Best stands for Proac Response 2

I used to use sand-filled Target R2 stands with my ProAc Response 2 speakers (attached with pea-sized bits of Blu-Tak, which should be equivalent to poster putty at any office supply store).

They were very expensive (MSRP $700), and I suspect that these Osiris stands would also work just as well:

http://www.sigsound.com/NU&DInfoPages/OSIRIS.htm

Hope this helps!

Stands are a significant extention of your speakers. Read my review on the Sistrum Mini Monitor Platfrom support system. Hopefully it'll explain the difference between isolating(decoupling) and coupling. I'm a coupler. Sand, lead, blu-tak, any absorbing material, do not fit into the coupling equation. Also: mixing the two, negates the principles/effects of coupling. The Sistrum stands, though pricey, deliver the goods and are well worth the $$. Go to audiopoints. com and ask for Robert. He be da man over there. They offer a money back guarentee if you're not happy. Can't beat that with a stick. peace, warren

At the time, I believe they were designed to be used with the Target R2 stands. They need something massive to be coupled to in order to sound their best. The R2s weigh about 75 pounds each, and when filled with sand, are basically immovable. That said, there are some newer stands that are probably comparable.

Proper stands will allow your speakers to lock and load into your room. I concur with Warren if you want as close to live sound in your room then couple. Lead, sand, and other so-called isolation materials de-couple you from the live dynamics of the music. Sistrum platforms and stands extend the soundstage in all directions with equal increases in both black level and dynamic contrasts..Tom

Warrenh & Theaudiotweak, sorry but you may have missed the point. The sand/lead, in this instance, is for mass loading, not "vibration absorption." (Yes Warrenh, I did read your review). The Target R2s are filled with sand or lead, thus creating a v.v. heavy object. The speakers don't sit on the sand (situations where sand as used to absorb energy), but rather on the metal top plate of the stand itself. The blu-tac is used to effectively couple your speakers to a heavy object--also *not* energy absorption. Frankly, I'd bet dollars to donuts that the ProAcs would sound better epoxied to the R2s, only that really messes with your resale value. Blu-tac is simply a removable substitute for glue.

Here's the real issue. When a speaker cone moves back and forth, it displaces air, and, on an ideally frictionless surface, would result in the whole speaker cabinet moving back and forth. As a practical matter, we don't put speakers on frictionless surfaces, but, notwithstanding that, there is some movement back and forth opposite to the cone movement; at a minimum, this damps the acoustic wave that travels to you.

You *cannot* minimize this by decoupling. If the cabinet is left free to resonate, the damping will occur. You *can* minimize this by making the energy required to move the cabinet so far in excess of what the displaced air is capable of moving that the movement is minimized. This is the theory behind spikes, cones, heavy speaker stands, and the blu-tac. You couple the speaker with blu-tac to the stand. You make the stand heavy--that way the speaker and stand act as one. To the extent possible, you try to couple the stands to the planet Earth with spikes. That makes it even more immoveable.

Blu tak is not a coupler. Quite the contrary. It will act as glue would to hold your speakers to the stands. If that's what you think coupling is, forgeddabout it. The path from speaker to Earth must (if you want to couple) be free of ANY absorbing material. Yeah, the sand makes the stand heavy. One big fat resonant absorbing monster. Not what you want to do when coupling to the Earth. Ed, if you want to effectively couple your speakers to the stands, you should place the speakers on cones, coupled to the stands. Although you're mass loading with the sand or lead, at the same time you're absorbing all resonances: good and bad. The audiotweak (we will hear from him) explains it better. If you go to audiopoints.com and read their white paper, you'll better understand the principles of coupling. peace, warren

I read the audiopoints paper. Frankly, for all their talk of coulomb friction, they are doing precisely what I'm talking about. F = dP/dt; typically this means the bigger the mass, the more force required to move it. The idea is to create (in effect) the bloody heaviest "virtual" speaker you can. That way, the force imparted by the moving bits creates less displacement of the whole thing (i.e., damping). I don't care if you glue it or spike it together (er, that speaker cabinet probably has some glue in it, BTW), as long as the end result is something that, from a physics POV, looks like a larger mass. Cones work well, I'll grant you that. So does blu tac (blu tak, whatever) in certain applications (like the RS2/RS2 interface).

I hate to say it, but the marginal difference between filling your stands with their magic pixie dust and lead shot or sand is pretty negligible at best--the coupling is really the issue. To the extent sand or lead shot "absorbs" resonances, so will their "micro bearing steel fill." This stuff "absorbs" resonances by the action of friction--they rub against each other and generate heat, thus dissipating energy. This will happen no matter what you put in there.

All that stuff about transferring resonance to a point below the spike? 'natch. Its not a magic of their points, its a simplistic way of saying that if its coupled to earth, the large majority of the vibrational force at any moment (proportional to the weight of the speaker/stand versus the earth) is affecting the earth, not the speaker/stand.

BTW, its not "Ed," its "Eric." ; )

Can you use BDR Racing cones under the speakers on the stand instead of Blue Tak? Would this be a better coupler. Would the speakers not be stable on top of BDR cones Or use Blue Tack under the BDR to hold in place then put speakers on top. i think you best be careful of speakers falling off if i did that. Any info on this way . I now use only Blue Tack to couple the Merlins to my Osiris stands.