Stands for your Harbeths

[danrubin]

Fascinating. Stands are one of those areas where people tend to accept a conventional wisdom, mainly because it is too difficult to experiment. Here you have experimented and found a result you did not expect. Thanks for sharing this. I think I'll try the Epos under my SHL5's.

[Chayro]

These are the ones I was talking about. Best results appeared to come from simply placing the speakers on the stands with no Blu-Tak or anything like that. They also come with top spikes, which I didn't try. If you have an aversion to not using an interface, you might consider Herbies thin 1" grungebuster dots at each corner, just to protect the speaker from directly contacting the metal.

http://www.amusicdirect.com/products...?sku=AEPOSST12

[J.A. Boonstra]

My dealer also told me, that Blue Tac may damage the finish of the speaker.
He recommended Pritt Buddies.

(I don't know if they are available in Italy, but here (in the Netherlands) they are sold to stick posters to the wall and remove them without doing damage to the wall and/or the poster.)

So I tried the Pritt buddies between my Harbeth Super HL5 and the ("heavy metal") Target R2 stands.
When using Pritt Buddies, make sure that you warm them (kneading). Put them on every corner between the speaker and the stand. Press the speaker on the stand, so that you can't seen the Buddies any more.

I am very happy with this solution. Compared to the previous situation, when the speakers were just sitting on the stands (with no "coupling"), the sound quality has improved.

Pritt Buddies are inexpensive. So you can try them without any financial risk. And because they can be removed without leaving traces, there is also no risk for your speakers.

Hopefully this answer is of any use to you.

[A.S.]

You may have noticed in my thread: http://www.harbeth.co.uk/usergroup/showthread.php?t=154 that the Monitor 30s were on three-legged metal stands and the Monitor 40s on four-legged metal stands.

The M40 stands were custom made for me some years ago, and I recently rediscovered them in the stores and have put them to use. The M30 stands are completely new - a recent invention of Harbeth's distributor in France, David Manley.

The remarkable thing about these 'Twizzle' stands'* is that they have a wide range of height adjustment and are readjustable by the user very simply and easily to suite P3, C7, M30 and SHL5 to bring them up to whatever height you want. For speaker evaluation, where the listener may wish to align the height of the tweeters it is the perfect solution. It also puts to the test claims that stand height has a significant effect on sonic performance. Once the height is finally settled upon, then they can be sand or lead filled to suit. I have shuffled the M30s and their stands around so that they are side by side in these pictures just for clarity: I would not listen to them as photographed (see previous artical and pictures for my actual listening set-up).

I understand that Mr. Manley will make these available to members of our Harbeth User Group at a discounted price. Please contact him directly if you are interested. (Refer to Sales section on the Harbeth web site). The Copyright and Intellectual Property Rights associated with these designs are owned by Mr. David Manley.

Please also understand that I am not saying that these stands are sonically superior to any others (they may, or may not be; that is not the issue here) but that their ease of adjustment makes them absolutely ideal for critical listening and experimentation.

*named by me after a boy who could extend his arms and legs from the children's TV of my childhood: http://www.whirligig-tv.co.uk/tv/chi...rya/gerrya.htm )

[lvb]

Hello Alan, when did you stop making the stands for the Compact 7 and why? I have a pair of the original stands and I think they are perfect for the compact 7's. It seems that these would be the best soloution as far as stand hight and construction are concerned. BTW I have a pair of quite different 7's, black ash with walnut baffle and non-mirror imaged square port. They are compact 7es's. Also these speakers have completely stoped me from wanting any thing else.

Lawrence

[A.S.]

Um. Let me think: I guess we stopped making the wooden stands at least 7 years ago. The (commercial) problems were twofold: first, the cost. There is far more hand work in making veneered wooden stands than you would imagine. Second, the problems of veneer matching. Veneer oxidises with time depending on the listening room's light level, temperature etc. , and darkens. A customer who purchase the speaker and stands some time apart may not be satisfied with the veneer match - and this is problematic for everyone in the sales chain.

[Daniele Giometti]

Forgive me if I'm wrong but I've heard a lot of people recommending that Harbeth speakers sit on "Skylan" stands.

What's special about Skylan stands?

What other stands are recognized as being good for Harbeths?

I read enthusiastic reviews about Skylan stands; I tried to contact them once (they sell on the web) but I had no answer. Today I tried again.
Am I mistaking something ? Has anyone of you bought from Skylan on the web ?
thanks
daniele

[holden]

Hi All,

I'm living in Japan and have just bought a used pair of compact 7 speakers. They'll come with a pair of wooden stands 40cm high which appear to have been purposely made to fit the compact 7. Will a wooden stand be suitable? I'm used to sand filled steel/metal stands but, until now have always had a smaller speaker. Just wondered if these will be suitable　or will inhibit a good performance. I'll be using a quad 34 and 306 with a marantz cd-17da. Any thoughts appreciated. Also wonder how the compact 7 fares aginst the compact 7es2 and 3?

[Jeff Stake]

Wooden stands are not a problem at all. Harbeths can sound great on them. I use them often.

[Arlequen]

Here my custom made stands for my C7ES2 .. the four legs are full half of leads and half of sand , I'm satisfied and they work fine

[Naimeo]

I am actually using this stand for my C7ES2 - Atacama SL500 (500 mm or 20") filed with sand to stop the ring sound... I find the bass is good and clean, taut. I guess I like it that way!

I have the same stand and is thinking of using sand too.

However, I noticed that the cabinet of my C7ES3 is quite "lively" compared to most high performance speakers I've seen.

Should I just fill the stand with light damping materials like compressed foam to stop the ringing - and not weigh the stand down - allowing the stand to sway a bit with the cabinet?

[Arlequen]

I have the same stand and is thinking of using sand too.

Hello Naimeo ,

I suggest you to fill each half leg of your speaker stand with lead balls , just those used in Hunting Firearms .. and the other half with sand
So you have more weight and stability and more anti resonance effect.
I did the same as I described into my speaker stands you can see on the pic above

My cent!

Curio

[sonofcolin]

Does anyone have any experience with using these stands:
http://www.mapleshaderecords.com/aud...drockultra.php
I'm intrigued by the design and noted that Harbeth get a mention by the company from user feedback.

I actually like the idea of having the speakers close to the floor from a safety perspective (young children in the house). I have also been searching for a stand that matches the wonderful Harbeth maple cabinets.

[Naimeo]

Thanks Arlequen. I filled up about 80% with fine sand and the improvement in terms of overall clarity at moderate to high volume is quite dramatic. Bass impact & quantity improved too.

[david]

Hi,
I'm currently searching for some stands for my C7ES. I already searched the web, but i didn't find the right thing till now.
I am searching for some metal stands. They should look simple (black as the speakers), no eye-catchers. They should not influence the sound.
What do you use? What do you recommend? Are there solutions that are easily obtainable in Germany?

Thanks, David

[NikPer]

I am actually using this stand for my C7ES2 - Atacama SL500 (500 mm or 20") filed with sand to stop the ring sound... I find the bass is good and clean, taut. I guess I like it that way!

Hi all,

I am thinking of building custom stands for my SHL5's. It is feasible for me to create something that looks like the one in the picture, only for the fact that the top and bottom plates will be made of 3cm thick MDF and the posts will be metal. This is the way my hifi rack is constructed, and the same idea will apply for the speaker stand.

Anybody think this is a good idea? It sonds nice to me, because it combines the damping characteristics of the MDF for the plates and the stability of the metal construction for the posts

[vaughn3d]

I am using the Skylan 4 post stands for my C7s. After positioning them and filling them with sand, I have been really pleased. My floor is carpet over concrete and I used the included spikes and am amazed at how stable and secure they are. The speakers fit perfectly and the stands and speakers really seem as if they are one piece, thats how nicely they integrate. Moving the speakers from some makeshift stands onto the Skylans really improved the sound also, particularly in the bass region. Overall the Skylans are a really nice product.

[aladog]

Vaughn3d, what is the height of your Skylan stands? Do you know if there are any acoustic benefts for having 4 posts instead of 2? Lastly, about how high are your ears from the ground when you listen to music? I am thinking about getting Skylands for mine as well.

[vaughn3d]

I went with the 20" in stands which puts the tweeters right around ear level. However I played around and sat with my head height at +/- 4 inches and could not hear any difference.

I don't know if there are any differences between the 2 and 4 post stand, but I think the 4 post gives a much more stable look. Also you will have 2x the amount of sand to absorb vibration, so I suppose at some level the 4 post would sound better.

Give Noel at Skylan a call, he is great to chat with and can provide some excellent guidance, he knows the Harbeth line well.

[Shutterbox]

Has anyone tried open frame designs, such as those meant for Epos ES11 or ES14?

I thought that such designs are (should I say) boundary-less and would give the maximum space for any type of bookshelf speakers to "breathe"