In Reply to: Speaker stands: wood vs. metal vs. ???? posted by Big Dave on May 18, 2007 at 19:09:46:
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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Follow Ups
- Re: Speaker stands: wood vs. metal vs. ???? - DkB 05/20/0707:55:22 05/20/07 (4)
- Harbeth supplied their HL series with matching wooden stands in the '90s - PabloP 08:24:42 05/20/07 (3)
- "...mass and material don't make any difference to the sound" - Bob Neill 09:35:23 05/21/07 (2)
- Not really - PabloP 10:00:27 05/21/07 (1)
- "...Certainly metal stands ring..." - Bob Neill 11:18:18 05/21/07 (0)