Speaker Stands for Polk LSiM 703's

sarvic

What do you guys recommend for a good pair of speaker stands for the LSiM 703 bookshelves. They are about 30lbs each.
Thanks!

F1nut

Sanus Ultimate or Skylan.

Mystery

Lovan stands but they are not cheap.

chris23120

I'd go with the Sanus Ultimate...

sarvic

yeah, I was looking at the Sanus UF26 and I noticed that the base at the top is 6" x 6 1/2" whereas the speakers are 8 7/8" x 14 5/8". Is this going to be an issue with the speaker being bigger than the base that it sits on or do I need to find one that fits it better?

Mystery

Top plate always will be smaller than speaker unless you go with tiny surround speakers.
As long as the top width is 1/3'rd or more of speaker's width, it should be okay.
Just don't let kids and pets around them.

Dawgfish

Here's what I'm using for stands for my 703s. They are very solid and look good, sound good too! ;-) No not quite as good as the 703s but they are a nice change.

eclypse

Dawgfish wrote: »

Here's what I'm using for stands for my 703s. They are very solid and look good, sound good too! ;-) No not quite as good as the 703s but they are a nice change.

I'll be doing the same tomorrow to my 703s as my order shipped 1 short of a pair of 705s. Friday or next week I should have the other 705.

Mystery

Dawgfish wrote: »

Here's what I'm using for stands for my 703s. They are very solid and look good, sound good too! ;-) No not quite as good as the 703s but they are a nice change.

Nice speakers!
I also use floor standers as stands due to limited space.

Some veterans here will say NO NO for speaker on top of another speaker.

Dawgfish

I actually have a nice set of Pangea stands that I have filled with sand that do a good job with the 703s. Like yourself I don't have the room for two different sets of speakers as this system is in my bedroom. I like the fact that I can just switch the speaker cables from one set of speakers to the other without moving the speakers around. They actually sound quite good on top of the Zus and are just about the right height for my listening tastes.

B Run

Dawgfish wrote: »

Here's what I'm using for stands for my 703s. They are very solid and look good, sound good too! ;-) No not quite as good as the 703s but they are a nice change.

Best lookin stands i've seen yet, mine get here Friday :cheesygrin:

teekay0007

sarvic wrote: »

yeah, I was looking at the Sanus UF26 and I noticed that the base at the top is 6" x 6 1/2" whereas the speakers are 8 7/8" x 14 5/8". Is this going to be an issue with the speaker being bigger than the base that it sits on or do I need to find one that fits it better?

You'd be fine with those stands. The bases of the 703s are actually only about 12-1/2" deep. The 14-5/8" measurement is from the front of the grille to the back of the back-mounted bass port plate thingy. Therefore, you'd only have about 3" of overhang of the speaker base in both the front and back and under 1-1/2" of overhang on each side. With how heavy the speakers and stands both are, you should have a very solid foundation with your proposed setup, especially after you fill the stand columns with sand or shot.

Dawgfish

B Run wrote: »

Best lookin stands i've seen yet, mine get here Friday :cheesygrin:

Awesome! Can't wait to hear what you think of them! Your's have the modded caps too. Id like to do that to mine. They are really sweet speakers.

sarvic

Dawgfish wrote: »

I actually have a nice set of Pangea stands that I have filled with sand that do a good job with the 703s. Like yourself I don't have the room for two different sets of speakers as this system is in my bedroom. I like the fact that I can just switch the speaker cables from one set of speakers to the other without moving the speakers around. They actually sound quite good on top of the Zus and are just about the right height for my listening tastes.

Can you post a pic of your speakers on that stand?

sarvic

Also, I found that using Blu-Tack Coupling & Damping Compound is a good way to hold the speakers to the stands without scratching and damaging them. looks like you can get it for about $10

Dawgfish

I'll see if I can find some. All of my pictures of the 703s on the stands were on my old phone.

sarvic

Another thing I noticed is that the Sanus UF22 actually has an 8x8.5" top plate vs the 6x6.5" top plate of the UF26 which might ultimately be the way to go.

teekay0007

sarvic wrote: »

Another thing I noticed is that the Sanus UF22 actually has an 8x8.5" top plate vs the 6x6.5" top plate of the UF26 which might ultimately be the way to go.

If the UF26 would work better than the UF22 for you, height/position-wise, just call Sanus and see if they can provide you with the larger top plate for the UF26s. I did just that to see if I could buy the larger top plates when I bought a pair of SF26s (Steel Foundations) for my LSi9s. They offered to send them out for free and I had them in just a couple of days and they worked like a charm.

sarvic

In your opinion do you think the 26" height would be more ideal than the 22" stands? And those LSi9's are pretty much the older version of the LSiM 703's correct?
Did you put the Blu-Tack adhesive on your plates to hold your speakers down?

Dawgfish

It really depends on what the height of your listening position is. You want the tweeters to be roughly the same height as your ears when you are sitting in your listening chair. If you can't get it around ear level I find it works better when you have the tweeter higher than ear level rather than lower. Of course your listening environment will effect that greatly. I use the 28" tall Pangea stands(when I'm using actual stands) and they work well. IMHO I think you would be better off with the 26" stands unless your listening from the floor, a bean bag, or one of those on the floor gaming chairs. If that's the case, get a real chair and go with the 26" stands.:-)

BTW, the 703s come with adhesive-backed rubber bumpers that you can apply to protect the bottom of the speaker on the stands if that's a concern of yours. My stands have metal spikes on the top-plates and I just put the speakers right on the spikes without the bumbers or blue tack. Sure it does scratch up the bottoms, but who's going to see that? I feel it gets better contact between the speaker and the stands for better resonance control.

teekay0007

Well, ideally, you want the tweeters at about ear level when in your favorite listening position - although I've heard this is less important with the ring radiator tweeters of the 703s. The tweeters of the 703s are about 10" from the base of the speakers, placing them at about 32" or 36", using the UF22 or UF26, respectively. Also, the overall speaker height is 16-3/4", making the total (stand and speaker) height 38-3/4" or 42-3/4". So, get out your tape measure and see what makes the most sense for your setting - ie. what's the right height for sitting next to your TV?, etc.

For my setting, the 36" is right at seated ear level. Also, I do a lot of listening while up and about, doing things around here and I also much prefer the taller setup, on the basis of overall appearance.

Yes, the LSi9s are the predecessor of the 703s. However, the 703s are leaps and bounds ahead of the 9s (stock) on all fronts. I can't speak for how the 9s sound after they've been modified, but I think the 703s are the best sounding bookshelves I've ever heard, especially on the lows. And that includes being compared to B&W CM5s and Sonus Faber Cremona Auditor Ms (their custom stands alone were $1200).

I didn't use the Blu-Tack, but I did use some squishy rubber adhesive buttons of some sort that I got at HD. It worked quite nicely.

sarvic

Thanks for the info! I went ahead and sent an email to Sanus's tech support to see if it were possible to ship the larger 8x8.5" top plate from the UF22 if I purchased a UF26. Hopefully they'll do it although it always depends on the person over there.

teekay0007

If you don't get the answer you're looking for by email, it might be worth a call to their CS people. Can't hurt.

sarvic

Ok, so I just called Sanus and they were able to ship me the larger 8x8.5" plates from the UF22's. Price was $18 and then $5 for shipping. Now I just need to get the UF26's and i'll be set!
Will post pictures afterwards.

eclypse

Very cool of them! Congrats! Make sure to fill those stands with sand but make sure to put the sand in the oven first to dry it well or you'll have some issues hehe.

sarvic

well, I was thinking of maybe getting some shot instead of using sand. what are other people using?

eclypse

Prob sand as shot is way more expensive unless you already have some to use.

F1nut

Lead shot has considerably more mass per volume.

eclypse

At 10x the cost right?

chris23120

Dawgfish wrote: »

Here's what I'm using for stands for my 703s. They are very solid and look good, sound good too! ;-) No not quite as good as the 703s but they are a nice change.

Those 703's do look great in that finish!

F1nut

eclypse wrote: »

At 10x the cost right?

Yep and 100x the results.