View Full Version : ideas for standing ditton 66's on
hi,
im hoping to receive my 66's this coming week so im looking for ideas on what to stand them on,kens plinth moulds have been slung away so they are out,i was thinking something like these mana platforms as they are easy to make but im open to suggestions :)
http://i1267.photobucket.com/albums/jj548/jamiecreig123/_3_zpsfld39jbf.jpg
Concrete slabs , council 2ft x 2 ft are good and heavy , my back knows I have laid thousands over the years :doh:
Maybe a set of the extra strong rock n rollers ... think someone on here was using them under their Tannoys.... might have been Petrat, but not sure now
These speakers are quite tall, so don't get the tweeters too high. I suggest you listen with ears roughly level between mid and tweeter I think. Concrete slabs should do nicely ;)
walpurgis
28-02-2016, 21:00
Concrete slabs , council 2ft x 2 ft are good and heavy , my back knows I have laid thousands over the years :doh:
Yes. They're perfect. Or the 80mm thick 450mm x 450mm block modules. They need to be on cones or similar, as they always contain residual moisture and will rot carpet or wood floors if not allowed to breathe (as I found out from experience :rolleyes:).
(Yeah. I've laid thousands of slabs too. I'm a qualified Mason Pavior. Just be glad you don't work in the Herne Bay area. A lot of the footways have 4ft x 2ft 6in slabs. Don't fancy working with those buggers)
(Yeah. I've laid thousands of slabs too. I'm a qualified Mason Pavior. Just be glad you don't work in the Herne Bay area. A lot of the footways have 4ft x 2ft 6in slabs. Don't fancy working with those buggers)
Ouch .... the closest I came to those was relaying the slabs around Sutton library many moons ago they were about 4 ft x 2 ft curved 2 man lift jobbies
As long as you have a solid floor just plonk them on the carpet. Fancy hi-fi speaker stands didn't exist when these were designed so I reckon that is how they were intended to be placed.
I can say from considerable experience that 66s *need* something appropriate to sit on, in order to perform at their best. Just because "fancy hi-fi speaker stands" didn't exist, during when the 66s were made, doesn't mean that they wouldn't have been used, had they been available then, or that they wouldn't have improved matters ;)
One could say the same for 'fancy caps' or 'fancy resistors', and we all know how the judicious use of those can breath life into the ageing crossovers found on vintage speakers like these... When it comes to properly optimising the performance of equipment, everything matters!
The 66s, which Jamie has bought from me, were sat upon Mana 'Soundbases' here, similar to those shown on the picture he posted, and sounded considerably the better for it, than they did sat on the floor :cool:
Any idea, Jamie, when Baz will be calling me to arrange collection? :)
Marco.
You can change the sound by putting them on various different stands/platforms but 'better' will always be subjective with these things.
Personally I've always preferred the floorstanders I have/had just sat on the floor. I'm not even keen on spikes.
Obviously things will always be subjective to some degree, but getting the tweeters at the right height and providing speakers with some proper support/isolation (thus allowing the driver units to 'behave' as intended), which good stands do, has always been beneficial to my ears with pretty much ever pair of speakers I've ever used, including these 66s.
That's why even my Lockies sit on modified Mana supports (originally designed to house Krell power amps), as I can assure you, simply plonked onto the carpet on their castors, is definitely worse! :trust:
Marco.
Your room has a suspended floor though so I imagine that the Mana stands are a big improvement. I've done suspended floors - never again!
The 66 are tall speakers and the tweets are going to be quite high up once you are sat down, even without a stand underneath them.
Anyway my point is best to try 'as is' first then explore the options rather than assuming a stand or base will be needed.
If I had a quid for everyone who has told me I should get my Akais up on stands I'd have a fair few quid. But I've tried it already and they haven't. I don't agree that there is a blanket 'best practice' for this aspect of set up.
I never said that there was, daftee. I was merely expressing the results of my experience. At the end of the day, whatever works, works.
One other advantage of stands is that you can level speakers properly (which defo *does* make a difference) much more easily than without them, especially when they are sat on top of 'spongy'/springy, thick-piled carpets, where they tend to 'bounce' all over the place.
There's nothing wrong with a GOOD, solidly constructed suspended wooden floor, such as I have here. Jeez, it'd need to be with the weight of all my kit and the 1000s of records and CDs on top of it!! :eek: I can assure you that a big part of how my system sounds (which you loved) is how the speakers interact with the room, and also the floor.
I've heard the Lockwoods on a solid concrete floor, and didn't like how they sounded there, as much as how they do in my own room. There is definitely a 'sound' associated with GOOD solid concrete floors and GOOD suspended wooden floors, with the former generally making for a tighter (albeit harder, slightly more clinical) sound, and the latter a warmer and more 'rounded' and fleshed out one.
It's horses for courses. All else being equal (including the quality of the equipment used), neither type of floor is automatically superior to the other. Certainly for my tastes and the kit I use, if we ever move, the next house we buy will definitely have a listening room with a solidly constructed suspended wooden floor :cool:
Marco.
Agree it is not at all a problem with your system but my experience - ten different houses - tells me that most suspended floors are just big sounding boards. On the whole they are not well enough constructed for hi-fi purposes, albeit they are fine for just walking about on.
Yeah, sure. Get a good one though, and the results can be superb :)
Marco.
Arkless Electronics
29-02-2016, 01:14
Concrete slabs , council 2ft x 2 ft are good and heavy , my back knows I have laid thousands over the years :doh:
NO NO!! or maybe no no anyway... YMMV in a big way with this! I tried this with very bad results but they were the next size up from that, biggest I could get! In my experience they do resonate with a big heavy speaker on top (KEF Reference 105.3 here). All I can say is in that room with those speakers it killed my sound. I say again YMMV.
Those small Mana things look ideal ;)
I can say from considerable experience that 66s *need* something appropriate to sit on, in order to perform at their best. Just because "fancy hi-fi speaker stands" didn't exist, during when the 66s were made, doesn't mean that they wouldn't have been used, had they been available then, or that they wouldn't have improved matters ;)
One could say the same for 'fancy caps' or 'fancy resistors', and we all know how the judicious use of those can breath life into the ageing crossovers found on vintage speakers like these... When it comes to properly optimising the performance of equipment, everything matters!
The 66s, which Jamie has bought from me, were sat upon Mana 'Soundbases' here, similar to those shown on the picture he posted, and sounded considerably the better for it, than they did sat on the floor :cool:
Any idea, Jamie, when Baz will be calling me to arrange collection? :)
Marco.
I'll be calling him tonight marco, are there any days you won't be in?
They will need to be on something if only to level them up, I have a concrete floor although there is some spring in it, I believe it's called a pot and beam floor.
I'll be calling him tonight marco, are there any days you won't be in?
Hi Jamie,
Wednesday's not the best (although I could move some things if necessary), but any other day would be fine. If it was Thursday, then morning would be best, early doors. I'm in all day tomorrow and Friday.
Let me know when he's coming so I can organise my diary :)
Marco.
They will need to be on something if only to level them up, I have a concrete floor although there is some spring in it, I believe it's called a pot and beam floor.
Block and beam:eyebrows:
Hi Jamie,
Wednesday's not the best (although I could move some things if necessary), but any other day would be fine. If it was Thursday, then morning would be best, early doors. I'm in all day tomorrow and Friday.
Let me know when he's coming so I can organise my diary :)
Marco.
just spoke to baz ,he said its looking like Thursday or Friday .
NO NO!! or maybe no no anyway... YMMV in a big way with this! I tried this with very bad results but they were the next size up from that, biggest I could get! In my experience they do resonate with a big heavy speaker on top (KEF Reference 105.3 here). All I can say is in that room with those speakers it killed my sound. I say again YMMV.
Those small Mana things look ideal ;)
i had a marked improvement when I put my Tannoys on concrete blocks because my lounge floor is suspended timber with a 18 inch void in a room that is 30 ft long and 14 ft wide with a vaulted ceiling at 12 ft high it certInly tightened up the bass on the other hand I've heard Marcos 66's at Scalford Hall on mana stands and they sounded superb, room dynamics play a lot in it
what im trying to say is the slabs cost a tenner and the Mana cost a shit load more , for the sake of a tennner give it a go
I did spend a lot of time on my floor at a later date packing all the joists so there was no bounce when the slabs got their marching orders after my ex missis finally noticed them after a few months lol
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