Whats the point of speaker stands?

[Mikeandvan]

I'm talking about for bookshelf speakers, just bought a pair of Spendor s3/5r, only 30cm tall, why can't they just sit on my Ikea Kallax shelf?

[Macca]

They can. Speaker stands are foo. I've been saying this for years but no-one listens.

[Beobloke]

Try sticking the Spendors on the floor and see how they sound then...

[GrahamS]

I'm talking about for bookshelf speakers, just bought a pair of Spendor s3/5r, only 30cm tall, why can't they just sit on my Ikea Kallax shelf?
I have my Wharfedale Diamond 9.1's on stands because I don't have a shelf.....

[walpurgis]

Try a pair of stands designed for Linn Kan or LS3/5a speakers. Should be about right.

[Marco]

They can. Speaker stands are foo. I've been saying this for years but no-one listens.

Lol - bollocks! :ner:

Firstly, with most so-called 'bookshelf' speakers, in order to hear them properly, it's vital to have the tweeters at ear height (from the listening position), and the chances of achieving that by placing them on a bookshelf are virtually nil.

Secondly, is the question of isolation from the floor, in order to prevent the cabinets from picking up unwanted external vibrations, which will simply serve to colour the sound the drive units produce, then a properly-designed and well-built pair of stands will successfully address that issue.

Thirdly, you wouldn't like the sound of my Tannoys, placed directly on the floor in my room, in comparison with how they sound on their Mana platforms, because of what I've just outlined above, as even though they're far from being stand-mounted designs, the horn tweeters in the DC drive units benefit massively from being heard at ear level.

In that respect, there's a very distinct sweet spot for optimum listening!

So.... Speaker stands can do a vital job in a hi-fi system, no doubt :cool:

Marco.

[Macca]

You need them to get the things at the right height, agreed. A couple of three legged stools will do that. The idea that you need 2 grand (or more) worth of specially designed 'speaker-floor interfaces' is the bit that is bollocks.

[Marco]

eh? :scratch: Aren't the vibrations coming from the cabinets in the first place? As for isolation, most stands don't do any isolating at all.

Yes of course, but you don't want any influence from that also coming from the floor, as it will further muddy the sound. Almost all stand-mounted speakers I've heard, when just plonked onto the floor, sound boomy in the bass, and rather 'one note' and un-tuneful there, with it.

I disagree about isolating (or decoupling for that matter); it all depends on how the stands in question are designed. Good ones, including their equipment support counterparts, help address how detrimental the effects of the surrounding environment can be to sensitive audio equipment.

Marco.

[Marco]

You need them to get the things at the right height, agreed. A couple of three legged stools will do that. The idea that you need 2 grand (or more) worth of specially designed 'speaker-floor interfaces' is the bit that is bollocks.

No, you don't need to spend fortunes on such things, that's for sure, but most stands I've used perform more optimally with speakers, from a sonic point of view, than stools.

Marco.

[Marco]

Yup, sure - and as you say, so designed they can be very effective! Another product, designed on rather different principles, but equally as effective and sonically beneficial, are those from Mana (though now long discontinued).

However, even a basic pair of speaker stands, as long as they're rigidly constructed, are better than no stands, for use with non-floor standing speakers. Now, ask me about the supplied spikes being supposedly 'mandatory', and you might get another answer ;)

Marco.

[YNWaN]

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).

[Marco]

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.

[Primalsea]

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.

[Marco]

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.

[Mikeandvan]

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.

[Mikeandvan]

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.

[walpurgis]

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.

[Pharos]

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.

[walpurgis]

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.

[Macca]

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.

[Shovel_Knight]

There was a nice article about the speaker-stand interface (with useful measurements) in Stereophile, well worth reading IMO: https://www.stereophile.com/content/sound-surprise-loudspeakerstand-interface-page-2

The stands can indeed affect sound, and Bluetack seems to be the best speaker/stand interface ever :D

[Marco]

BTW, speaker stands may do more than just raise the speakers to the correct height etc., but that's the job they have to do first.

Absolutely. It's simply 'good practice' to use stands designed to properly support the speakers you're using, and as you say, raise them to the correct height, in order for them to perform as intended and be heard correctly by the listener.

In the same way that it's also 'good practice' to use decent cables, level your turntable, or do what's necessary in order for the components in your system to perform optimally.

For me, you're either in this game to do the job right, as a genuine enthusiast, or simply 'play at it', by doing the minimum possible in order for things to work to some sort of 'adequate standard' - and that's not the behaviour of a genuine enthusiast, who strives to have the best...

I was always brought up with the mantra of 'If you're going to do a job, then do it right', to the BEST of your ability - and that applies to how I set up a hi-fi system as much as when I'm painting a room, putting up a shelf or anything else.

Therefore, 'adequate', for me, is never enough! Especially when it comes to hi-fi....

I need to know that what I'm using is, as far as possible, performing at its *maximum potential*, which is why I'm a great believer in investing properly in the 'infrastructure' of a system: mains, stands, cables, supports, etc - all the 'unsexy' stuff, which experience tells me is vital to get right, in order for a system to perform optimally, and thus be truly musically rewarding.

However, you can go on about this stuff until you're blue in the face, because unfortunately some folks simply don't want to know, and would rather believe that all that matters are the boxes and speakers used, so that's where their money is spent, whilst virtually all else is ignored:doh:

It's no wonder, therefore, that so many of them are never happy with their systems, continually box-swapping and constantly chasing a 'sound in their heads' that they may never achieve, when much of that angst could be avoided (and money saved) if they concentrated instead on getting the basics right first, and with it, the system's infrastructure, thus allowing the boxes and speakers they've chosen to realise their FULL potential, before moving onto pastures new, continually making the same mistakes and getting nowhere...

<Rant over> ;)

Marco.

[Macca]

There was a nice article about the speaker-stand interface (with useful measurements) in Stereophile, well worth reading IMO: https://www.stereophile.com/content/sound-surprise-loudspeakerstand-interface-page-2

The stands can indeed affect sound, and Bluetack seems to be the best speaker/stand interface ever :D

If a typical 10" woofer cone/voice-coil assembly with a moving mass of 50 grams moves 25mm peak-peak, a cabinet with a mass of 5kg sitting on a friction-free surface will move 250µm: a quarter of a millimeter! Any friction from the support will reduce the cabinet motion, but even if it does by a factor of 100, the resultant 2.5µm cabinet motion is still of the order of that of the tweeter diaphragm's and will frequency-modulate its output. Spiking the speaker or its stand to the floor beneath the rug gives the system a much better mechanical "ground," reducing its reactive motion to the benefit of its sound.

Yes, because you quite often see speakers with 10 inch woofers in cabs that weigh 5 kilos. When they have to bend the facts that much to fit the bollocks agenda then alarm bells ring immediately. How much is the cab moving if it weighs a more realistic 20 kilos? Answer is: none at all. What a crock of shit.

[struth]

sometimes a slight tilt back works better than a short stand imv. you still retain the floor reinforcement .it doesnt need much if you are a reasonable distance away

[Shovel_Knight]

I also find this explanation to be dubious at best, but the fact is that coupling the speakers to the surface they sit on or decoupling them from it indeed does make a difference. I find the text useful because they provide some numerical data. I also sincerely doubt they had any commercial interest in mind because they ended recommending Blu-Tack and styrofoam sheets over audiophile products.

[The Black Adder]

Marco, I'm currently looking to lift my Lockwoods as my room is now smaller. Need to get the sweet spot back :)

I am guessing that because they have a downward firing reflex that the platforms (or stands) shouldn't be of an open frame design but rather a shelf like design?

[Macca]

I also find this explanation to be dubious at best, but the fact is that coupling the speakers to the surface they sit on or decoupling them from it indeed does make a difference. I find the text useful because they provide some numerical data. I also sincerely doubt they had any commercial interest in mind because they ended recommending Blu-Tack and styrofoam sheets over audiophile products.

I agree that the speaker/floor or stand/floor interface makes a difference. Or can do depending on the floor and what it is made of and how it is covered. If you have a suspended wooden floor you are going to run into all sorts of issues you won't encounter at all with a solid floor.

[Marco]

Hi Jo,


Marco, I'm currently looking to lift my Lockwoods as my room is now smaller. Need to get the sweet spot back :)

I am guessing that because they have a downward firing reflex that the platforms (or stands) shouldn't be of an open frame design but rather a shelf like design?

Yup, some form of (spiked) flat platforms I've found are best, which are wide and deep enough to support the full dimensions of the Lockwoods. This is what I use and what you're looking for (should show on the middle of the screen):

https://www.google.co.uk/search?biw=1309&bih=706&tbm=isch&sa=1&ei=t3OVWuDFBYL6kwXEoKUw&q=mana+amp+stands+&oq=mana+amp+stands+&gs_l=psy-ab.12...8630.8630.0.11546.1.1.0.0.0.0.62.62.1.1.0. ...0...1c.1.64.psy-ab..0.0.0....0.8_sgu8cL0jE#imgrc=CKGmv0Sl4ZsKIM:

And use them so that their widest parts are positioned horizontally, to successfully support the full width of your speakers.

If you can find a pair of Mana amp stands (for a Krell amplifier), such as the above, then those would be spot on, as they're both fully adjustable (you can raise or lower the boards, via use of the supplied spikes) in order to get the speakers bang on level [yes, this does make a difference to how they sound], also get the tweeters bang on ear height from your listening position, to achieve the desirable 'sweet spot', and provide the speakers with a nicely firm foundation from which to perform optimally.

Essentially what you're doing is replacing the floor in your room with a better 'floor' [one that is 100% level and rigid] for your speakers to sit on. This is especially critical (and sonically beneficial) if like me you're using the Lockies on an upstairs suspended wooden floor, although I know that doesn't apply in your case.

The difference this makes to tightening up the bass response, opening up the midrange, improving control of reproduced frequencies in all areas and allowing you to play music louder, and more comfortably (as the speakers will no longer 'sing along with the room' to the same extent) is significant! ;)

If you can't find any such stands then it's a case of having something made to your spec at a local metal fabricator, who would build the outside spiked frames necessary, then it's simply a case of popping some (very) thick pieces of MDF board on top, levelling the whole shebang - and Bob's yer aunty...

If you need the dimensions, or any other info for the stands, just let me know :cool:

Marco.

[Macca]

Yes, I think those figures look highly suspicious. Picked almost at random, here are the specs for a 6.5" Audax mid/bass driver:
http://www.audax.com/archives/hm170g0.jpg

The moving mass is 12 grams. The linear cone excursion is +/-3mm. How heavy is the cabinet for a 6.5" driver? Could be anything I suppose, but a lot more than 5kg wouldn't be unusual.

Yes, I didn't even bother to get into the details, the 5 kilo cab was enough to get my spider senses tingling. Friction effect he just glosses over and inertia doesn't even get a look in. I suspect that in reality it would not move in the slightest even the lightest of cabs.

[jandl100]

I find that raising most speakers off the floor is beneficial, even "floor standers".
Numerous examples spring to mind - there seems to be something about separating the cabinet from the floor that is fundamentally good for the sound.
Even just tilting them back can help in a way not associated with tweeter/treble beaming.

The performance of some standmount / bookshelf speakers is critically dependent on the stand characteristics - ProAc Response 2 come to mind especially, ime if you don't use Target R2 stands then you may as well get a lesser (and cheaper) speaker cos you aren't hearing anything like its full potential..

[Marco]

I fully concur with all that you've just written, including the fact that ProAc R2s need high-mass stands, such as the Target ones mentioned, which were purpose-built for them :)

Quite frankly, anyone who *seriously* thinks that speaker stands qualify as "foo", doesn't have a scooby-doo!

Marco.

[Macca]

I fully concur with all that you've just written :)

Quite frankly, anyone who *seriously* thinks that speaker stands qualify as "foo", doesn't have a scooby-doo!

Marco.

That was quite obviously a tongue in cheek comment.

However there is an huge amount of crap talked about speaker stands (we have had a classic example from the magazines on this thread). I've owned in the region of 30 different sets of speakers over the years, plenty more than is needed in order to discern what is reality and what is fantasy.

[Marco]

That was quite obviously a tongue in cheek comment.


Thank fuck for that, as I was beginning to worry about you!!:D;)

Marco.

[jandl100]

Here's a thought - I wonder if a lot (most/all?) of the improvements reported from using speaker spikes is just that the speaker has been raised and there is an air gap between speaker and floor. Nothing to do with spikiness at all. :eek:

[Macca]

Here's a thought - I wonder if a lot (most/all?) of the improvements reported from using speaker spikes is just that the speaker has been raised and there is an air gap between speaker and floor. Nothing to do with spikiness at all. :eek:

Almost certainly. I used some dice to raise a floorstander up off the carpet once, it was a change of sound and an improvement. All the coupling/decoupling business with spikes is classic bullshit baffles brains.

[Jimbo]

The design of my speakers is such that the thin unbraced cabinet walls flex rather a lot more than modern speakers and are therefore massively affected by what they stand on. I have tried numerous stands and different materials and they all have a large influence on how the speaker performs especially in the bass region.

[Macca]

I'll confess to there being a difference between pillar stands and open frame types. But not speaker dependant for me, I always prefer the open frame type. Or 3 legged stools which is the same idea. Too much mass in the stand you can get thuddy bass. Although some prefer that, especially with bass-light speakers.

[RichB]

As with so much else in this hobby, good quality materials and construction is worth paying for, the rest bollocks.

Use your wooden shelfs etc as long as they get the speakers to the right level and don't vibrate other sensitive components like turntables.

[Mikeandvan]

What about wall mounted for suitable speakers, such as my recent purchase the Spendor S3/5R? Infinite stability for sure?

[Pharos]

I think it is agreed that spikes will stabilise greatly, but that their other properties are less desirable.

I didn't read the article, but it seems that they are applying the conservation of momentum law; mass times velocity, but the velocities of the cones and domes are varied, depending on frequency and amplitude.

I suppose a step waveform is the best tool to use for measuring the reaction of the speaker box, but friction seems an irrelevant factor because most probably a speaker would tend to rock its stand rather than slide.

The 5kg ignores the other mass factors in a speaker, the woofer's basket/magnet, other driver masses, bracing, damping, stuffing and Xover masses, and a 10" woofer is far more likely IMO to have a large cabinet.

[Macca]

I'm using some JM Labs speakers right now. They weight 28 kilos each and are quite tall. On the base are four rubber feet. They also come with spikes that screw into sockets in the middle of the rubber feet.

So the idea is that if you have a wooden/laminate floor you don't fit the spikes, so as not to damage the floor, but if you have carpet you fit the spikes to pierce through the carpet and 'couple' with the floorboards or concrete beneath.

But if you have carpet plus underlay (not just a rug) under the speakers is it not best to let them just sit on that, on the rubber feet? This way they are decoupled at least to a degree, from putting vibration into the floor. With the spikes you deliberately connect with the floor and so increase the amount of vibration transferred. Even a concrete slab will transmit vibration. Worse for wood. So the provision of spikes for carpeted floors makes no sense. Hence spikes make no sense. They are just a sub-optimal way of getting, as Jerry puts it, a 'bit of air' under the speaker. Which I agree is a good thing.

[Pharos]

My heavy ESSs had polythene feet on their base, and my 54kg ADAM Gammas had spikes. The replacement Betas had spikes according to the manual but came without them, but they have 8mm tapped holes in the base for them.

I looked on Ebay and found some 30mm DIA, feet, with a PVC pad going into a stainless steel dome base with 8mm studs for fixing. These I hope will slide across the carpet, and provide a good compromise solution to the rocking and transmission problems.

[Mikeandvan]

Thanks to all replies, the Spendors are too small for my listening room. So gonna concentrate on getting the Talisman right. The Ruarks are great speakers and are better with my HK amp, so will try some new speaker cable, marble plinths underneath, as Marco said upthread, get the basics right, Cheers.

[Haselsh1]

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.

Yes a floorstander uses this extra cabinet space for a lower bottom end but try using a floorstander with a rear firing port within twelve inches of a rear wall and it becomes obvious why stand mounts exist. Even larger standmounts won't sound very good when close to a rear wall.

[Pharos]

My ESS Heil + Rogers mid/woof have a passive pointing towards the rear wall, and it does not seem problematic, in fact people comment on the good bass.

I also designed a small pair of speakers for an ex girlfriend using modified Denton boxes and Panasonic drivers which had a rear firing port, and which also worked well.

[walpurgis]

I remember in the seventies, the Goodmans Dimension 8 speaker being demonstrated fairly close to rear walls and that had a large rear facing ABR. Having said that, I don't like rear ports or drivers, they just don't seem to sound right to me. Why do it in the first place? There's no need unless the front baffle space precludes it.

[Macca]

The idea with rear port is you are less likely to hear it 'chuffing'. Although I've never noticed this to be a problem on the dozens of front ported speakers I've owned and heard.

[jandl100]

Floorstanders are a lot more expensive than standmounts for the same basic sound quality.
Cabinets are generally the most expensive part of a speaker - a smaller cabinet is much cheaper.
If you don't want or are prepared to sacrifice that extra octave of deep bass then a standmount makes sense in terms of sound/£.

On the other hand, speaker stands can be expensive, too!

[hifi_dave]

Floor standers don't necessarily give better bass than a stand mount. Very often, the floor stander uses a squitty little bass/mid driver in a narrow box and that doesn't give better bass than a decent stand mount. Just ask any owner of a large, stand mount Tannoy, JBL, ATC, Harbeth if they are short of bass.

Not only that but many floor standers are just a stand mount design with the bottom part of the cabinet sealed off from the top unit with the drivers.

[Marco]

Exactly - and for that reason (among others) I'm not overly keen on 'tall and slim'-type floor-standing designs. I like some GIRTH, and that means nice fat-ass baffles, housing drive units much bigger than those found in the WAF-controlled home of your average pee-soaked weeny boy! ;)

In general, I'd take a quality, large stand-mounted speaker, over most floor-standers; certainly the conventional variety, which for me offer too many compromises.

Marco.

[Haselsh1]

I've just sold our B&W CM8 S2's in preference for a pair of discontinued Spendor S3/5R2's due to the room we shall soon be sharing with our music hobby with. I will be really interested in how they compare with the floorstanding B&W's. Back in the early/mid nineties I used many different small standmount speakers with my favourites being QLN Mk 1's. I cannot wait to get moved and get everything set up.

Our aim is to focus on midrange/vocals with a nice warm rendition. Slightly tired of impressive and tiring sounding speakers.

[Marco]

Hi Jo :wave:

Did you see this post below from earlier?



Hi Jo,

Yup, some form of (spiked) flat platforms I've found are best, which are wide and deep enough to support the full dimensions of the Lockwoods. This is what I use and what you're looking for (should show on the middle of the screen):

https://www.google.co.uk/search?biw=1309&bih=706&tbm=isch&sa=1&ei=t3OVWuDFBYL6kwXEoKUw&q=mana+amp+stands+&oq=mana+amp+stands+&gs_l=psy-ab.12...8630.8630.0.11546.1.1.0.0.0.0.62.62.1.1.0. ...0...1c.1.64.psy-ab..0.0.0....0.8_sgu8cL0jE#imgrc=CKGmv0Sl4ZsKIM:

And use them so that their widest parts are positioned horizontally, to successfully support the full width of your speakers.

If you can find a pair of Mana amp stands (for a Krell amplifier), such as the above, then those would be spot on, as they're both fully adjustable (you can raise or lower the boards, via use of the supplied spikes) in order to get the speakers bang on level [yes, this does make a difference to how they sound], also get the tweeters bang on ear height from your listening position, to achieve the desirable 'sweet spot', and provide the speakers with a nicely firm foundation from which to perform optimally.

Essentially what you're doing is replacing the floor in your room with a better 'floor' [one that is 100% level and rigid] for your speakers to sit on. This is especially critical (and sonically beneficial) if like me you're using the Lockies on an upstairs suspended wooden floor, although I know that doesn't apply in your case.

The difference this makes to tightening up the bass response, opening up the midrange, improving control of reproduced frequencies in all areas and allowing you to play music louder, and more comfortably (as the speakers will no longer 'sing along with the room' to the same extent) is significant! ;)

If you can't find any such stands then it's a case of having something made to your spec at a local metal fabricator, who would build the outside spiked frames necessary, then it's simply a case of popping some (very) thick pieces of MDF board on top, levelling the whole shebang - and Bob's yer aunty...

If you need the dimensions, or any other info for the stands, just let me know :cool:

Marco.

Let me now, cheers! :cool:

Marco.

[struth]

I've just sold our B&W CM8 S2's in preference for a pair of discontinued Spendor S3/5R2's due to the room we shall soon be sharing with our music hobby with. I will be really interested in how they compare with the floorstanding B&W's. Back in the early/mid nineties I used many different small standmount speakers with my favourites being QLN Mk 1's. I cannot wait to get moved and get everything set up.

Our aim is to focus on midrange/vocals with a nice warm rendition. Slightly tired of impressive and tiring sounding speakers.

ive found full range speakers best for female vocals. no real idea why but they can sound devine

[The Black Adder]

Hi Marco.

Blimey, not sure how I missed that. Thanks very much. Very helpful.

Yes, I remember putting my Lancasters on stands, a huge difference. Thing is, it never crossed my mind in my new room with the Majors until I slumped in my seat. LOL When I do the sound becomes much more solid. I them remembered that my previous Lockwood cabinets were higher as they had a front reflex.

I'm currently designing some stands which look great at the moment. I may post a few pics in the DIY section. So long as they are strong and very sturdy everything should be fine.

The Mana stands are quite hard to find nowadays unfortunately but I have the option (which you suggested) to find someone to make something similar.

[Marco]

No worries, dudekins....

If you're going to design something yourself, make sure that a) they're super-sturdy and support the FULL dimensions of the Major cabinets, in terms of width and depth, and b) they're height adjustable, so you can level them properly and 'zoom in' on that sweet spot! :)

Marco.

[The Black Adder]

Will do... thanks for that.

Yes, the stands will be mega sturdy and BIG.. lol

[Macca]

Jamie on the forum has made some Mana stand copies for a few people. They look pretty good. Might be worth considering that, Josie?