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speaker stands--general considerations

Of the myriad audiophile topics that come up here, I haven't noticed any real discussion recently of speaker stands.  What gives?  Does everyone own floorstanders?

I mean, there's plenty of room for disagreement, errr, discussion.  Optimal height?  Material of manufacture: metal (which), wood, other?  Single material or mix?  Design: single upright, multiple uprights, open top or top plate?  Over-engineered and heavy, or minimalistic and light-weight?  Interface between the monitor and the stand: high-tech gizmo, cork, nothing at all, Blu-tack, other?  Mass loading--yes or no?  If yes, kiln-dried sand or kitty litter, or lead buckshot?  Brands?  Best?  Best bang for the buck?
128x128twoleftears
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ctsooner's avatar
ctsooner
2,480 posts
 
Call ME crazy, but why buy a stand mounted speaker that takes up a footprint and needs to be further out in the room that a properly designed floor stander?  I've always felt this way.  Vandersteen started the baffleless floor stander in his model 2 as all speaker were using large baffles.  Now days, we have plenty of great choices at all price levels that are able to get a floor standing speaker to do on top what the stand mounted speaker does, PLUS they are much more full range or close enough.

My wife even said she loved the look of my Treo's (now Quatro's) than the monitors she saw with me.  JMHO...
turnbowm
353 posts
 
Lots of choices when it comes to speaker stands. For my Kef LS50s, I chose 24" Skylan and filled the vertical columns with sand and used Blu-Tack between speaker and stand. Have hardwood floors over slab and use spikes w/spike cups.

As a general rule, stand height should place tweeters at ear level with mass loading of stands for stability and vibration/resonance control. IMHO, speaker cones should move but NOT their enclosures
turnbowm
353 posts
 

ctsooner2,291 posts05-13-2020 3:49pm"Call ME crazy, but why buy a stand mounted speaker that takes up a footprint and needs to be further out in the room that a properly designed floor stander?  I've always felt this way.  Vandersteen started the baffleless floor stander in his model 2 as all speaker were using large baffles.  Now days, we have plenty of great choices at all price levels that are able to get a floor standing speaker to do on top what the stand mounted speaker does, PLUS they are much more full range or close enough...."

The location of floor-standing speakers in a room is always a  compromise between imaging and bass performance. With stand-mounts and subwoofers, the monitors can be located for best imaging and the subs for best bass performance.

FWIW, I had Vandersteen 2CEs for many years but, after moving, found that they just didn't work well in a small listening space. The Vandies need space for the various drivers to blend properly. The Kef LS50s don't have that problem because of the coincident/coaxial driver design. A sub was required, however,to fill out the bottom end.

Nice system by the way. I'm sure the Quatros are very pleasing to the ears. 
fertguy's avatar
fertguy
306 posts
 
I just got these installed under my B & W 803s this morning. So far I here more clarity & tighter bass.
https://butcherblockacoustics.com/collections/audio-platforms-with-integrated-threaded-brass-inserts/products/maple-edge-grain-audio-platforms-3-thick-w-threaded-inserts-only
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