Laserdisc and large book stands

I recently submitted photos of my main AV system. However, I failed to indicate that the two storage cases between the built-by-me center speaker and big Allison IC-20 main speaker systems in that installation were also made by me.

Here is the stand on the left. The top and bottom are solid poplar, stained with Minwax dark antique stain, with several coats of Minwax satin urethane. The sides were contour cut for a bit of style and are made of MDF, sanded very smooth and finished with a black satin finish. The bottom is held to the sides with glue and long screws, and the top is done likewise, but with the screw heads in recessed cutouts that were themselves then filled with short, 1/2-inch diameter dowel sections, with those cut off and sanded smooth with the top surface.

These cases hold some oversized books (in addition to being a retired audio writer I also used to work in a library, so I have lots of books), as well as some old-style, 12-inch video laserdiscs. The DVD has eclipsed the laserdisc, of course, but I still have two fine players in my two AV installations (also pictured in this gallery in another section), and I am not about to trash my best laserdiscs and purchase DVD replacements. Laserdiscs are actually quite good, believe it or not, although really good DVDs are clearly (pun intended) better.

Howard Ferstler