They are Something Solid stands, which are rather wonderful. The little things on the top are carbon fibre, and attaching with tiny bits of blutak is exactly what you should be doing. Or so the man who made them told me when I bought the last pair he ever made.
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I concur, I owned a pair of Something Solid stands for a while (my version had used two layer spreaders unlike the later design shown in the picture) , and they worked well with my older ATCs, and a pair of RK RED 100s I borrowed for a while. I have always preferred open lighter mass stands with my speakers and I have slate and concrete floor bases under overlay and carpetā¦ tends to produce a lighter tighter bass but a more resolving upper mid and HF response.
I attached my speakers directly to the carbon fibre pads (you can file to match any irregularity in your speaker cabinet. I found blu-tak robbed some goodnessā¦ so didnāt use it.
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I was advised to use blutak because my ProAcs were so light and could easily be knocked off. Heavier speakers donāt need it.
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Sure the ATCs were relatively heavyā¦ the RK 100s I also borrowed for a short while werenātā¦ I guess it was a risk I was prepared to takeā¦ the carbon fibre pads werenāt slidey however.
Sorry,IĀ“m not so impressed by DeVore speakers.
Fair enough.
I bought the speakers and stands from Signals.
It isnāt just the speaker stand interface that can be important. The material the stand is made of makes a huge difference. Most early stand seemed to conform to the traditional Linn Kan, Sara or Isobarik box section steel style. Then came the lighter Sound Organisations and pared down Audiotech stands made from ERW bright steel. Finally Mana chucked a spanner in the works with their ERW bright steel angle sections, which to my ears sounded the least coloured of all.
Iād actually stumbled on how much better angle iron sounded a few years earlier when I hand a pair of active M2 Meridians that had crap stands. I made two pairs of replacement stands, one pair from quite heavy box section steel and one pair from cold rolled angle iron (just because I had some in the garage!). The angle iron stands looked hideous but sounded absolutely spectacular compared to the more solid box section stands. Must be something to do with the way the angle dissipates the energy without ringing or adding further colouration?
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Signals might still be able to get hold of Something Solid gear but probably easiest to give Deco Audio (they have a website) a bell and see if you can borrow some āMissing Link Feetā I think they just replace the spikes on the speaker and equipment stands. Havenāt heard them but might improve things.
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As far as I know they stopped making these stands over three years ago, and I bought the last pair. Maybe Mark has restarted making them.
Yeah according to the website the speaker stand is out of production but it looks like the racks are still being made. Seems to suggest that you can use the feet with racks as well so maybe the feet are still in production. Not sure really. Anyway, rather than speculate might be worth askingā¦
Same here, under Graham Audio LS5/9s. My understanding that with thin wall cabinets the carbon fibre pads supporting just the corners allows the walls to move as designed.
Iāve mentioned it before, Chord Company Silent Mounts drastically reduced the vibration in the stands, cleaning detail up. They are not cheap, but Iām glad I got them.
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Which Devore have you listened to?
For stand mounts, Iām definitely in the camp that prefers an open frame stand with upward facing spikes that bite into the veneer. Which is under the speaker so I donāt care. Failing that, adhesive rubber feet.
Iāve struggled with the sound of solid core filled stands even when made for the specific speaker.
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Each pair of stands was made to order. I had mine made with shortened rear outriggers, to better fit in a shallow bay. They worked really well my ATC SCM7s, and I still have them. I used a tiny dab of Black Tack on top of the carbon fibre thingies just to stop the speakers being dislodged by a clumsy elbow.
This thread is making me want to dig them out again, so see how they might sound on the end of a 300DR.
Me tooā¦ I thought it was just a peculiarity to meā¦ but when you put it out there it feels a relatively common observation, given the assumed conventional wisdom from many of high mass rigid stands. The blurb on the website mentioned above when describing the benefits of open frame/light mass stands, although I have never seen before, absolutely aligns with my observations too which I have previously described on this forum.
I find that the claims made for high mass solid or dual core stands about improved bass might be true. It certainly helps it feel more solid and connected.
Butā¦ everything else in the mid and highs sounds subtly āweirdā is the best (and very poor) word I can come up with. Itās not like it is obviously wrong but it isnāt a jamminā and free open sound like with a light open frame.
id agree as an owner of high mass stands but decoupling the speaker on pads ameliorated this effect but still provided a solid foundation for the bass
Well I think it is more about a mechanically amplified but slower bass from the resonance of the higher mass stand with the speaker. The more rigid the stand and speaker coupling, the sharper the resonance. So sure I can see it working with some speakers to bolster the low end, but at a cost of accuracy and potentially smearing. Horses for courses.
I can only go from my personal experiencesā¦ and I am definitely not fluent in the engineering of mechanical vibration coupling, decoupling, resonance and dissipation. Though this thread has whetted my appetite to peruse the AES library to see what lies there, there is not too much I can see from casual web surfing other than the usual contradictory over simplificationsā¦
interesting topic, I have my thin walled Spendor 3/1ās on conventional solid core flat plate stands filled about 70% with aquarium sand, speakers sit on gel pads. They sound pretty good but Iām aware itās suboptimal. Ideally they should be on open frame stands supported at each corner whereas the top plate on existing is quite a bit smaller than the speaker base so theyāre supported more in the middle than corners. Iāve been toying with buying the dedicated Spendor stands but theyāre ā¬1200 a pair so a bit hard to swallow for two fancy flower pot stands! Apparently very effective though so I might succumb!