Home Speaker Asylum

General speaker questions for audio and home theater.

Re: Speaker stands: wood vs. metal vs. ????

I used sand-filled metal stands for a long time. Then, started using
Harbeth speakers, which are based on the BBC principle of low-mass construction yielding lower colouration due to less delayed release of stored energy, which you get with heavy stands. Also, wood is better damped and rings less than metal.

I had custom stands made of hardwood. With my Harbeth M40's on the new open-frame wood stands, I was quite amazed at the openness of the texture and the varied colours of instrumental timbre. The speaker sounded much less monotonous, with less of a smeared quality and metallic resonance, which I now know comes from the heavy metal stands. This freed the recordings to sound more uncoloured.

I would recommend lightweight open frame wood stands if you listen to lots of Jazz and Classical. If the wooden structure is not rigid enough, you might lose a bit of bass slam. However, you will gain a great deal in terms of varied bass colour and texture.

I now use the Magico Mini stands by default. These are partially aluminium (which is lighter than steel and not as resonant) and wood.




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