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Re: Do speaker stands actually make a difference?

I agree with the points you raise but I also believe the overall rigidity of the support system to be very important.

The simplest test for rigidity is to push backwards or forwards at the top of the speaker when it is sitting in place on the stand. It should feel completely rigid. If it moves around then there there is an opportunity to improve the sound.

The following things help in terms of rigid support:
- Firm support of the speaker at the corners
- A stand base that is deep front to back (the primary direction of the forces tending to move the speaker and stand)
- Support of the stand base at the corners
- A stand that does not flex when a load is applied at a corner
- Non flexing connections between the support points at the corner of the stand and the floor

A few examples of what can go wrong:
- Carpet or rubber between the speaker and the stand
- A stand with central support and a thin flexible top and/or bottom plate (most cheap commercial stands)
- Uneven support at the top or bottom allowing the stand or speaker to rock
- A flat base sitting on carpet (particularly with underlay)
- Floor spikes that do not pass right through the carpet and underlay to firm support but are suspended by the carpet backing.

It doesn't matter if the stand is free, cheap or expensive but most cheap commercial stands are centrally supported with flexible top & bottom plates and lack enough weight to force spikes through a tough carpet backing and an underlay onto a more rigid surface.

When I built my stands, I went for the biggest base that aesthetics permitted and made sure that forces were transmitted directly from each corner of the top to each corner of the base to eliminate the issue of plates or columns flexing. I also provided the ability to add a lot of sand so that they were heavy enough to drive the spikes down to the floor and to provide vibration damping of the stand.

I use a pea sized piece of adhesive putty (eg BluTac) between the speaker corners and the stand because it provides a safe and secure connection without seeming to compromise rigidity. When we change from carpet to hardwood floors upstairs, I plan to also use adhesive putty between the floor and the base corners of stands and floor mounted speakers.

Going back to the original question, I believe that a well designed massive $300 stand that is properly set up is likely to contribute to much better sound than the typical $25 commercial stand or mdf stand but not necessarily any better than a well designed mdf stand.

Light and rigid steel stands are not common in my experience and lack the weight to work well on carpet but I suspect that they might be OK on hardwood. I have a garage sale pair of light weight Target stands that I'll try again when we eventually get the hardwood.

David


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  • Re: Do speaker stands actually make a difference? - energyandair 09/14/0610:24:33 09/14/06 (0)


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