Watch where you put your speakers or what you put on them

I was just looking at a review from CNET's Christopher MacManus on a home theater system he saw at the Consumer Electronics Show, Hands-on with Unity home theater.  He gives a favorable recommendation but it got me thinking about speaker placement. 

MacManus was turned off by the design of the set up where the subwoofer sits vertically in the center and a speaker bar rests horizontally across the top of it creating a T shape where the speaker bar also acts as a place to put the flat panel TV.  His concern is that there's no place for a lower shelf to house a game console and the like.  My worry is vibration from the speakers and subwoofer that are in direct contact with the TV. 

I don't care what the spin is, there's no way vibration is good for your video and audio components.  The idea of my TV sitting on top of a platform that constantly vibrates is just not happening.  Those vibrations can, in time, loosen soldering joints, circuit boards and all sorts of internal components.  That may easily send your TV to an early grave. 

The speaker bar contains the tweeters which, granted, don't create too much in the way of vibration, but the bar sits directly on top of the subwoofer.  A subwoofer vibrates like crazy.  I've seen systems set up where, due to lack of shelf space, audio or video components are set right on top of the subwoofer which usually resides next to or behind the TV.  That is just bad design.

Another thing to be wary of when dealing with subwoofers and large floor standing speakers is what you may place on top of them, even momentarily.  Speakers use magnets.  The bigger the speaker the bigger the magnet.  Most of the time the speaker housing is sufficient to keep that magnetic field from escaping the enclosure.  I'd still be very cautious about laying a watch or your iPhone on top if it. 

I have a mobile DJ business and sometimes the photographer will put his camera right on top of my speaker.  First of all I don't want anything on those speakers because eventually vibrations are going to knock whatever rests there to the floor.  Secondly, there's a chance that the magnet in the speaker is going to do damage to their camera. Remember, speakers aren't tables.  

If you have a question or if I may be of service email me at radiohannibal@gmail.com

John Hannibal