The Skylan stands are plastic, so I doubt a carpenter would make them. They are meant to be filled with something to add mass.
I thought about making some- you can purchase black plastic square tube relatively cheaply. There is no rocket science about them.
we have to add ~ 10% state sales tax but the dealers will give you a minimum of 10% discount, more if you are persuasive.
I was looking at the Skylan website for stands for my new Spendor A1, and the 27 inch two post stands are $325. Doesn't seem like too outrageous of a price to me if they are well built, and give improved sound quality over the cheap 26 inch Sanus steel stands I currently use.
I had Skylan stands and they were superb. A small thing but I also liked the edges of the stands being rounded off - if you bang your toe on them you will survive unlike some others. Noel is a terrific guy and if you tell him which Harbeth speakers you have he can custom make the stands to perfectly fit your model of speaker.
I am probably in the left field (most likely) on this one and what was presented to me the last time I auditioned the Harbeth were not Skylan supports. The design looked pretty much the same. I remember inspecting them and having a discussion with the salesman about the woodwork involved vs the price asked for the stands.
I have owned Skylan in the past for both my LS50s and Harbeth C7ES3 and they served me well. Unfortunately taking advantage of the US / Canadian dollar exchange rate is a thing of the past and instead of $425 US I would be looking at $560 for stands for the SHL5's. I refuse to pay $560 for plastic box tube, threaded rod, T-nuts and MDF. Also I wanted to go to a more open frame stand this time. Those prices reflect the actual exchange rate as of today - $1 CAD = $.76 US.
I am a bit confused - you live in Chicago or are Canadian - Skylan prices seem to be in USD so $560 would be $730 or so Canadian. Regardless - the price is pretty high for a stand. The material can be debatable. The best plastics are very good indeed - Torlon and Vespel for example. OEM no name brand stands can be your best bet - here in HK there are a lot of small audio shops that sell high quality stands for pretty cheap. Metal fillable - $100.
I am in the US. In the past I ordered direct. Prices listed on the site were in $CAD. So if the price was $560 it converted to $425 US at checkout. Now the prices are listed as $US so you would not get the exchange discount.
It's not cheap plastic, and the actual pieces you do get of are very high quality. It comes with 4 different kinds of floor mounters. The amount of MDF used is miniscule, the bases are almost all polymer. And you're supporting Canadian workers and Canadian economy. Price is higher but the package you get is by no means cheap. Order yourself and see, they have a return policy if you aren't satisfied. The way it is shipped makes it exceedingly simple to box back up and send back. The anecdote by Richard Austen above me is typical from someone who lives and works overseas. Labour and rent is much more expensive here then China. Imgur
Agreed, I have owned two sets of them in the past. Very high quality. But because of the price increase and the idea to try a more open stand design to give more breathing room for the speakers I have gone in a different direction.
That's completely fair. They did change the prices strictly to USD quite a while ago. Over 2 years ago now. What kind of stands do you prefer for your Harbeths?
Well that's the thing - if I am in Canada I would buy Skylan at a bit more money - here in Hong Kong of course I am supporting the little guy selling his stands here. Everyone's gotta eat including the Chinese and I can tell you it is FAR worse to be poor in China than poor in Canada. A mistake most people make is comparing wages and not cost of living. So yes a Chinese person's wage may be very low compared to Canada but so is their cost of living. The wage is 1/8th but so is the rent, food, and clothes. a Can of Coke in Manila is $.35 cents Canadian at 7/11 - in Canada probably $1.25 at a 7/11 so you sort of have to look at everything.
Why didn’t the SHL5 Plus cross my path through life earlier? I’m stunned. So natural and balanced and never any listening fatigue. Amazing speakers both in terms of acoustics and hardware.
On the topic of stands, I'm using the new Wharfedale Linton stands with my SHL5+ speakers. Turn the stand 90 degrees and its the perfect fit for the speaker. The stands are very reasonably priced compared to other brands that cash in on the Harbeth name and the build quality is excellent.
yeah those do look nice and are reasonable. are the spikes adjustable? the dimensions seem to say that if you rotate 90-degrees they will be wider than the SHL5s. is there a way to use them without rotating the stands but possibly remove the logo or rotate the wood base?
I'm not sure whether the spikes are adjustable but I should think they are. Using them front on (with the W logo at the front) has the speaker too wide for the stand. Here's a picture of how they look with the stands turned. You can see the W logo on the left side of the left stand if you zoom in!
