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Thread: Whats the point of speaker stands?

  1. #11
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    Speaker stands can make or break the performance of a speaker. The idea that all they have to do is raise the speakers to the right hight really is bollocks - the sort of utter bollocks spouted on the Harbeth forum (for example).
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  2. #12
    Join Date: Jan 2008

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    I completely agree Mark, and YEARS of experience in that area backs it up

    There's a danger sometimes in hi-fi, with people of a certain mindset, automatically dismissing as "foo" anything that doesn't neatly 'fit' with their belief system, and it annoys me immensely because it stifles genuine learning!

    Marco.
    Main System

    Turntable: Heavily-modified Technics SL-1210MK5G [Mike New bearing/ETP platter/Paul Hynes SR7 PSU & reg mods]. Funk Firm APM Achromat/Nagaoka GL-601 Crystal Record Weight/Isonoe feet & boots/Ortofon RS-212D/Denon DL-103GL in Denon PCL-300 headshell with Funk Firm Houdini/Kondo SL-115 pure-silver cartridge leads.

    Paul Hynes MC head amp/SR5 PSU. Also modded Lentek head amp/Denon AU-310 SUT.

    Other Cartridges: Nippon Columbia (NOS 1987) Denon DL-103. USA-made Shure SC35C with NOS stylus. Goldring G820 with NOS stylus. Shure M55E with NOS stylus.

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  3. #13
    Join Date: Aug 2008

    Location: Suffolk, UK

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    From experience I know that speaker stands can make a huge difference. My stands originally had steel baseplates that allowed the stands to sway a little. Never was happy with how the speakers sounded. I changed the steel baseplates for beachwood bases that solved the swaying issue and it sounded like I had bought a new set of speakers. A while back I experimented with some silicone pucks under the bases and they seemed to suck the life from the speakers and ruined the imaging. Changed back to some metal adjustable feet that coupled the stands direct to my concrete floor overlaid with solid oak. Again a huge change for the better. Added some hard coupling between the stands and the actual speakers, another change for the better.

    You really do need to get the stands and how they connect with the floor and the speakers right. However, I do agree there is a lot of foo out there as to howmit all works.
    ~Paul~

  4. #14
    Join Date: Jan 2008

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    Quote Originally Posted by Primalsea View Post
    You really do need to get the stands and how they connect with the floor and the speakers right.
    Precisely, Paul, as indeed the experience you've shared ably proves.

    Marco.
    Main System

    Turntable: Heavily-modified Technics SL-1210MK5G [Mike New bearing/ETP platter/Paul Hynes SR7 PSU & reg mods]. Funk Firm APM Achromat/Nagaoka GL-601 Crystal Record Weight/Isonoe feet & boots/Ortofon RS-212D/Denon DL-103GL in Denon PCL-300 headshell with Funk Firm Houdini/Kondo SL-115 pure-silver cartridge leads.

    Paul Hynes MC head amp/SR5 PSU. Also modded Lentek head amp/Denon AU-310 SUT.

    Other Cartridges: Nippon Columbia (NOS 1987) Denon DL-103. USA-made Shure SC35C with NOS stylus. Goldring G820 with NOS stylus. Shure M55E with NOS stylus.

    CD Player: Audiocom-modified Sony X-777ES/DAS-R1 DAC.

    Tape Deck: Tandberg TCD 310, fully restored and recalibrated as new, by RDE, plus upgraded with heads from the TCD-420a. Also with matching TM4 Norway microphones.

    Preamps: Heavily-modified Croft Charisma-X. LDR Stereo Coffee. Power Amps: Tube Distinctions Copper Amp fitted with Tungsol KT-150s. Quad 306.

    Cables & Sundries: Mark Grant HDX1 interconnects and digital coaxial cable, plus Mark Grant 6mm UP-LCOFC Van Damme speaker cable. MCRU 'Ultimate' mains leads. Lehmann clone headphone amp with vintage Koss PRO-4AAA headphones.

    Tube Distinctions digital noise filter. VPI HW16.5 record cleaning machine.

    Speakers: Tannoy 15MGs in Lockwood cabinets with modified crossovers. 1967 Celestion Ditton 15.


    Protect your HUMAN RIGHTS and REFUSE ANY *MANDATORY* VACCINE FOR COVID-19!

    Also **SAY NO** to unjust 'vaccine passports' or certificates, which are totally incompatible with a FREE society!!!


  5. #15
    Join Date: Mar 2016

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    Quote Originally Posted by YNWaN View Post
    Speaker stands can make or break the performance of a speaker. The idea that all they have to do is raise the speakers to the right hight really is bollocks - the sort of utter bollocks spouted on the Harbeth forum (for example).
    Without being too technical, can you tell me how? I used to have a pair of Epos ES11 that came with their own stands, they were very sturdy, as they had 4 protruding feet which provided a larger area to rest on, larger than the top of the stand that is.
    Current system 1210 GR. CDP - Meridian G08. Amp -Sugden A21I - Sig. Wharfedale Lintons.

  6. #16
    Join Date: Mar 2016

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    I'm Mike.

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    Thanks for replies, I wasn't being intentionally luddite, as I've bought these new (to me) speakers, I want to make sure they perform at peak (or close to) level. They are rather small though - 305 x 165 x 180 mm, so I'm guessing they might need non standard stands.
    At the most basic level I guess it makes sense to be able to move the speakers around to find optimum listening position.
    Current system 1210 GR. CDP - Meridian G08. Amp -Sugden A21I - Sig. Wharfedale Lintons.

  7. #17
    Join Date: Apr 2012

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    Quote Originally Posted by walpurgis View Post
    Try a pair of stands designed for Linn Kan or LS3/5a speakers. Should be about right.
    As I said.

    If you ask on Private Exhibitions, I'll bet somebody has something to suit.

  8. #18
    Join Date: Mar 2017

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    This is an 'old chestnut' discussed numerously on forums, and (also with equipment coupling/decoupling) needs some resolution.
    I've been reading on this for a long time, and gradually it seems have got to some hard truth.

    Spikes in floors do seem to couple, and in the extreme, (nails in wood, running spikes in the ground), and therefore cannot decouple the floor from vibration IMO, but they will stabilise the speaker's position and stop it moving in reaction to any cone movement, but a heavy floorstander is unlikely to move in reaction to cone excursion.

    A soft and lossy footing or pad will tend to decouple vibration but will allow some movement of a speaker, and there is an art to finding a good compromise between these conflicting factors.

    Presenting a high mechanical impedance to energy which might travel from a lively cabinet through to the floor is IMO the best option; I have used granite plinths with a 10mm EDPM rubber pad between the speaker and the plinth, the density of granite presenting a massive change in mechanical impedance to the energy both leaving the speaker and returning to it, which when travelling through the rubber is to an extent attenuated both towards the floor and when reflected back to the speaker.

    Surely the main and primary role of a stand with standmounts is to get the right height and angler of incidence of the sound waves to the ear. They of course should be dead, (some ring quite badly, sand filled perhaps?), and their weight could be a help, (as with the granite above).

    I'm not keen on spikes into my floor with 77kg speakers, and the fragile and vulnerable nature of standmounts always worries me; they are asking to be knocked off, and a non contacting retaining bolt would be obligatory to me if I had them, but even so the whole thing could easily be tipped over.

    It used to be argued in the 80s that standmounts were visually less imposing, and that may be subjectively so, but the stand is still visually there, and costs money, and the space it occupies is useless whereas a floorstander uses this for greater bass extension. Unless there are acoustic advantages to a standmounter I see no point in them.

  9. #19
    Join Date: Apr 2012

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    I'm Geoff.

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    That sounds about right Dennis.

    I think many of us will have experimented to find agreeable solutions. I don't worry too much these days. As long as stand mounters are steady, I don't use spikes and just rely on the combined speaker/stand mass to keep things stable.

    I think deliberately trying to decouple speakers from whatever they stand on is not the greatest idea, but it may be applicable in some circumstances.

  10. #20
    Join Date: Aug 2009

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    I'm Martin.

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    99% of what a stand does is due to the height of it. This will change the relationship between ears and drive units, and the distance between the bass driver and the floor. Both these things will make a noticeable difference in how the sound is perceived. Pretty much everything else to do with the stand (what it is made of, how many legs etc) is irrelevant, assuming it is solid and stable to begin with.

    However uncontrolled experimentation with speaker supports may lead people to believe that other factors are at work; mystical factors. Especially if the speaker stands were really expensive and come with pages of blurb from the manufacturer.
    Current Lash Up:

    TEAC VRDS 701T > Sony TAE1000ESD > Krell KSA50S > JM Labs Focal Electra 926.

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