Speaker Stands?

thetawave2

I'm considering buying some speaker stands for my bookshelf speakers. Will they offer a performance boost? Is it really necessary to have the flexibility in placement? What should I look for as signs of quality? What are the reputable manufacturers? How much should I expect to pay for a decent pair of stands for my budget hi-fi?

F1nut

I take it they are not on stands now. If so, yes spiked and mass loaded stands will make a positive difference.

Look no further than either one of these, http://www.skylanstands.com/stands.htm or Sanus Ultimate.

pyrocyborg

Well, stands are usefull for many reasons in fact. As F1nut said, the added mass (considering it's not some cheap stands that can't support 10 lbs) should help keeping the speaker from moving back and forth. However, a really cheap stand that wobbles could deterior the sound quality.

Depending on the price of your speaker, the stands you choose should cost accordingly. I mean, if you have let's say 2k worth of bookshelf, there is no point in buying 75$ speaker stands as most of the time, those stand should support approximatly 20 lbs at most, and those aren't the most stable ever.

I have Some Sanus Natural Fundation stands, and while they're great for my Polk RTi6, I wouldn't use them with let's say, a pair of Totem Rainmaker, for safety purposes (don't want those 1k speakers to fall everytime you touch the stand).

So, as a sign of quality, look at the weight, construction quality (is it sturdy or not?) and so on. Some stands even offer you the possibility of "filling" them with sand or anything else that adds some weight, to help counterweight your speakers.

But yeah, on a practical standpoint, the stands offers you a lot of placement possibilities when compared to bookshelf or wall stands... and by moving your speakers from the rear wall, it offers tighter bass and better overall sound anyways. On a performance standpoint, it's another game: if you use spikes and are on carpet, it could increase performance to another level... but it some cases, it could only have a small positive effect. Also, by having those tweeters at ears level, it offers better imaging and better details... but as the Tannoy has no tweeter, I guess that as long as it's a few inches under you ear level, it'll be allright.

There is a lot of links on the Internet about this very subject. As the Tannoy are(were) somewhat pricey speakers, I would buy stands accordingl so I agree about the Sanus Ultimate Foundation : good price and solid performance. Might not be the fancier around, but as long as it is sturdy and keeps the speaker in place, it could only increase your overall sound performance.