Exhibits, Shows and Displays

Is it worth paying more than£100 for hi fi speaker stands£?

to go with my b&w cm1 speakers, if so what kind of difference would I hear, also does anybody know anything about Foundation speaker stands? or what stands would you reccomend?

Public Comments

1. Speaker stands have no effect on speaker quality, they either make mounting easy, or have a pleasing look to the eye. So, if it fits your application or they look good, go for it.
2. Soundstyle or Partington. You really need to audition them with your speakers to find your own personal preference. The recommended stands for your speakers are the B&W FS700 which cost nearly £200, so Partington Trophy or Dreadnought Stands at £130 or £180 look like a good alternative. The more you spend the better the bass response is going to be and the sound will be as tight and precise as is possible from your speakers. (Foundation stands are specifically made for Harbeth speakers incidentally). Foundation stands seem to be
3. I made my own, same with double isolation platforms for the turntables using marble slabs from a charity shop which also provided enough material for tops to the stands. Easy to cut with a diamond saw blade on an angle grinder and drilled for three 8mm steel bolts ground to a point and hardened, now resting on three 1p coins! Smaller ones for the speakers and big ones for the turntables. Couple of evenings work for the woodwork, one for marble cutting, edging and polishing using emery disks and then polishing disks loaded with buffing compound on the electric drill, plus varnishing time. Sand down each coat of varnish with fine sandpaper and keep putting coats on till the depth and lustre are good...takes a few days with drying time between coats. All done in eight days and less than £40 spent instead of around £400 and I got stuff that fitted my space with the heights I wanted and a good aesthetic fit for the turntables and speakers. It's pretty obvious that the purpose of the stand is to isolate the speaker and at the same time support it in a space that suits it's radiation pattern, and the effects on that from walls, ceiling, furniture, etc. That recommended stand is not recommended by the manufacturers for a particular room but for the speaker...advertising claims that cannot stand up to simple scrutiny. In fact any stand will only be the best for a particular speaker in a particular listening room. If different stands supporting the speaker in exactly the same spot in that room have an effect on the sound, then there is input from the stand and the speaker is not isolated. To claim that a stand with an isolation system on top and spikes underneath is better than another that has the same attributes and also fits the footprint of the speaker in the same manner is actually better than another is denying the very qualities the stands are claimed to have and of course one stand's maker will always say the other stand is the one with faults. My stand is more invisible than another....even when they are both invisible. That is, another maker's invisible stand cannot be as invisible as mine. Oh, and that's £180 please.....special form of invisibility you know....all the research to pay for and exotic materials. My B&W's are on good stands.....made to isolate and support the speakers where they do best in my living room....old DM5's but they still do well, like the Tannoys I'm currently making stands for.