Yes, I agree, the retail price for simple wooden stands is very high. A lot of this cost is the typical high-end audio distributor & dealer markup. Hypothetical: Let's say it costs the manufacturer ~$250 to make two stands, say $125/each. They are sold to the US distributor who pays ~$500+customs duty charge for them. The distributor sells them to the retailer who pays ~$1000 for them, and then the retailer sells them for ~$1700. Ever wonder why high-end audio is so expensive? It's for exactly this reason that Schiit went direct-to-customer. So, if Schiit were in the speaker stand manufacturing biz, you could probably buy a pair of these stands for $500 or less. This is why, if the Schiit Yggdrasil followed the traditional brick 'n mortar dsitributor/dealer model, it would be priced at ~$10K (and, why it is fully competitive with other DACs that do sell for ~$10K, e.g. the Bricasti M1). Same path of markups from mfr to distributor to retailer to customer.
That's one of the reasons Sound Anchor stands are such a great bargain. The customer deals directly with the manufacturer who then makes the stands to your exact specifications and ships them directly to the customer. No middle men. I don't own Harbeth but I used to own Spendor SP-100's which are pretty similar to the Harbeth 40 series, and the Sound Anchors stands sounded the best of several stands I tried including Skylan and several homemade wood stands.
Cool beans. All of this is subjective; some folks like the sound of the Skylan stands, some like the Sound Anchors, some like the TonTragers. I happen to like my Resonant Woods stands. Also, I move my speakers around frequently and the wooden stands are much, much simpler to move than the Sound Anchors would be. At the end of the day, though, all that matters is what you like.
Check these stands out from Gig Harbor Audio. They can make them in any size that you desire. They also happen to be dealers for Harbeth, Falcon Acoustic, Graham/Chartwell, and Spendor. They definitely know/like British Speakers. gigharboraudioGHA Custom Speaker Stands — gigharboraudioGig Harbor Audio
$10k gets you a Bartok or MSB Discrete both of which are far more than just “competitive” with the Yggdrasil. They are flat out superior in every way.
Here they are- (at least one of them!) . The finish looks so much better in person! Much better than I thought they would, beautiful. My stands below cost ~ < $50 for materials including paint, spikes, silicone bumpers and Dynamat. I listened for a few hours last night and they started to open up a little but but have much more to go- they sounded somewhat reluctant at first, bass impact on the lean side. But- they have a huge SOUND! so dynamic with large splashes of colorful sound. Definitely more monitor like than my C7ES3 but not in a bad way. Bass definition of acoustic bass is outstanding, just missing some impact at the moment but that will come. Even at this point they sound out of this world and are the best sounding speakers for me- period. Absolutely captivating and perfect synergy with everything including room. So nice to be able to exhale............
too much for me! Do the Sound Anchors come with decent adjustable spikes? I have heard them in action and really think the do sound good, they bring out solid bass even with smaller bookshelf speakers. I never bothered to e-mail them for a quote thinking they would be $$$$. Approx how much are they- any idea?
The Sound Anchor stands come with heavy duty spikes that are height adjustable. The last time I checked, the Sound Anchors website had prices but that was a couple years ago. The two pairs I have purchased were in the $6oo’s for the pair but that was 10 years ago.
Most people I know spent less than $700 on SA Stands. I spoke with him a few years ago...he offered me $650. Also Acoustic Sounds may have a pair in stock for your speakers ready to fly out the door. Oh...and congrats on the new Harbeths...,it looks fabulous!
I was able to get the four-post SA stands for a little less than $600. Or you could say I got them nearly free with the purchase of C7s.
My reference to Yggy was simply example of how pricing markup in the traditional retail market works. As to what is "superior", that is entirely is up to the listener; listening to music is a perceptual, emotional and psychological experience, and therefore entirely subjective. It's also up to the buyer to determine which product is the better value propostion for the money for them. Last, Yggy is still only $2400. 1/4 the price of the MSB and 6X less expensive than the Bartok, which is $13,500, not $10K.
Congrats, Avanti! The HL5Plus look great; love that wood finish. The stands look great, too and I note that you have GIK Acoustics Alpha 4A panels.
Bass punch on the lean side. I believe you use a tube amp to my SHL5 Plus. I had identical issues which I solved by adding solid state amp. A friend of mine had to go same route with SHL5 and tube amp to ss to solve it. I recommend you to evaluate it at least if sound is more important than what kind of hardware you use. Beautiful speakers! They will grow on you by each day. Promise!
Try Rogue Audio Sphinx V2. I listened to the Harberts C7ES3 and M30.1 speakers with this amplifier (it's a hybrid). It has sufficient power (class D) and with the tube you can still shape the sound. I also listened to Falcon Acoustics LS3 / 5a on it, for me they are better than Harberts P3ESR P.S. Sorry for the poor english
He’s using a tube amp, but I looked at the specs and found it’s 100W/channel. That really ought to be enough to coax the bass from them. I’m using a McIntosh MC275 with the 40.2 and there is plenty of bass impact (granted they’re bigger). @avanti1960, I’m sure you’re already doing this, but keep moving the speakers and your seating position around a bit. That makes all the difference in the sound of the bass with my Harbeths. I am sure you’re going to love these speakers. Congratulations.
Agree. Honestly I don't care or resent how people choose to spend their money for their own happiness, but I do think audiophiles are especially prone to having the p*** taken. We recently got a nest of three lovely, rock-solid, hand-made (in England) oak coffee tables, from a local store (with mark-up) - £250. Swap a few bits and dimensions around to make speaker stands instead and charge what? Maybe it's just the Yorkshireman in me.
I think it's more of a matter of tube amps output transformer causing issues at the low end rather than power. I had a Line Magnetic 2x48W and the bass was not good even at medium levels. Tried a bunch of different tubes but gave up when I connected my Supernait and everything just snapped in place. If you read Alans view on tube amps with his speakers you'll see him explaining a lot on why tube amps is not well suited for his speakers. Well he goes further and say for every speaker..
