I understand why you may want to sub-in spikes for placement on a carpet or rug .
FWIW, the bottom tenons serve as replacements for spikes. The TT manual recommends that you place their stands on a slate platform (or equivalent material)
Building stands for Harbeth 40.2's
I talked with my builder today. I told them I would reach out for more expert opinions on a final design.
Since the TonTragers are the benchmark for Harbeth stands, I'm trying to match them as much as possible.
Question 1- The TonTragers have a 1 inch riser in each corner of the top of the stand. Is this critical for optimal sound ? Or would it be sufficient for the speaker to sit flat on the top of the stand ?
Question 2- Obviously the top needs to be open except for the exterior frame, but can the base be a solid flat piece of wood...or should that be open also ?
Please chime in with any ideas...also I plan on using some good cone spikes on the bottom.
I've attached a pic of the TonTrager for reference for the above questions.
Thanks in advance.
I used sound anchor stands for my Harbeth SHL5+ and the bass sounded significantly better than the ton trager stand copies I made. I liked the appearance of the ton trager knock offs but the solid, massive sound anchors delivered the tightest, deepest bass. i had them spiked through carpet to concrete floor. I discovered sound anchors at a local dealer where all of their speakers had excellent bass because of them, I was sold. 1- if you do have the tragers made- definitely pay attention to stand height. to my ears harbeth speakers sound best when they are lower than typical. it reinforces the bass and gives the tweeters a softer more natural blend- just an inch or two below ear height. ideally you should experiment before committing to the height. 2- without question use iso dots to decouple the speaker to stand. very critical for lossy cabinet speakers. soft sorbothane made for peaky bass, medium firm dots made the best most balanced bass and hard silicone rubber dots seemed to drain the bass, experiement, |
@bassdude , I have stuck 3M carpet tape to just about anything you can think of. It will not damage a modern polyester finish at all. It will leave a residue that is easily removed with brake cleaning fluid. The most common problem with carpet tape is that it will not stick to some surfaces that is when I switch to 3M high strength mounting tape. That can be a b-tch to get off. |
From HUG, by Alan Shaw, Designer, owner, Harbeth Audio UK: Quite honestly, you are over reading the design, shape and styling of the stands. From our perspective as the speaker designers, the stand you show is just one of an infinite number of possible designs, all of which would almost certainly achieve good results. |
This is ludicrous assertion by Shaw. How a speaker stand interacts with the floor can, depending on other variables, produce clearly audible differences. The quote is reminiscent of when, years ago, Shaw was famously agnostic about amplifiers:
Shaw designs excellent speakers, but at least some of his related views should be taken with a large grain of salt. |
Think this way -- if the stands have dramatic impact to the speaker performance and he ignored it unduly, would he be successfully designed so many good speakers and have good reputation for that? Lots ideas about good stand discussed here, including the expensive TT design lack of theoretical back and experimental evidence at all. So please show the theories and measurement data to prove it that they are not snake oil.
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agree with you - alan shaw can be a tricky dude... in spite of the harbeths being excellent speakers... he is the business mind and owner behind the brand, and as an expert capitalist, you can count on him to say what serves his commercial interests... ’oh why yes, any old amplifier will do - just make sure you have bought the best harbeth you can afford’ 🤣 |