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How do you feel about a wheeled dolly permanently under large floorstanding speakers?

I'm building a new room that will be home to the system I'm putting together. I looking at several floor standing speakers that aren't huge by audiophile standards, but too heavy to just grab and move easily, 60-80 lbs each. The room will be multi-use, so one option I'm considering is to move the speakers when required. They would stay in the best position for my solo listening chair, but when we have a group over and are using the game table or pool table, move them toward the wall and turn them for good sound to the overall room. It would also help me a great deal with the WAF for the room. I've been considering the wisdom of putting them on a solid MDF platform, the size of the speaker footprint, with 3 or 4 castors mounted beneath. Probably make a wood skirt to hide the wheels. Then I could roll them off the rug onto the vinyl floor and over to the wall or wherever makes the most sense. I will keep the movement relatively small so I can keep speaker cables only as long as necessary to reach the primary listening position. Do any of you have direct experience with a similar setup and its impact on sound quality?

capnr
teo_audio
2,197 posts
 
The lower the mass of the speaker the greater the need for stiff and stable mounting.

Thus the mobility vs stability thing, has to be qualified.

Speaker mass vs stability is at the core of the ’quality audio’ equation.

Proac super tablettes on 24-28" stands...all on 20-50 pound wheeled dollies.. is probably not a good idea, as is 900lb speakers with spikes, where test positioning is largely an impossibility..

There’s some contention in the middle, sure. Self choice might be a good thing to call it.
sgreg1
612 posts
 
I have wondered for years why no company has engineered this solution yet. You design an adjustable platform that has wheels that activate with a foot push fulcrum. You wheel into place then deactivate the wheels up and out of the way to then have the spikes support the speaker. You could also incorporate isolation materials into the base.
Really think about this there are people paying 10’s of thousands of $ for a speaker cable. I think there would be a huge market for this. Do you want to wrestle and duck walk a $100.000 Speaker around your room?
mr_m
1,900 posts
 
It is very easy to "duck walk" a large heavy pair of tower speakers. I am of average strength for my age.
hshifi
572 posts
 
Hello,
I remember a Darko video with his Klipsch speakers on casters even though he said they worked best up close to the wall. One thing is the casters can make noise unless they have really good ball bearings like on rollerblade wheels. The caster wheels might make a knocking sound the floor from the bass. You might want to try roller blade wheels. They sell kits for office chairs. You might raise the speaker to offset the tweeters and make them too high. If this does raise them too high try to build a back to front slant to get the tweeters back to your listening position. If you are not using spikes the try floor gliders mentioned above. Magic MoversThe ones made out of Teflon are easier to move. You might raise your speakers by 1/4 of an inch. Plus they have foam to help with vibration 
Here is another option:
https://www.wish.com/product/5e63a859e74d652d42d3515b?from_ad=goog_shopping&_display_country_cod...

smrex13
645 posts
 
I have found the Herbies gliders to allow easy movement and to be better sonically than spiking my stands directly to the floor.  I have 70lb. speaker stands with bookshelf speakers blue tacked to the stand, so the weight is similar to what you are dealing with.  The stands have spikes on them that rest in the cup of the Herbies Gliders.  I can easily slide the speakers around as needed.  They are reasonably affordable, so they would be worth a try.  My guess is they would be better sonically than anything with wheels.  But I'd try both and do a comparison.  Good luck! 
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