat light-weight, but for the price, I would recommend these stands.
Customer Review: A good value at Amazon's price. Here's how to avoid splitting the wood when assembling.
Summary: 4 Stars
I purchased and assembled two pairs of these stands. If what you need is a basic black stand at a low cost, I think these are hard to beat. I knew it was best to have all your speakers at the same height, but was still surprised at how big an improvement in sound it made getting my front and rear speakers to the same height as the center channel.
As others have noted, it is quite easy to split the wood pillars when driving the screws to attach them to the base and top of these stands. I split one myself before I realized the trick to prevent it. Before using any tools to drive the screw, insert it through the holes in the top or base. Then carefully align and hand thread / start the screw into its pre-drilled hole in the pillar. This can take a little patience as it is difficult to see and you must sometimes slide the pillar around the protruding tip of the screw until you feel it lodge into the hole. Once a screw is hand-tightened into the pre-drilled hole, it is safe to use a manual or power screwdriver to tighten it completely.
I attached both pillars to each base first, then to the top. With the top, I found it helpful to loosely attach one pillar and then align the screws to the holes on the second pillar before tightening both sets of screws; with one side completely tightened, it is too difficult to align the screws to the holes in the second pillar. Using this method, I avoided splitting the wood with the remaining 31 screws assembling my total of 4 stands. I suspect that most if not all of the splitting reported has been caused by the screws missing the pre-drilled holes.
To sum up, I think these are a good value. The wood splitting issue is real, but avoidable with patience and care.
Customer Review: Solution to the cracking problem when assembling! I recommend these speaker stands.
Summary: 5 Stars
I read most of the reviews on this set of speaker stands and I almost didn't buy them because of the cracking problem that so many reviewers had when they assembled the stands. I did an exhaustive search for other speaker stands, but I couldn't find anything comparable for anywhere close to the price for the Sanus stands. So I decided to take a chance and buy these.
I'm so glad I did. They work great. They even look decent.
As other reviewers said, the holes in the top plate and the base for the speaker wire are a joke, but I didn't need to use them. It looks just fine anyway.
In order to avoid the cracking problem, I decided to modify the assembly by using a different set of screws. From all the reviews that complained about cracking, it sounded to me like the supplied screws are just too big. So, I just used shorter and thinner screws (just by a little bit). I had no problems whatsoever with the assembly using the smaller screws. Even with the smaller screws, the stand is sturdy and solid. No issues.
Here's the specs on the screws that I used: Textron Drywall Screws, Steel Black Phosphorous, Phillips Bugle Head, Coarse. No. 6 X 1-1/4". Textron #30554.
These screws look just like the screws supplied by Sanus, but as I said, they're just a tad shorter and thinner.
Give it a try!
Update - 12/30/2010
The first pair of stands worked out so well that I bought another pair. I used the smaller screws on these too, and they worked great again. I'm very pleased with these stands.
Customer Review: More than decent for the price
Summary: 4 Stars
Although reviews on this product are pretty mixed, I decided to give them a try thanks to Amazon's great return policy - and I'm glad I did. I purchased the 24" stands and in a nut shell, they look good, are stable and do the job at an affordable price.
Now they're not without design flaws as many have called out here but there are also ways around these flaws.
Design flaw # 1 - Unless you're using the carpet spikes, there's no way you can run cables under the base without destabilizing the stands but this can simply be fixed by running the wires underneath the plastic backing and over the top of it - thankfully the plastic backing is short enough to allow this. I'm using thick 16 gauge wire and had not trouble with this approach.
Design flaw # 2 - Tiny hole at the center of the speaker base - no idea what they were thinking here but how can anyone squeeze a decent cable through this hole? And even if you managed to pull it off, now you're faced with "how do I plug this thing into the speaker now without destabilizing the speaker itself???" Thankfully the fix above addresses this flaw too.
Finally Design flaw #3, the gap in the front is too wide, easily exposing my thick "white" cables. Taping the wires to the back of the stands did the job here.
Seems like a lot of work, but this all didn't take me more than 30 minutes to setup and in the end, I got some nice looking speaker stands, that do the job, at a great price - what more can you ask for?