Speaker stand height and dimensions

Oh. You don't have the speakers yet? Then wait till it comes home.
Use a pair of identical stools (those plastic ones that are always around)
Stack some books and try various height settings with placement options.
Cheers,
Raghu
Just placed order for my 3020i :D
 
Hmm
hi all
a memeber pointed me to this thread

maybe a couple of points here could be helpful

Stand Height - In most cases a stand where tweeter is is 2- 3 inches BELOW the ear ( otherwise it gets a bit bright and you loose the weight and bass of the mids ) - In fact my personal stands have it below my ear by 4 inches
P.S also while calculating ear height - rememebr that you dont listen to music like a soldier sitting straight up with back straight
You always lean back and realx
Just this posture change accounts for sometimes 4-6 inches !!!

All this translates to a 26 inch tall stand in most circumstances - unless yorour speaker is shorter or taller than averge
International stands have a 24 inch standard due to their lower than avaerage seating height as compared to indian furniture
After all things said and done - DONT get too anal about the last one inch - sit back and enjoy the music
ITS just a stand!

Wooden stands
No issue with these
However they WILL have a signature

size of TOP plate
i have got tired trying to explain this
i think i should post it as a " sticky " on my wesbite
Stand top plates ( the plates on which the speaker sits ) are ALWAYS to be smaller than the speaker
Theres a whole theory behind it - expalining that here will de rail the thread and irrititate me as well
so i leave it up to the researchers here
International standard is 6 inch wide and 8 inch deep even for speakers that are 10 inch wide and 14 inch deep
Case in point - the focal bookshelf utoipa ( huge booskhelves ) stands have a tiny top plate , the dyna audio stand for the special forty comes with a 5.5 by 7 inch top plate

Our standard here are SF is 7 by 10
which is more than genereous for probabaly ALL speakers

We do customise top plates for sertain speakers like the KEF meta and LS50 wireless and Q3030 because these speakers have an insert on the bottom that allow one to anchor the speaker to stands
Again DO NOT go anal about this ( anchoring the speaker part )
the speaker is perfectly ok if its simply placed on silicon gel pads which overtime stick the speaker and provide super antiskid


Levelleing and wobbling
Speakers with spikes need to be levelled
I have clients saying that the stand is woobly
Well thats because no floor is even
One spike will be off the floor - you need to rotate it closkwise till it makes contact
and thats how the woobling will stock

When using on carpets
the stand will need about an month to SETTLE before the wobbling stops ( carpet soft ness carpet fibres da da da da ,,, )

if you keep moving the stands it will again need to " settle "


Lastly my favorite HOT topic
Stand weight
Im not going to get into any debate or expalin the theory
( thats agan for the reserachers and snake oil geniuses )
Stands weight may affect SQ ( that still makes sense)

but stand weight has nothing to do with stability ( well if does to a small extent but not how most think it to be )
For example i have questions like
"my speaker weighs 10 kg but stand weigh 7 kg - will it be stable "
My answer - you weigh 80 kg and sit on a bar stool that weighs 15 kgs - do you fall off
Hell you also sit on a 5 kg neelkamal plastic chair thats still stable

Stability has less to do with weight and more to do with design and centre of gravity


Do let me know if there any other frequently asked questions
I can use this thread and direct friends here rather than explaining and re explaining
 
i think i should post it as a " sticky " on my wesbite
Thanks a lot for the wonderful explanation, can you tell me which is your website so I can read more when I have my speaker and order a stand

Also I have ordered a q acoustics 3020i speaker, do you think the 26 inch would work for me too?

P.S also while calculating ear height - rememebr that you dont listen to music like a soldier sitting straight up with back straight
You always lean back and realx

Haha so true :)
 
Thanks a lot for all inputs... What will be the drawback of getting a solid wood stand compared to the "dedicated speaker stand"? Assuming that the solid wood one is sturdy and we'll built too
I don’t know about the sonic differences between a solid wooden stand and a metal one (filled with sand or atabytes)
I recall some speaker manufacturers recommend wooden stands (frame design not solid). You could find out what your speaker designer says about this ?

An aside: in the early days I used a stack of cement bricks. They were difficult to move till I got them into a good position; they worked fine but with low WAF (covered with a custom stitched cover, I thought they looked elegant).

Also: I am still confused about the recommendations - should the speakers be coupled or decoupled from the stands and the floor? (Blue tac/ double sided sticky tape, spikes, rubber bush golf balls cut in half etc, on tiled floor on carpet? Like every other aspect of this hobby this too is…complicated
 
:D I just calculated the height, my listening height is around 46-48 inch from sitting position, will calculate the height of stand needed for Q3020i
Remember to use the measurement from centre of tweeter to base of the speaker.
The challenge in buying standardised height stands is that every bookshelf/ stand mount speaker has different dimensions and height. As @magma pointed out some speakers can sound very harsh or bright pointed straight at the ears. Others have a directional quality (narrow or wider) that will affect the sound stage. Good to keep in mind we can alter this by adjusting the toe in angle as well.
 
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eaker manufacturers recommend wooden stands (frame design not solid
This is a whole differnt concept - open framed stands - also called lossy stands
these are reccomnded by some manufacturers who have tuned their cabinets to actually vibrate and the want the stand to accentuate that
(that too with certain MODELS ONly - not all )

so originally these were metal stands
both harbeth and spendor had them ( for certain models )

the wooden stands came on later to match the woods and since wood looked better
tonetrageur made them more famous
and as i said the signature that wood imparted coulds also be a contributing flactor

though as i said originally
Both harbeth and spendor started out with lossy metal frames
and thats still how we do it personally
 
This is a whole differnt concept - open framed stands - also called lossy stands
these are reccomnded by some manufacturers who have tuned their cabinets to actually vibrate and the want the stand to accentuate that
(that too with certain MODELS ONly - not all )

so originally these were metal stands
both harbeth and spendor had them ( for certain models )

the wooden stands came on later to match the woods and since wood looked better
tonetrageur made them more famous
and as i said the signature that wood imparted coulds also be a contributing flactor

though as i said originally
Both harbeth and spendor started out with lossy metal frames
and thats still how we do it personally
@magma, glad you could join the discussion and share your extensive experience. I am using your stands with my Harbeths and they sound fine!:)
Some friends have suggested wood frame stands as recommended by Harbeth. I am mulling this over.
 
@magma, glad you could join the discussion and share your extensive experience. I am using your stands with my Harbeths and they sound fine!:)
Some friends have suggested wood frame stands as recommended by Harbeth. I am mulling this over.
Wooden stands for Harbeths look good. One can store records too, if into into vinyl and enhance the looks.

Cheers,
Raghu
 
If you want to take an adventurous route, visit any timber store and make stands with tree trunks.

I made mine from the trunks of two trees that fell in my neighbour's compound during a cyclone that hit Chennai some years back.
It then cost me around Rs. 500 as timber was for free.
 
If you want to take an adventurous route, visit any timber store and make stands with tree trunks.

I made mine from the trunks of two trees that fell in my neighbour's compound during a cyclone that hit Chennai some years back.
It then cost me around Rs. 500 as timber was for free.
Great idea. Would love to get a glimpse of it. Please share some pics
 
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