ISO Pucks with Harbeth and Sklyan Stands

There's a world of complexity out there with stands for Harbeths.

There are open-topped stands, and stands with a flat platform.

There are metal stands, solid wood stands, and Skylan (MDF and polymer).

You can get standard offerings from established companies, or you can get custom stands made, in wood or metal.

There are any number of possible interfaces between stand and speaker, and likewise between stand and floor.

Herbies is definitely a good place to start.

I am locked in with Skylan stands. I had Noel make mine two inches shorter than their standard height for the SHL5's. I'm glad I did now, as adding isolation increases the height a little bit and I am short.
  

By the way, Rollerblock Jrs also worked pretty well for me with the C7 - much cheaper.

I don’t have experience with the Harbeth but I’m using the same stands with my Omega Super Alnico Monitors. Given the weight of the speakers, I picked the ISO-Puck Minis to use between the speakers and the stands and I’m happy with the results. Part of it could be due to the extra ~1" height increase but I think they helped a little bit with the bass/midbass texture. I thought they were worth the $100 outlay. By the way, I have my stands filled with rice and that also helped with the overall sound quality. If you have the speakers/stands on suspending wood floor, I suggest using the provided spikes but use something like Herbies cone/spike Puckies or Gliders, or something similar to decouple the unit from the floor. In my experience the combination of the ISO Pucks, mass loading of the stands, and decoupling from wood floor made a noticeable improvement in the sound quality. Your experience might be different given a different set of speakers.

I fell into the Skylan trap with my old C7es-3's. Stay away from the Harbeth forum when it comes to recommendations on things like this (seriously). I now have the Super HL5 Plus and I have learned a lot about stands for Harbeth speakers. Put those stands up for sale and stop throwing your money at them. Your speakers need a stand with an open bottom. I would recommend you go to resonantwoods.com and order a pair of Linear II stands which are made for your speakers. You won't ever ask a question about stands again for your Harbeths. I have no affiliation with this company, I've never called them, written them a letter or know where they're from. My Harbeth dealer told me about them and I liked the looks of them and was hopeful that the bottom of the stand being open would make a difference. I promise you, it will solve all your problems. I know Alan told you they sound great sitting on atop a pile of books. Alan is wrong and anyone on the forum telling people they love their Skylan stands has no idea how good their speakers could actually sound if they just had them on a stand with an open bottom.