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Raising standmount speakers

My main system is in the media room and consists of Harbeth SHL5+ resting on stands that are 18 inches high (as recommended by Harbeth). When we were building the house this room was meant to be a proper media room. So we had the builder make a platform in the back 1/4th portion of the room to get the stadium seating effect. The platform is about 8 inches higher than the rest of the floor area. My listening chair (actually couch) is placed atop the platform. The problem is that in this listening position my ears are a little above the tweeter level.

I'm looking for suggestions on how to raise the speaker stands by 4-6 inches without breaking the bank or the aesthetics of the room. The room is fully carpeted by the way.

P.S. - please don't suggest removing the platform. We still plan to put a theater setup in there some day ... although, I'm running out of excuses to postpone the decision. I would much rather keep it as a dedicated 2-channel listening room, but the rest of the family is not too thrilled. The thought of just getting rid of the family has certainly crossed my mind though ...
arafiq

Showing 5 responses by arafiq

arafiq's avatar
arafiq OP
1,719 posts
 
Thanks for the suggestions. When I said 'without breaking the bank', I meant no more than $200-300. So this rules out buying a new pair of taller stands unfortunately.

I like the suggestion of creating a tilt, but I don't need to tilt just to find out if it makes a difference. I can slump on the couch a bit to get my ears a few inches lower than the proper sitting height. So the truth is that there's not a huge difference when I'm sitting upright or slump down a few inches. The main difference is that the music gets a tiny bit more immersive and the soundstage gets a bit taller when I lower my head. But I don't know if I can justify spending more than a few hundred dollars to get marginal improvements.

I do have the ability to raise or lower the footers, so that's something I'm going to try first. My only concern is stability. 

@yogiboy -- thanks for the IcoAcoustics suggestion. I didn't think of that before, but this might be a reasonable solution if the tilt doesn't fix the issue. 

What do you guys think of using thick butcher blocks underneath the speakers? I don't know how they impact the sound though. Probably a bad idea but who knows.
arafiq's avatar
arafiq OP
1,719 posts
 
@tvad Thanks and this makes sense. I looked into the IcoAcoustics footers and they sound promising - no pun intended :)

A combination of IcoAcoustics and butcher blocks might be the way to go in the long run.  think I saw @milpai system pics where he is using a similar combination but he has floorstanders.

Appreciate the input from everyone. In the meantime, I will experiment with tilting the stands. Will keep you guys posted.
arafiq's avatar
arafiq OP
1,719 posts
 
By the way, I've always heard that the tweeters should be aligned with your ears for best results. Is the advice always right, or is this one of the 'it depends' things?
arafiq's avatar
arafiq OP
1,719 posts
 
@tvad Thanks. Just wondering what makes you say it's not a long term solution? Stability or something else?
arafiq's avatar
arafiq OP
1,719 posts
 
Thanks for some great advice! I want to emphasize that the sound that I'm getting right now is pretty damn good! But like most of you here I'm trying to eke out that last bit of fidelity from my speakers. 

I tried to tilt the speakers a bit today, but didn't notice much of a difference. Maybe I should leave it at good enough? I don't want to increase the tilt angle any further because TBH it looks rather silly and I'm afraid the speakers will be too unstable and might topple over at some point.

For now, I'm going to wait for used IcoAcoustics Gaia footers to show up in the use market. Really appreciate the wonderful advice and tips.
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