Klipsch Quintet Speaker Stands

Intro: Klipsch Quintet Speaker Stands

The Klipsch Quintet 5.0 Home Theater Speakers are great sounding speakers in a small package. However, due to their mounting design, it is difficult to find a speaker stand that will work well with them. The closest model sells for about $50 per speaker. If you want all 4 speakers on stands that adds up quickly. 



Since these speakers are small they would look great with the super slim metal speaker stands. Monoprice has some available as low as $6 per stand! Now that sounds like a good price! I'm going to show you how I modified both the speaker and the speaker stands to use a standard 1/4-20 threaded mount so they would work together. 

Don't worry! everything is reversible if you ever want to use the original pedestals again or if you want to use a different 1/4-20 speaker stand.

Materials
Klipsch Quintet 5.0 speaker system
Monoprice speaker stands (pair) x2
JB weld
Epoxy
Painters tape

Total cost of 4x DIY speaker stands: $40

STEP 1: Take Off the Pedestal

This is is the easy part. Grab a set of alen wrenches and unscrew the three screws surrounding the pedistal ball joint on the rear bottom of the speaker. Lossen each of the screws then gradually unscrew them as it may be hard to reach each screw.

When separated you will be left with the speaker and the separate pedestal base. Make sure not to lose the screws or the rubber plug in the bottom of the speaker. 

Repeat this for all 4 speakers.

STEP 2: Remove the Pedestal Bottom

Take a phillips head screwdriver and remove the metal plate from the bottom the pedestal. This will expose the adjustment screw and the bolt that holds the ball joint.

STEP 3: Remove the Speaker Ball Joint

Take an alen wrench and back out the screw holding the chrome speaker ball joint to the plastic pedestal. Back it out just enough to clear the top of the pedestal and not so far that it comes out. Grab a hammer and tap it out. If that doesn't work, brace the pedestal and try again.

Once it pops free of the glue holding it in place unscrew the bolt and remove the chrome ball joint.

STEP 4: Prepare the Ball Joints

Once you have all 4 chrome ball joint pieces test fit them with your speaker stand using a 1/4-20 bolt. Find one that is long enough to support the speaker in the stand but does not block the speaker wire hole a few inches down from the top of the stand. The fit should be as tight as possible. Use a stainless steel bolt if possible to make the stands last longer and less likely to bind. 

STEP 5: Glue the Bolts in Place

Mix up a small amount of JB weld for one bolt at a time. Dip the head of the bolt into the mixed JB weld and insert it into the top shaft of the speaker stand. Take care not to drip the JB weld or get any on the upper area of the threads of the bolt. The chrome ball joint is threaded onto the bolt at this point only to help align it correctly and should ultimately be removable. 

Once you have aligned and glued a bolt in place, use tape to support the joint. Let these dry in a safe place where they wont be disturbed. JB weld should be left for about 24 hours for the best results. 

STEP 6: Finish Gluing

Once the JB weld has dried you should be able to easily unscrew the chrome ball joint from the top of the speaker stand. The bolt should remain glued and centered in the speaker stand tube. 

Take a piece of tape and mask off the top of the exposed bolt flush with the top of the speaker stand tube. This will prevent epoxy from getting into the threads that will be used later. 

Mix up more JB weld or any epoxy at this point. I would recommend anything thats NOT quick setting. I placed all of my stands in a bucket to make it easer to work on them. The bolt should be plenty strong enough to support these small speakers. However, we want to fill up the dead space in the speaker stands between the bolt threads and the inside of the metal tubing so that the bolt stays in place. 

It is a little difficult to get the epoxy between the bolt and metal tubing as the gap is very small. I tried a variety of methods. You may have the best luck with epoxy that has a mixing tube built in and can apply it directly into the gap. 

Its OK to get epoxy on the masking tape. Once you have finished simply peel off the masking tape while the epoxy is still wet and it will leave a nice clean edge.

STEP 7: Attach Ball Joints

Once your epoxy has fully cured you can screw on the chrome ball joints to the speaker stands. They should meet flush with the top of the stands and tighten down securely. 

Take some black heat shrink tubing and slide it over the speaker stand tubing and past the speaker wire opening until it covers the gap between the speaker stand and ball joint. Use a heat gun, hair drier, or lighter to shrink the tubing evenly around the joint. You should now have 4 good looking speaker stand tubes with ball joints attached.

STEP 8: Assemble and Finish

Now its time to put everything together. 

First slide one of the triangle braces you removed from the speakers earlier onto the bottom of the speaker stand tube until it reaches the ball joint. Do not attach the speaker yet.

Next, assemble all 4 speaker stands and tighten everything down. This is fairly strait forward, their is a base and another tube.

Finally, use the 3 screws to attach the triangular bracket to the rear of the speaker with an alen wrench. Adjust the tension of the 3 screws to lock the speaker in place. The triangular positioning of the screws and ball joint work together to adjust the angle of the speaker. It is only necessary to balance the speaker so it does not tip over at this point. Later you can slightly loosen the bolts and position the speaker when you are setting up your home theater.

STEP 9: Try Them Out!

Pull speaker wire through the opening at the top of the speaker stand hole and wire up your home theater. You can adjust the height and angle of the speakers now. 

Put on your favorite movie and enjoy your new sleek speaker stands supporting your Klipsch Quintet speakers!

(Bonus points for naming the movie shown...)

Comments

[JasonC35]

This step didn't work for me. As I tried to free the bolt from the chrome speaker ball, I had to apply a great deal of force. It wasn't backing out. After applying a great deal of force, something broke free - the glue holding the shaft of the chrome ball. I'm still unable to free the bolt from the shaft. I suspect that between your edition and my edition, Klipsch has glued the bolt into the shaft. And, because the shaft and ball are round, there's nothing against which I can get enough leverage to free the bolt from the shaft. I've gripped the shaft with a crescent wrench, but the bolt will not break free.

[SaraG136]

Same here. Really bummed. I ordered the stands and then went to work on the dismantling (series iii). I've tried two so far and can't budge that ball shaft bolt and even stripped one in the process. The other one did break the shaft free (effectively ruining it for it's original purpose), but the bolt won't budge.

[pcmofo]

Sorry to hear that. Mine was a battle but it came out. Many times the amount of thread lock is random based on who assembled it.

[JC22]

Great project, I think I am going to go for it. I do have a couple questions though.

Is this the set you bought? : http://www.monoprice.com/products/product.asp?c_id=108&cp_id=10828&cs_id=1082819&p_id=3022&seq=1&format=4#feedback

Are they sturdy on your hardwood floor? the main complaint I see about these types of stands is that they aren't sturdy and fall over easily.

Thanks for the great instructable!

[pcmofo]

They use some kind of glue or lock tight on the threads of the bolt thats holding the ball stud in place. I used a standard alen wrench to unscrew it. The plastic foot stand should hold the ball stud in place while you turn. If you do not have enough leverage try sliding a small pipe or socket/screwdriver over the alen wrench to give you more leverage. I think I had one that was stuck more than the others and I clamped it in my vice. The rest came out with no issues. See if the others are stuck too.

[jayee]

How were you able to remove the allen screw/bolt for the ball stud on the stand? I just tried removing mine but failing in the process as well as stripping the bolt along with it.

Btw.. the movie is The Matrix. Part 1

[Syphur]

Love it, I've been looking for stands for my Klipsch speakers for a while now, didn't think of going down this path.

BTW my TV is 65" WITH silly 3D and I love it.