Speaker Stands Question

One method is to try with "virtual stands" first. Actually I am doing this now, since my main rig is down, I am trying out Audioengine A5+ active speakers that are in my house temporarily. Use a stiff chair or small table, and then a stack of heavy big books. Experiment with the height and position of the "stands". Now you will know what height your real stand should be. You may be able to get Target or similar solid heavy stand second hand, for a fair price. I have a pair at my cottage (working very well, beneath my Aurum Cantus speakers). If you look for sonic pleasure only (and you should), "heavy, solid and rigid" is what you want. I also note that many monitors like a bit of weight and damping on top, like a sand bag - bass gets more authoritative, etc - althoug it may not fit your preferences visually.

While I'm sure Nola has a suggested height for stands to be used with their speakers (my Micro References did), given the difference in the height of the chairs in which people listen I think O holter's advice is spot on. As a general rule, your ears should be at about the same height as the tweeters in the speakers, and a heavy, solid and rigid stand is usually preferable. Good luck; you've got a nice pair of speakers, enjoy them.

Talk to Noel at Skylan Speaker Stands... give him the Nola dimensions and he will make custom stands for you (about 350.00)

Assuming good build quality. The biggest difference will be with where the speaker is located and oriented vertically and also whether the stands couple to the floor acoustically or are isolated. Best choice will vary case by case room by room and listener to listener.

You want the tweeters the same height as your ears while sitting in your listening chair... go to Cardas speaker placement calculator site for help with placement

24inch is the standard it seems

For my Nola Boxers I built a pair of 20" stands that put the tweeters at ear level while sitting on my couch. The Boxers sound great in that setup.

The front edge of the couch cushions is only 15" off the floor, though, so you'd want to adjust for your own sitting position.

The top and bottom of the stands are two glued-together layers of MDF, 11 1/2" X 9" on bottom, 9 1/2" X 7 on top, and the center column is 4" diameter PVC pipe filled with sand. Finish is flat black spray paint.

Osiris speaker stands...all one needs to know.

combination of PVC pipes and MDF makes nice, cheap and good quality DIY speaker stand.

Too bad Osiris no longer makes speaker stands. That, and any shipping of a good used pair would be cost prohibitive. Right now I'm looking into stands for my Clearwave Duet 6s and I think I'm going to settle on a pair of 24" parawood bar stools which places the tweeter spot on with my ears.

Parawood is rated at 1300 on the hardness scale with maple at 1450. That's pretty close when it comes to wood. When I rap my knuckles on the stool, all I get is pain, it's that hard. I might drill some holes for some spikes so it couples to the floor convincingly and see how it works out. All I'll be out is $116 for the stools and some more for some decent spikes. It should work until I come across some nicer looking dedicated stands.

All the best,
Nonoise

Sometimes a speaker will sound better with on a plate 1/2 its size sitting on those square dots Herbie makes for that and which hold like a vise.

If the tweeters are lined up with your ears you have to not slouch while listening unless you were slouching during set up, in which case you have to always slouch.

Czarivey, I was thinking of trying your suggestion. My thought was to use 6” PVC pipe and tied to wood base and top plate. Fill bottom 1/3 with concrete to lower center of gravity, the rest with sand. Toilet flanges might be used to transition from PVC to wood. As I have 3 sets of good stands bought used from dealers, haven’t gotten to this yet.

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Mesch, Czarivey

Since you both seem interested in the PVC pipe stands here are a few notes to elaborate on my post above about the construction of mine.

- The most important step is making the cut of the PVC pipe absolutely flat, smooth and square, difficult to do with a hand saw. One of the advantages of the 4" pipe is that it can be cut on a table saw with a 10" blade. If those cuts aren't square and smooth the stands won't be perfectly vertical and sand can leak out.
- I used two layers of 3/4" MDF glued together for the tops and bases. MDF is heavier than wood and not resonant, which is why it's used for speaker cabinets.
- Having the tops and bases be 1 1/2" thick let me countersink a hole in the center of and halfway through each piece. For each stand I cut a piece of 5/16" all-thread rod and used a nut and washer in the countersunk holes to hold the base, top and pipe together.
- I drilled another hole all the way through each top and offset from the center, filled the stands with sand and taped over the holes with black gaffer's tape. That's hidden by the speakers and easily removed if you want to remove the sand for shipping or an upgrade to audiophile-approved sand.
- If you use all-thread rod to hold the parts together you'll need a way to cut the rod to the proper length. I used an angle grinder with a cut-off blade but it could be done with a hacksaw. I used standard steel rod from Lowes but have no doubt that audiophile-grade rhodium plated oxygen-free copper rods might improve the sound.
- Completely filled with sand, the 4" pipe stands are considerably heavier than the Boxers and are just as substantial as any of the all-metal stands I've owned, with the possible exception of the Osiris stands.
- The construction may sound complicated but it was remarkably easy and the cost for the pair of stands was less than $30.
- If you'd like a picture of the finished product send me a message and I'll forward.

Sorry Sfar, I did not see your entire post of 12/31. Yes, I always thought the cutting to be the most critical aspect of using PVC. Thanks for the follow-up.

There is a pair of osiris stands for sale in ny for $300...

I think the Pvc route would look janky, and might be a waste of $ and time. Building them to be flat, equal and aesthetically pleasing would be difficult.

I agree with what was said about the stands being sturdy, heavy and stable. Add in non resonant and level, with spikes top and bottom and you should be good.

If you dont want to spend much, b&w stands filled with sand are decent and only cost $130 ish.

If you're looking for a workout, Cinder blocks work well in determining how tall of a stand works best.

No offense to anyone with janky stands... I've used them before too :)

So I looked up the pvc stands... Maybe that isnt a horrible idea as long as you don't have me help you. You should see what the stands that I built looked like; absolutely horrific and I spent 3 days on them. Good luck!

I just had a pair made by Tyler Acoustics. Outstanding quality and service.

Quality Speakers Stands are a MUST. Besides the correct height
the top platform should be in size of your speakers .
The speakers should be "sitting" on the corners. That's the
best way to transfer the energy from the Speakers to the Stands. Much better sound stage and the bass.
The Sound Anchors are among the best stands if not the best.
They come with the Blue Tack but they have low profile. You
need 1/2" between the speakers and the top plate.
The coupling isolation feet are very important. I purchased
Atacama Isolation Feet and they are perfect. All my friends who are into this "hobby" are using them.

Why not Pangaea audio's DS00 on Audio Advisor? I am considering those for my Pioneer bookshelf speakers.

I'm not a fan of universal stands. If you're budget-minded, I would recommend a custom stand from Sound Anchors. Taoc also make a good value, yet high quality range of stands if you can handle the non-existent customer service. However they only come in standard sizes.

thx topten and melbguy, I'll look into the sound anchors myself. I'll also check out the Atacama isolation feet.

lol, Im not the op but I think I got the most out of this thread. thx