[Native Vermonter]

My system had been geographically challenged for a long time with the front end on the other side of the room from the amps and speakers. I had a long XLR and some generic speaker wire under the floor to run the signals to the amps and subs.

My original amps were Krell Evo 600s, and speakers were Revel Salon 1s. A ton of weight to try to move around. So I drew up (I’m a retired engineer) a 3 shelf rack that would fit between the speakers and hold the amps on the bottom shelf.

Estimates I got were north of $5k, with a bunch more for shipping and a long wait.

I bought custom sized hard rock maple countertops from an Amish firm in Ohio, unfinished. I sized the top one so it would have a 1 inch overlap on the front and both sides. I also bought 3 foot hard rock maple turning blanks from Amazon - the stock used in lathes to turn posts etc.

A friend of mine here has a fully equipped workshop; after I finished the shelves and posts with Tung oil, we made 2 rabbet cuts in each leg for the shelves, glued the hell out of the joints and with cargo straps it sat cinched down as tight as I could manage for a few days. I checked it daily, and retightned the straps as I could. Once that was set, we placed the top and glued it down as well.

Each leg has a full coverage felt furniture protection pad on the bottom, as do several extra short support legs under the bottom shelf to help distribute the weight and stabilize it.

The only metal in the stand are some extra brackets I used to attach the top shelf.

This thing weighs in a well over 100 pounds, is perfectly level, and rock solid. The commercial ones I was considering would have been pricey to ship and woulda been full of metal components for assembly.

If I had it to do over again, I’d probably woulda splurged and gotten a more exotic wood (mahogany or the like), but it came out really well.

I also had the Amish firm make the wooden stands on which the amps, and their amp stands rest. That cost me all of around $400.

Slainte,

Mitch