Why Do Speaker Stands Suck?
Sugarite
monitors on appropriate stands. I'm also an avid audiophile, which shouldn't be confused with
an "audio enthusiast". An audiophile studies the interpretive process of musical listening as
well as audio hardware to meticulous detail, and in some areas well beyond what is implemented
in studios. Speaker stands are far more scrutinized in audiophile circles.
The function of speaker stands is to provide what I call "dependent isolation" between the
speaker and whatever it sits upon, preferably a sturdy floor. The speaker cabinet's position
must remain as steady as possible right down to the micron relative to the floor, however they
shouldn't interact with each other. The primary role of a speaker stand is to dampen the
solid-body vibrations eminating from the speaker cabinet, preventing them from interacting with
the floor, and vice versa.
The best way to achieve that is to have a rigid acoustically conductive material like steel make
up the structure of the stand with loose heavy mass in direct contact with the conductive
structure. The vibrations are essentially "earthed", both from the speaker and the floor. This
works better than concrete, since a fully rigid stand will reflect vibrations back to the
speaker cabinet. The benefit of good stands is better consistency, timbre, definition, and
imaging across the entire spectrum. Basically they clean everything up. They often result in
less bass however, since constructive low-end resonnance is eliminated.
Stand designs that implement this method generally have heavy steel tubing with access to pour
in loose mass like sand, lead shot, etc. The most cost-effective model I've found is the
four-post model from Atlantis (Canada) at about $275 a pair, though Target (UK) makes a similar
model, and there are nine-post models that are more effective at a higher cost. Surely there's
a good US manufacturer, but as a Canadian I don't have any motivation to find one.
Here's an example of how effective good stands are: my stepfather was considering upgrading his
1990 ProAc Super Tablettes to 1998 ProAc Response 1S's. I sat in while he tried the 1S's on
Atlantis 4-post stands and after about an hour we were convinced that they sounded better than
the Tablettes on 2-post Target stands. Then just for giggles he switched the stands. The
Tablettes on the 4-post stands were clearly far superior to the 1S's on either stands. He
bought the 4-post stands and saved himself from spending $1200 on inferior speakers.
The exact same benefit can be had with studio monitors. I cringe when I see Genelecs in
multi-million-dollar studios sitting on wood shelves or concrete columns, same with NS-10's on
top of the console. Floor-standing speakers are similarily frought with self-resonnant problems.
Some other speaker stand issues:
- spikes should be used on the bottom, preferably 3 and not 4, and adhesive putty should be used
liberally between the upper plate and the speaker cabinet
- level the speaker, or else there's a vertical component to the woofer's movement, sending
vibrations directly down the stand, which will also have uneven weight distribution, choose your
stand height accordingly, if necessary cement risers like patio stones or cinder blocks are
good, as long as they're on three spikes or small blocks as well
- a dampening piece between the bottom plate and the tubing helps, a hard synthetic rubber is
common, graphite is ideal
- if you don't want spike marks on a nice floor, use equal-thickness MDF or hardwood shims to
protect the finish