Glass on top of Speakers

analoged

New Member
I found nothing with several searches about the pros or cons of putting a piece of 1/4" thick glass on top of my Altec 19 clones.It sure would look sweet with bronze tint glass.
Anybody have some input on doing this?
 
I had glass on mine for years, but the risk of scratching/gouging if they broke (one did, 1/8") vs. 1/4" safety glass (which can also scratch if shattered) got me looking at plastics.
I ended up using 3-Form's Varia, which can be had at for "reasonable" cost in their Reclaim section (still a tad pricey, with shipping).
I used 1/4" wood veneer embedded Varia for mine, but had lots of choices, especially in colors and textures.
Needs to be cut with the right (plastic) saw blade.
But the variety is nearly endless (wood veneer selections are somewhat rare on Reclaim), and can always go with Chroma for a 'harder, glossier' material:)
A single 2'x4' sheet did both speakers with plenty left over...
https://www.3-form.com/reclaim
 
Nothing goes on top of any of my speakers besides Rabbit Furs.

Find someplace else for nick-naks and such.
 
I found nothing with several searches about the pros or cons of putting a piece of 1/4" thick glass on top of my Altec 19 clones.It sure would look sweet with bronze tint glass.
Anybody have some input on doing this?

Is the motivation looks or to protect the speakers from damage? If it's the latter, consider having custom covers made.
 
Some speakers were designed with a glass top - like the Atlantic Oracles. I don't have a good pic because the lids are always off of them to show off the drivers and crossover mounted on the top of the cabinet.

FYI, I recently had to replace the glass on a pair of these, about 14"x17" dark bronze tinted glass. Went to a glass shop and found out just how much tinted glass costs! Even a half-tinted piece of 1/4" annealed (not tempered, that would be even more) was $20 and the really dark stuff was even more than that. I don't know what kind of fairy dust they use for tinting but it must be pricey. Someone suggested getting clear glass and apply that film tint used for car windows on the bottom side. Great idea.
 
I had glass made to replace the missing glass on my L300s. It was not very expensive and I'm really glad I did it. I think it it's about 3/8" tinted glass with a slightly sanded edge, atop black foam core about 2 mm thick.
 
I have 1/4" tempered smoked (nearly black) glass on top of my rosewood veneer DIY JBL speakers. Plants and knick-knacks are not a problem...I can even set my beer glass on them when changing a DVD. It beats trying to convince the wife that the tops of these rather large speakers are a forbidden zone in the living room. Over-watering a plant results in a simple clean-up rather than potentially devolving into a pissy exchange about stupid plants and dumb speakers. I think it looks nice.
 
There's a place by me that builds granite tops that go over your existing kitchen counter tops. They could do them for speakers just as easily. Some really cool looking granites/stones available.
 
My solution was moving my wood veneer ADS L880s out of reach and swapping in some vinyl covered L630s... They look cheap but I don't mind them being used as coasters any more.
 
Had a lively discussion of all this a few years back, here!
http://audiokarma.org/forums/index.php?threads/glass-tops.534172/#post-6971290
I've been a big fan of putting glass tops on various JBLs I had over the years -
This is custom smoked glass on my JBL L200 speakers

attachment.php


More recently, I went with 18" black granite tiles from Home Depot on top of my
Heathkit AS101s (aka, Altec Valencias) Nicely tightened up the sound
and a box of 4 was significantly cheaper than smoked glass!
18square-TopTiles_6771.jpg
 
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I add tempered tinted glass to almost all of my speakers once they are completed. It eliminates a lot of stress when other people set things on them. They protect speakers that are in good shape and they can hide water stains/scratches on the speakers that have previously been used as plantstands/drinkholders. I have a good relationship with the local glass shop and have had at least 5 custom sets made. I use pieces of cork mats or felt circles between the glass and speakers.
 
My Focal 936's are topped with 3/8" plates of glass. It looks good. If it does resonate it'll probably do so through a very narrow band with a high Q factor and away from your listening position so the effects would probably be minimal if any at all.
 
Glass is a pretty good conductor of heat and cold, so you put a cold drink on room temperature glass and condensation happens, which can happen on the bottom of the glass too. Meaning you could be getting moisture into the veneered top of your speaker. Another problem with glass directly on top of finished wood is the finish can't breath. There should always be an air gap between the wood and glass. Even then, if the glass doesn't cover the entire wood surface under it the exposed wood will oxidize differently, so it'll end up being a different color tone one day down the road.

The same applies to stone, granite, marble, etc.

Personally, I would never put anything on top of a speaker. It's just asking for trouble.
 
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