Buy the best speaker stands you can afford!

Lol. Not quite what I had in mind nor made. I can't seem to upload pics.
Mine are chery wine stained wood base & top along with 2" galvanized sand filled pipes around 30" tall painted gloss black. Accounting for the wood and feet pedestals total height is 33" tall.

 

That sounds very simple. There is a problem, though - tower speakers do not do the disappearing act.

 

I already posted a picture of my DIY speaker stands, but with all the money being spent on stands, I wanted to share my experience with making these stands, and if I could go back and do it again, I would do exactly what I did the first time, as these stands are GREAT, heavy, and dead as a hammer. First of all, to get a stand to even fit a Definitive Technology speakers is tough, as the speakers are so narrow. I originally made the stands to use with the Definitive Technology BP8B shown in picture #1, and these speakers fit perfectly , there was no overhang at all, a totally smooth transition from stand to speaker, however the BP8B speakers were way too much for the little office they were in, so I packed them up, and bought some Monitor 450 bookshelf speakers with a 10" PR on the sides (not bi-polar), absolutely perfect for my small office room, and really cool looking speakers. You can find nice speakers without spending a fortune, I know, I have spent the fortune in the past. You will notice on these smaller speakers there is an overhang, but to me, it looks better than a completely smooth transition!

The secret to getting the price right is to go to Lowes or Home Depot and look in the junk wood, and there is plenty of junk wood. In my case, I found what I used as end caps for each speaker stand in the junk pile, I think the pieces are 1 1/2" thick. I then went to the fabric store and found some cheap fabric that almost matched the speaker grills perfectly. The actual stands are 27" tall, 13" deep and 9" wide, filled with sand, and weigh about 45 pounds each, super solid. I then called Definitive Technology and asked them to mail me two name plates, and at that point I had some great, inexpensive stands, that I believe really complimented the speakers. There was the pain in the butt labor, some gluing and screwing, but any and all imperfections were covered by the black fabric. So, I would encourage anyone and everyone to consider this method, they are everything proof except cat claws, and very inexpensive, less than $70.00 for both including the sand, so have some fun, build your own!

 

Super looking stands & really an inspiration for DIY'ing.

 

Maybe someone in this thread can recommend some solid speaker stands for KLH Model 6's. On a whim, I decided to see what they would sound like on stands by putting them on tiny chairs, like the ones that kindergartners use at school. They turned out to be the perfect height to have the tweeters elevated to ear level, and it really made a huge difference in sound. I've left them that way for the past week, but my wife is (understandably) getting irked by the sheer ugliness of the arrangement.

I've been looking around online for stands that would be big enough to accommodate the Model 6's, but to no avail. Any suggestions?

 

How high are the kindergarten chairs?

 

Custom Steel Speaker Stands »

 

Wow! Thanks! I would never have found that site. They look surprisingly affordable, too!

 

I haven't measured yet, but I'd say 12" or so.

 

At the beginning of this year I was in one of those "clean out the closet" moods and decided to get rid of a pair of Soliloquy 5.0 speaker stands. I kept a pair of what I believe are a pair of Sound Anchor single post stands. I thought the Revel M20s would be fine on the lesser stands but I was definitely wrong.
The M20s are a fairly large monitor and the heavier stand was much better for them.
Luckily the guy I sold the stands to is a friend and getting them back wasn't a problem. I did give him the Sound Anchors though to be fair.

 

I used to use a pair of them with Sixes... I think you'll be happy with them!

 

"There is a problem, though - tower speakers do not do the disappearing act."

I'm crushed. Do they do magic?

 

Hey, tower speakers that could pop a rabbit out of a port would be kinda cool.

I once heard B&W 801Fs that disappeared pretty convincingly, though we could debate if those are "towers"

But to take triple's assertion more seriously, while I've heard some towers (like giant Magico's) that weren't localizable, there may be a factor in favor of stands in that perhaps it is more likely for the audio image to be at a better height with respect to the ears. Many towers are not really so towering, and have the drivers below ear height which personally I don't like.

 

I've heard a set of 105k Rockport "towers" (aka as big as half a Honda Civic") as well as a set of Revel Ultima Salons, also not a small tower, disappear with no trace of their positioning.

In neither case did stands or no stands play any part in that. Placement and a very, very good room facilitated the disappearing act. Frankly, my monitors (roughly the size of a Harbeth Super HL5+), sitting on top of subwoofers, effectively one large very full range tower on each side, have no issues disappearing in my small room so long as I set them properly.

 

I hate to appear obtuse, but why is that? It looks like the base plates are fairly thick glass. Will they resonate or vibrate excessively?

 

Yes.

 

To the OP (and anyone else who thinks stands make a difference in sound quality):

Alan Shaw of Harbeth thinks you're an idiot.

 

It's unfortunate he would say that as it makes him look like the idiot.

 

No, he's British so it just makes him eccentric.

 

Good one.....

 

Great to hear - since. Just picked up a pair of 30.1's and have very little $$$ left.
No way I'm paying $700 for anchors
$79 Sanus will do just fine.

 

No they won't.... just sayin'.

Use cheapos for now, but I would aim for an upgrade when funds become available. Trust me on this - I'm a well-known cheapskate, and I wouldn't steer you this way without good reason.

It doesn't have to be uber-expensive stands.

 

Agreed

 

I paid $135 for a pair of early '70s old wood Sansuis.

Kinda nice! I like them. They work well. Money well spent.

 

Trying to decide between the following for my KEF LS50W:

• Target HS60-B w/Stance Plates ($415)
• Skylan SKY024D ($385)
• KEF Single Post ($250)
• VTI VSP24 ($200)

The Targets require the Stance Plates - a $125 add on - in order to be stable from a tip-over standpoint.
I like that I can custom-order the top plate size on the Skylans but communication with Noel's been hit-or-miss, not leaving a great impression from a customer service standpoint.
The KEFs would require me to fabricate some sort of lateral bracing similar to the Target Stance Plate add-ons so that they're stable.
The VTI so far looks like the best bang-for-the-buck. A generous top plate, the biggest base, and the lowest cost. They look similar to the custom B&W 805 stands with the bottom base reversed and no custom top-plate. It wouldn't surprise me if VTI was making them for B&W. I know Custom Designs makes the models for KEF.

Tip-over is a major concern for me since my room is small and I have small kids.