Suggestions for bookshelf speaker stands

pablo_rodz

Hi all,

I’m looking for a decent/affordable stands for a pair of RTiA1. What suggestions you have? I would like to spend no more than $150.

Thanks!

rooftop59

these look pretty awesome! $110 for the pair...

https://www.amazon.com/Monolith-Inch-Speaker-Stand-Each/dp/B076HX81WZ

pablo_rodz

Those are the same ones Monoprice has. What is the “standard” height tor bookshelf stands? Monoprice has the 32” at $70/ea.

Also, where can I source (locally) leadshot?

kharp1

Where is local?

Tony M

Stands should place your speaker's tweeters at ear level. Or any height if you use them for background music.

76.00 to your door.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B008O05UGW/ref=sspa_dk_detail_5?psc=1&pd_rd_i=B008O05UGW&pd_rd_w=LP88V&pf_rd_p=8a8f3917-7900-4ce8-ad90-adf0d53c0985&pd_rd_wg=iU7R0&pf_rd_r=EEGTN4WS2XGNCM4S2HF9&pd_rd_r=cd146c7c-93a7-11e9-80a3-a18782f7606f

tonyp063

I use these in a similar situation. $65

https://www.parts-express.com/dayton-audio-ssmb24-24-speaker-stand-pair-square-steel-base--240-750





A little sand & a spike substitution & they "punch above their weight", as they say.

F1nut

https://www.liedtke-metalldesign.eu/Lautsprecherstaender/Boxenstaender

kharp1

F1nut wrote: »

https://www.liedtke-metalldesign.eu/Lautsprecherstaender/Boxenstaender

Those are nice.

pablo_rodz

kharp1 wrote: »

F1nut wrote: »

https://www.liedtke-metalldesign.eu/Lautsprecherstaender/Boxenstaender

Those are nice.

I agree. Those look very nice, but my German sucks, and spear to bee out of budget.

Thanks!

pablo_rodz

kharp1 wrote: »

Where is local?

I’m in Houston, TX. What I meant to ask, in what kind or retailer can I find leadshot, that is brick and mortar (not online).

Hermitism

pablo_rodz wrote: »

kharp1 wrote: »

Where is local?

I’m in Houston, TX. What I meant to ask, in what kind or retailer can I find leadshot, that is brick and mortar (not online).

Any type of sporting good store (Bass Pro Shop, Cabela's) that carries gun related items should carry shot or can special order some for you. Gun shops should have shot but will be higher in price than a discount sporting goods store.

Regarding online: During the holidays, many online stores provide specials or coupon codes for free shipping, which is important when shipping lead.

Tony M

Would BB's be too expensive?

I'm thinking yes.

Hermitism

To be honest, I'm not sure they even make old fashioned metal BB's anymore. I could be wrong about that. The ones made for modern air soft guns are different than the metal BB's. They've tried to do away with the steel BB's because they are unsafe in regards to bouncing back and hitting the shooter, unlike lead pellets or plastic BB's.





A 50 pound bag of sand is $5 at Home Depot, but doesn't weight nearly as much as lead. I used a lead/sand mix with my stands. I ordered 50 pounds of lead online with free shipping and one 50 pound bag of sand from HD, which put it at or just under $100. I think I mixed about 20 pounds of sand with the lead. I purchased some good stands at a good price and didn't want to cheat on the mass loading part of the project. Sand is good enough to stop resonance when flicking the stands with your fingertip, but the more the stand weighs the better it will be coupled to the floor. I don't want to get into the coupled vs. uncoupled aspect of this. Jesse helped me pick out my stands and helped with the loading and I'm glad I put in that extra effort. The mass loading part is a fraction of the cost that gets spent on equipment and cables around here. I'm glad I did it, but I didn't enjoy doing it. Very time consuming.

Tony M

Duane...That was a great post! Very informative.

kharp1

Cabelas is where I purchased mine. I bought 100lbs for the cavity of the Usher CP-6311's and never used it.

Hermitism

With just about anything audio related, you're going to get more than one explanation, theory or answer. Couple vs. uncouple, for example. From what I've gathered. uncoupling the stand from the floor can result in better sound in certain situations, like having a spongy floor. Do what sounds best.

I hate paraphrasing someone else's explanation because they don't get credit for it and I may butcher their explanation. But I remember someone explaining it like this... Take a speaker and put it on a flimsy stand and listen to it. Then take the speaker and sit it down on a concrete floor and listen. It should sound more detailed and have more bass. On a flimsy stand part of the energy is going through the cabinet down the stands to the floor. But sitting them directly on a concrete floor, a speaker isn't powerful enough to move the Earth, so more energy goes through the drivers and they are more efficient. If I got that wrong, someone will pop up and say so. I'm thinking Jstas wrote that, and more eloquently I'm sure.

Then I've heard that mass loading stands can make speakers sound dead. Also, depending on the quality of the stands, you don't want to make them so heavy that it compromises the integrity of the stand and damage/crack them.

Skip's theory goes a step further. I won't even try to explain it except that stands can sort of be tuning forks for speakers. But we are talking about stands that cost more than the MSRP of my whole system. So that wouldn't apply to my application. I'm like the Joe Dirt of this forum.

kevhed72

Very timely thread, as my current stands are too high compared to listening position. This is the cheapest lead shot I found online. It comes in #5 or #6 - not sure which one would be easier to load into speaker stands:

Im also going to order the Monolith stands above....for 110.00 a pair thats a great price, and try out Blue Tack to couple each speaker to each stand.

Hermitism

The larger the number, the smaller the round balls are. I went with the smallest they had which was #10 shot. I figured it would flow throw the small vent holes in my stands faster. If you mix the sand with the shot it will fill up the tiny spaces in between the shot making a denser pack. The best advice I can give is bake the sand before mixing. Even if you think the sand is dry, bake it. If it is truly dry, when you pour some sand into a bucket it will self-level. It won't hold any shape. The drier it is, the easier it is to flow through the vent holes if your stands have small slots for filling. Some stands have big open cavities for filling, so that wouldn't be a problem. My stands had ridiculously small filling slots.




So if anyone remembers, after filling my first stand via the removal of the end caps, I filled the second stand the old fashion way, through the slots and bolt hole. I immediately noticed that I had to tap the column to get the sand/lead through. I came to the conclusion that the sand had more moisture than I originally thought. So I baked the sand for the second stand and the result was positive. The sand flowed through the holes with ease, yet still painfully time consuming.

Ever since, when I would sit down to listen to music, that moist sand in the right stand was eating at me. Would it rust? Would the columns collapse in ten years? Had I failed in my DIY project? With all the talk of stands on the forum lately, I took it upon myself to take apart my "stand of evil" last month.

The vent holes were covered in Dynamat, so taking the them apart and replacing the bolts would result in no leakage. When first removing the bottom base, the bolts turned difficultly, yet they did turn. My first thought was that the end caps were spinning due to my original application of Loctite (blue, not red), but I was greeted with a extracted bolt with numerous turns of the screwdriver. I did see what looked like a slight hint of rust color on the bolt tip. I replaced the bolt and continued freeing the columns. I picked up the first column, removed the top bolt from the end cap and turned it upside down into a bucket. The pure sand that was placed in the top quarter of the columns exited freely without effort. This sand had been baked after the bottom 3/4 had been filled with the moist sand/lead mix per my proper mix ratio. Once the pure sand had emptied, nothing else came out. The moist sand and lead had hardened to what I could only describe as a mild concrete mix. Concrete needs a solid ingredient known as aggregate to strengthen it. In the case of the stands, the lead provided the solid ingredient. I took some electric fence wire that was extremely stiff and poked it through the bolt hole and for the next thirty minutes I stabbed the hardened mix in a Alfred Hitchcock Psycho stabbing motion. After thirty minutes I was able to empty out about 3/4 of a cup of mix that was extremely dry. I tried from the other end with the same result. I tried heavily tapping the column with a rubber mallet, to the point of fearing denting. No success in loosening the material. My fear of wet sand had been lifted and I was able to put the stands back together without damage.

Of course, my ocd will not let this go. From now on I will be wondering if the powdered sand mix in the left stand and the hardened concrete type mix in the right stand is creating a different sound out of each speaker. Are stands really tuning forks as Skip suggests?

Hermitism

Skip, about a year ago a used Solidsteel four shelf rack came up for sale somewhat local to me. It was the older style rack that was one piece and didn't come apart. It was filled halfway up with that exact product. I passed on it because I didn't need a four shelf rack. Two, maybe three shelves would work. I've regretted not buying it ever since.

mhardy6647

Shelving is like hifi equipment -- one can never have too much -- although one often has almost enough.

IMO, of course.

Tbone289

I just bought the Monoprice Monolith stands about a month ago, and I'm very satisfied with them. One 25-lb bag of the cheapest non-clumping kitty litter will fill all 8 legs of a 32" pair of stands to about 90% full. They're quite inert and solid after filling.

pablo_rodz

I went a bit over budget ($10) and bought the Sanus Steel Foundation series stands from Crutchfield. I should be getting them tomorrow. I chose the slowest shipping option (1 additional transit day) and saved an extra $15.

Thank our all for you suggestions.

kevhed72

I finally have my new stands together and actually holding my speakers. I went with 24" Monoprice Monoliths because, at that price, they couldn't be beat. Also, my previous stands were a bit too tall for my ear level.


This was a good excuse to order more Dynamat since I have some other ideas for it in my audio room.



The jenky-est thing about these stands were the threads for the spikes. I siliconed any small gaps in the bottom of the posts to prevent the toxic lead-sand mixture for escaping. The tops of the posts were pretty easy to fill.



The cheapest lead shot I could find was from Cabellas online for $43.00 plus free shipping for a 25.00 lb bag of size 7.5 lead shot. 7.5 is pretty small but still larger than the sand I reused from my old stands. The old sand was in there for around 5 years so it was bone dry. Each of the stands took a mixture of 1 25 lb bag of shot and all the existing sand from the old stands....plus a bit more. Note....wear gloves and a mask because they need to be pre mixed which generates a good amt. of dust. I also did this part outside since I am super paranoid about air quality in general.



This is my first attempt use Blue Tack to couple speakers to the stands. 1 package was plenty for all 8 corners. I may go back and Dynamat the tops of the stands, but wanted to see how well the Blue Tack worked first. Ill post later as to sound improvements, as this post is getting a bit long.
Edit - the pics posted in the reverse order I wanted, but you get the gist.