advice on speaker stands needed

Having decided on upgrade to speakers, I want to have them benefit from an upgrade to their stands. The JMLab Electra 905s are 46cm (18inch) tall, and very heavy. I have wooden floors and have been using MoPads to take the boom out of the present set-up: Celestion Ditton 15s on (not quite so old) Target three-legged black stands.

Suggestions welcome.

 

Hi Ditton ,
I use Kudos stands with my 905,s .They were the cheaper ones (around £120) and seem to work well .(sand filled)
There was some advice earlier in the week that suggested that the 905,s work best on open frame stands . But I hadn,t seen the advice before so I can,t say how much better it would be .
you used to be able to get the the kudos stand at the neat website but i had a quick look for them (to give you a link) but I couldn,t find them
hope this helps

 

Why not build some sand filled collumns, or look to the stone plinths often found in builders merchants and gargen centres. These will work a treat , and be visually very different than the normal pillar stand.
The added advantage isthey will not have the HIFI mark up on the price tag. Just a suggestion anyway.

 

thanks for the suggestions. what do folk think of Atacama? and which of their product range, given Transcend/DaxDecade + AudioLab8000S + JMLab Electra 905s & sound of 905s and wooden floors + high ceilings?

 

To be honest, a few large breeze-blocks make some of the very best speaker stands if you can bare the look. Could always cover them with piece of material remember…

 

If those are the ones you fancy , then they should be fine .
I have owned atacama stands , but I can,t remember which speakers it was with

I,ve held back on replying as I wanted to evaluate a bit of advice that was given for 905,s .
The advice was (as previously mentioned)
a) use open frame stands
b)if you use fillable stands don,t fill them .
well I,ve emptied my stands (but kept the sand ) and yes I can concur that there is a change for the better .(the treble doesn,t seem to be as forward)
So , if you buy fillable stands , it might be useful to try them unfilled first .
Richard

edited to add
thanks to whoever it was for the original tip (sorry can,t remember who it was). I did try to find the original thread with the advice , but failed miserably .

 

Interesting, I have had almost the opposite experience; the focus and timing was improved dramatically when I filled my stands, the greatest improvements being a tightening of the bass and a much greater focus of the image. The tonal character changed very little.

I guess this means that different stand/speaker combinations will react differently to being filled. It's definitely worth giving it a go both ways.

 

these posts are timely, thanks. other advice I'd read advised making sure that the stand was at least half the weight of the speakers, so 'tis worth a try!!

am looking to go for Atacama SLs, mainly cos the top plate is big enough for the Electras.

I think I've just found that link:

https://www.audio-forums.com/as-rediect/showthread.php?s=&postid=52517&highlight=sand#post52517

 

on an (almost) related topic, I have recently moved to bare floorboards, and found the bass to be boomy, perceptable vibrations through my feet. I have 'cured' that with the MoPads but that makes the heavy speakers somewhat unstable.

is marble/granite the best anti-boom 'solution'?

 

IMHO

You can change the sound with attention to the speaker/floor interface but you cant change the sound of the room by doing so.

I have a boomy room with a wooden floor.. and the only way to really change that is to stop having a wooden floor! (bass traps have helped, but not cured things)

I cant bring myself to put carpet down instead of my nice wood floor/rug though!

 

I thought someone might say that - so maybe I'll up the scatter-rug ratio.

 

yep , thats the thread . It,s slightly ambiguous(sp) , and it,s a shame my interpretation wasn,t confirmed , but it seems to work .

Are you using jmlab 905,s ?
The advice is specifically for that speaker .

It could well be just simply a matter of taste . I,ve found that I,m really sensitive to a bright treble (hurts my ears , as does distortion)

If your not using 905,s , then I can well understand . As standard practice , I have always filled my stands with the other speakers I,ve owned .

If you own 905,s , then it certainly seems to be becoming more popular over at ZG .

My room is boomy (like a public toilet )
The main boom seemed to be in the alcoves (either side of the fireplace). so I have put shelves up .They,re homemade floating shelves , which means I have been able to make them different sizes and fill them , some with scrunched up newspaper and some with sand . Each shelf sounds different when you tap it .
The boom has been cured , whilst keeping quite a "live " room .
I was dreading putting my hifi into this place and I can honestly say that it,s the best sound I,ve heard from it .
Go figure

 

No, not JMLab 905's - I'm using one pair of Sonus Faber Concerto's and one pair of AVI NuNeutrons - similar effects with both though more marked with the AVI's

 

For anyone who is interested in speaker stands I have just received a rather comprehensive reply from Les W on the subject. It's on Pink Fish under Slate Speaker Stands.

A very interesting analysis of the problems I think.

 

So, does this suggest that I should stick with my current, 3 legged Target stands? And even try emptying them of their lead shot!

I'll try it and see how they sound.

However, the Electra 905s are heavy, so I risk a top-heavy structure - which is fundamentally unsound!

 

I've honestly no idea, it seems that every solution could work very well or could be awful depending on the room, the floor and the resonances of your speaker cabinets. Possibly we need to home dem stands in the way we do speakers.

I'm going to stick to light open frame stands with a Mana base under them, simply because that is what I find works for me.

 

just got a set of '905s off ebay... have some 50cm tall Heybrook HBS1 stands in the house, which are open framed- similar to the old Epos ES11 stands... you think these would be more suitable than some filled Atacama Se6's ?

 

Another set of 905,s on this forum , good man

Do you have both sets of stands as mentioned above Rory?
If so ,can you have a play with the two over the next few days and then post your results ?
It would be interesting to know what the difference is .
I would suggest, though , if its an easy job, that you try the Atacamas without sand .(I had positive results emptying my kudos stands)
all the best
richard

 

:yikes: :mana:

Rory bought a non-Mordaunt Short speaker!!!!

 

well they should theoretically be arriving middle of next week...i was going to bid for some KEF RDM2's on ebay as well, cos i thought the 905s would make at least £800. £400s cheap for them though, I thought though so I'd get them

i do indeed have the Atacama SE6's and the Heybrook HBS1 stands. Will post results as soon as speakers arrive.

For any 905 owners, have you found yourselves desiring a subwoofer too, or do they dig deep enough on their own?