Speaker Stands

Harbeth M40 on milk crate stand:

 

Just re-measured. My listening seat is 17" high and my ears when seated are 47 1/2" high. Maybe I just sit up straighter than you.

 

Understand it's just personal taste, but I'd at least find an attractive fabric to wrap around the crate. Maybe some speaker grill cloth to match the Harbeth would work.

 

Ya know, I was just about to go out to the garage and grab some milk crates to give this debate some due, but then I saw the books piled on top of those spendy Harbeths. Anyone knows that to enhance correct time coherency the bindings need to be facing toward the rear.

 

Arduous experimentation? Not really. The only thing that's required is the willingness to stick a crowbar in one's wallet to lever out enough cash to purchase good quality stands.

As a poor student in the early '70s, I could only afford cement blocks and boards for bookshelves, stacked milk crates for storage and stands, and any other midnight furniture acqusitions I could manage to get my hands on. Couldn't wait to parlay an education into a business and some money to afford good quality and good looking purpose built shelves, stands and so on. Enjoy your crates though - seriously - especially if you're enjoying your music too.

 

Enjoy your milk crates.

 

I'm 6'1" sitting straight up in my office chair with a seat height of 19". I measured 43" to the ear opening.

 

i just think the harbeth might deserve more than a milkcrate to stand on

 

I'm six foot tall and at seating my ears are at about 46".

 

Got the Atacama HMS 1.1 stands as ProAc apparently helped design them for use with their (my) speakers - that and the looks/price. 70cm ones to put the tweeter at ear-height (that's on pads and without using any spikes or floor-protectors). I'd also found that the best height from the old cheap-but-adjustable ones I was using in the mean time.

The Atacamas gave a vast improvement over other the stands. Much more grounded sound.

Then filled them (sand), again as recommended by ProAc, and it improved thing even more - especially a tighter and more defined bass.

Hence learned: 1. stands make a significant difference; 2. can do worse than go with a manufacturer's recommendation

 

Agreed. However, in the case of Harbeth, Alan Shaw doesn't have any particular recommendations on stands, except that the tweeter should be at ear level. So milk crates are not contrary to the manufacturer's recommendation. Can't say I like the way they look though.

 

Unable to find speaker stands which would meet my needs, I made my own. They had to be almost 6 feet tall and fit into the front corners of my entertainment room.
I went over to Home Depot and walked around hoping some ideas would pop into my head.
I found some flat pieces of wood , round and other shapes. I chose the large round ones and bought 4 of them. I then bought 4 4x4 wood posts, a box of 2 1/2 inch deck screws, a quart can of white latex paint and a couple of brushes. I don't think that I spent much over $100.

I screwed everything together which looked like what you would but an hourglass in the middle of with the posts on either side with a round piece on the top and the bottom. I painted everything white. They fit perfectly in the front corners with my AudioMatrix 5-way home theater speakers sitting on them and my JBL 2800 quadraphonic system's front speakers on top of them. Absolutely no resonance problems, just pure sound.

When some friends came over they liked them so much that they had me make them some. Their friends saw theirs and had me make some more for them. I've made around 100 pairs so far. The painting takes more time than building the stands. The space between the posts makes putting shelves or a storage cabinet a snap.

 

Fair 'nuff! Whatever works.

I initially resented the thought of spending decent money on stands; then figured why not try and get the most out the speakers I plan to keep (and look at) for a very long time; then figured why not also take the guess-work/risk out and go with what they (thankfully) recommend - so long as they seemed reasonably priced, which they did. Glad it went that way.

 

What I wrote isn't quite right. Alan Shaw did endorse Resonant Woods stands on the Harbeth user group, so that's what I went with. But also because my local dealer had them, so I was able to see and hear them first. I was able to compare them with Sound Anchors at the dealer.

I'm still awaiting delivery of my 40.2s, so all this talk of the stands is getting me really antsy!

 

Nice one. Classy looking stands, too.

Patience now, patience... (yeah right!)

 

Glass Floor Speaker Stands (pair) - Black - Monoprice.com

Anyone have any knowledge or opinion regarding the Monoprice speaker stand. Seem to be constructed with similar materiel of the Focal 900 speaker stand listed for $300.00, glass and aluminium. The monoprice listed for $75.00. This would be for a pair of Focal 905's

 

One idea for an experiment you could try that fits "milk crate" budget: try bracing the interior of the crate by jamming hardwood or even thick pvc pipe from side to side/front to back/and something to firm up the top somehow, eg. bolting a sheet of hardwood ply (not mdf). That way, for not much money, you will be able to compare the sound to what you have.

 

Those Harbeth's are way too nice to be sittin' on those sorry milk crates son!!

 

Maybe it's just me, but I don't think glass has any place on a speaker stand.

One thing to check with any stand, can it be mass loaded?

 

the Sanus stands I own are built like a tank

 

I have these Atlantic speaker stands to prop up my ELAC B6s. I have loved them so far, but this morning I woke up and one stand was tipped over, with the speaker on the floor. I kind of surprised that this didn't wake me up...

It was probably my cats. They were probably playing and one jumped on the speaker. Everything sounds fine, no damage with functionality, but the 3M rubber pads that held the speaker to the stand tore off a good bit of the speakers finish/wood. I'm kind of upset by this, but I realize that I may not have done proper research when I set this up.

So my question. How do people safely adhere their speaker to their stand with the possibility of ruining the speaker's finish whenever you want to take them off? Should I not have used the double sided sticky pad? This is what came in the speaker stand's box. Has this happened to anyone before? My other speaker is fine, but I'm wondering if I should change how I'm doing things so I don't open these speakers up for more damage. I have only had the speakers/stands for a little over a month.

 

The vinyl covering on those speakers is well known to have adhesion problems. That would not have happened on most speakers.

Your stands cannot be mass loaded. If they were the stand, at least wouldn't have fallen over and you'd be enjoying better sound from your speakers as well. Therefore, I suggest you acquire stands that can be mass loaded.

 

Thanks for the suggestion. Unfortunalty I can't afford new stands for awhile. With that said, is there anything I can do to protect my speakers from tearing the finish? Like, should I remove all sticky surfaces attached to the speaker? Then they'd be unstable, but the one that fell is already off and can't be fixed unless I get new double sided sticky pads. Perhaps these speakers will just have this problem until I can afford better speakers/stands.

Damn cats... they're adorable though

 

Blu-tac might work, but might pull the covering off too. You could always run some screws up through the top plate into the bottom of the speaker cabinet, but that'll pretty much ruin any resale value.

 

Here is an interesting article about the speaker/stand interface.