You’re searching for new speaker stands for your brand new pair of studio monitors. While you’re going through different options, you suddenly realize that you don’t really know what to judge a speaker stand on…
Well, let us summarize this in a few points to look out for:
Stability
We’re starting with stability because it’s kind of an obvious one. You want your precious speakers out of harm’s way. Elevating them on stands is a good start but those stands have to be sturdy. You must make sure that the stands can bear the weight of your speakers and that they are not too thin. Carefully read the manufacturer recommendations. Those should always be at least 2/3 of the real weighting capacity tested in the factory so you should be fine if you go by them.
On top of preventing the speakers from falling, stability does goes a long way to provide effective isolation from vibration.
This leads to our next point…
Decoupling/Coupling
This one can be a bit harder to judge because it will depend on your setup.
If you intend to use those stands on wooden floors, you should make sure the stands provide a maximum of decoupling. This also applies for desktop speaker stands. Wooden floors or your desk don’t have a great mass and will tend to vibrate more. In this case, vibrations from the speakers to the floor should be attenuated by the stands. Ideally the manufacturer will provide a graph to attest the isolation capacity of the stands. If it’s not the case, inspect the stands (or the pictures) for isolation pads that may come with the speaker stand.
If you use your stands on massive concrete, then maybe coupling them through spikes (or even anchors) would be a good solution. We say “maybe” because once again it depends on your setup. In this case we suggest you test it and see what sounds better. If you don’t have the opportunity to test, and you absolutely want an answer, we’re inclined to favor decoupling. Technically it would improve your sound no matter the surface. However, if you couple to a very porous and light surface, it might turn out worst than it initially was.
Adjustability
It is one of the most important criteria for me personally. Indeed, every home and every audio setup is different. If the speaker stands are adjustable, you can be almost certain they will be more adapted to your setup.
First, the most important is to be height adaptable. Depending on your own height, the height of your desk chair, couch etc., you will almost certainly need to play with the height of your speaker stand.
Secondly, rotation is also a good feature to have. You’ll be able to easily reorient your speaker. This is particularly helpful if you want to monitor different position when you’re mixing a track.
Finally, the cream of the cream is to be able to tilt the platform. If you’re able to do that on top of everything, there’s little doubt you won’t find a way to make your speakers sound good for every situation.
Space saving
Second to last comes this practical aspect: are they saving you space?
Granted, this is not a mandatory requirement but it sure is convenient.
Especially if we’re talking about desktop speaker stands, I’ve never met anybody (producer or other) who told me they had enough space on their desk.
So if your monitor stands can allow you to use extra space under your speakers (like the TS-1 or the 3S-X), that’s definitely a plus.
Beauty
Well, if you’ve read some of the other articles on this blog (like Why should you use speaker stands), you already know this one. It is great to have the most adjustable, stable, decouplab.. decoup… isolated speaker stand but it’ll be a bit of a shame if it’s ugly.
The speaker stand should fit your space and from my experience, the simpler the better. Of course, this one is subjective and I can’t say any more than that! Some will want to go for wood and spectacular while other will prefer a minimalist side with a touch of modernism.
The point is, make sure your speaker stands aesthetically fit your recording studio or listening room!
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