How much difference do Speaker Stands make?
- Thread starter Njb
- Start date
For me Partington Dreadnoughts any day. I've got two pairs, both with Atacama isolation gel pads, both supporting LS3/5as. One pair was 2/3 filled with dry sand by a previous owner. The other pair is currently unfilled and to my ears sounds just as good, if not a bit less dull than the filled ones.
I'd caution against single pole stands. I've got a pair of Optimum stands. Whilst I love their hi-fi racks, their speaker stands are the worst I've ever encountered. They almost sway in the wind they are so unstable. I've got a pair of Quad 11ls languishing on these in my media room at the moment.
I'd caution against single pole stands. I've got a pair of Optimum stands. Whilst I love their hi-fi racks, their speaker stands are the worst I've ever encountered. They almost sway in the wind they are so unstable. I've got a pair of Quad 11ls languishing on these in my media room at the moment.
murphythecat
pfm Member
who wants to couple speakers to stand?
do you know what decoupling means?
once a speaker is well decouple from the stands meaning that the stand very barely vibrate at all, as long as the stand is solid, stands wont affect SQ at all.
hermit
Aye, right.
Someone who wants to prevent the speaker falling from the stand when it is jumped on by the cat. High mass stand + blutack + speaker = catproof. WIth your moniker I would have thought you'd have been well up on such matters
Purité Audio
Trade: Purite Audio
Coupled or uncoupled really won't or at least shouldn't make a huge difference to the sound quality, isolating might improve relations with your downstairs neighbours.
Keith.
Keith.
Purité Audio
Trade: Purite Audio
They may provide some structural stability if the speakers are placed on carpet, but what they are primarily doing is transferring vibration directly into the floor, the speakers will not vibrate less whether they are coupled or isolated.
Keith
Keith
SteveS1
I heard that, pardon?
This. The speakers would have to end up identically located before you could even begin to assess any effects caused by the stands.
chebby
pfm Member
I bought my Atacama SL600i stands because they have a leg at each corner and the top-plates are 225mm wide and 225mm deep. My speakers are 230mm wide and 230mm deep (not counting grilles), so the set-up is nice and tidy and very stable.
I also have the Atacama Gel Pads (they came with the stands) and I use them so as not to mark the bottoms of my speakers and to prevent them sliding around.
They are just the right height.
Ugly though.
I also have the Atacama Gel Pads (they came with the stands) and I use them so as not to mark the bottoms of my speakers and to prevent them sliding around.
They are just the right height.
Ugly though.
Well, life can throw some interesting curve balls. Walking through town and one of those shops that sells the African carving type stuff had 2 wooden plinths on sale. Some unidentified hardwood from Thailand. Rather a neat design, and they are my new speaker stands. Atacama isolation pads on the top, about 500mm high and better suited to my listening position (tweeters at eye level). Sound great and WAF is out of this world too
https://www.flickr.com/gp/144802472@N07/q4s8ms
https://www.flickr.com/gp/144802472@N07/q4s8ms
They look good and, strangely, sound good too. The bass appears, if anything, more defined than on the proper metal stands, and there is a musicality to the whole setup. I am putting some of that down to lowering the speakers to a more appropriate height for my sofa. A random purchase, but a good one.
Lee T
pfm Member
Been banging on about hardwood supports forever here, met with complete silence, sometimes you need to give something a go rather than ignore the obvious because your entrenched in hifi magazine speak from the 80's, i too believed it & played along for far too long.
Your description is almost spot on with a description i gave a few months back, much derision followed, obviously, i would stick with the height thing, much safer here, don't dare claim the wood support has improved matters "musically", forbidden word
Your description is almost spot on with a description i gave a few months back, much derision followed, obviously, i would stick with the height thing, much safer here, don't dare claim the wood support has improved matters "musically", forbidden word
Been banging on about hardwood supports forever here, met with complete silence, sometimes you need to give something a go rather than ignore the obvious because your entrenched in hifi magazine speak from the 80's, i too believed it & played along for far too long.
Your description is almost spot on with a description i gave a few months back, much derision followed, obviously, i would stick with the height thing, much safer here, don't dare claim the wood support has improved matters "musically", forbidden word
I sympathise. They appear more solid than my Atacama stands and guess that is the reason for the good stuff. I would like to eulogise about the merits of natural materials, but am worried that the HiFi police will be round.
I use P3esr with the little desktop ones from Hifi racks. Cost £100. Perfect to get tweeters to ear level. No spikes, just those little silicone spots.
In answer to the OP's question, in my case the answer is 19". As long as the stand does not wobble, there is some rubber, silicone or sorbothane for each corner of the speaker to sit on and the tweeters are as close to ear level as possible, I don't think there is anything else to worry about.
If £30 IKEA tables are the right height, then fine. Spikes can be found on Amazon and the insole of an old sports shoe is as good as anything else for decoupling, as most are made from sorbothane.