Has anyone compared the Dynaudio Stand 20 and Solidsteel SS-6? I’m interested to know if the Dynaudio stands sound as good as the Solidsteel. If not, what are the differences in sound quality.
FWIW I find the Dynaudio Stand 20 to look better than Solidsteel although I’m aware that personal preference will be a factor.
I have the DALI M601 and the SS6.
Incomparable.. The SS6 decoupling, rigidity and unfilled (filling optional) are a masterpiece.
The SOLIDSTEEL technical paper is worth a read too…
Sweating the small stuff, aesthetics are important buy the one you would like to look at.
My sense is once you get to the £500 budget you are getting good stands.
I really wanted the Ss6’s but in the flesh they weren’t as “nice” as I thought, quite industrial looking.
I think you need the right decor to make them look nice but that is just a view of one!
Gary
Before I got my SS6 stands I had Dynaudio Stand 10’s. I understand your point Ryder, in most cases I also prefer the looks of the Stand 20’s (or 10’s for that matter) I can’t remember hearing much of a difference/improvement, going from the Dyn’s to the Solidsteel. (and the Dyn’s have to advantage of a hidden column to hide speakercable out of sight)
I don’t know how well the stand 20’s are made but what I did notice about the stand 10 is that the metal they’re made of is rather thin and therefor lightweight. You can obviously fill up the column with sand (or Atacama atabites), which is a very easy job (and a p.i.t.a. with the SS6!) and will make the Dynaudio stands heavier and more stable, but I still found 'em a bit tough to get level and stable. The SS6 stands imediately are more stable, due to their tripod design.
Imho, some small speakers just look and sound right on the SS6 stands (esp. the LS3/5a sized models), but I’ve seen “bookshelf” speakers that are just too wide and deep for the SS6 resulting in a very odd combo.
Yes agreed. Small speakers still look good on the SS-6 but once the speakers are considerably larger in width and depth, it will look very odd to the point of ugly (IMO). However, I do think that Solidsteel is one of the best stands when sound quality is top priority for the user judging from the responses on this forum.
There is no specification on the vertical pillar of the Stand 10 and 20, if they share the same dimensions. However, I read that the Stand 20 is slightly higher in quality than the 10 (Stand 20 = 4.6kg , Stand 10 = 3.2kg).
When I had ProAc Tablette 10s, the first stands I bought were SS6s. Mrs HH and I just didn’t like the look of them. They have a large footprint and were just too big and bulky for such diminutive speakers. They are good stands of course and incredibly stable with the tripod design. I’ve always thought that the Stand 20 looks nice, and the cable management makes for neater installation. I’d be unsure about the aluminium construction however, though a bag of sand can be added to the main column. One of the good things about my PMCs is that they make a dedicated stand, and tell you how much filler to add. They are literally designed for the speakers. With the ProAcs I always had doubts about the stands, whereas with the PMCs I don’t. I just bought the dedicated stands and have not once considered whether an alternative would be better. Perhaps just ask the makers of your speakers what they would recommend to get best performance from them.
25 quid (plus a £6 can of automotive matte black spray paint) for the pair 
. I should change my name to cheapskate.
I guess I am the antithesis of a typical Naim customer.
Back to the OP, both of tour suggested stands seem to have a quite large foot print but I too would probably prefer the Dyn stands unless the speakers are small in which case the SS ones would look good too.
Dynaudio stand 10 here with atabites - solid, stable and mrs hfd likes them.
I used to own the Dynaudio HS. I tried them on the Dynaudio stands with the matching base plate and also on the SS6. I chose the SS6, which, with a modification, was not even in the same ballpark sound wise.
The trick was additional isolation, and I found that 4 Isoacoustics Orea between the HS and the SS6 was the sweet spot. I mean it when I say this was not even close. With the Dynaudio stands, no matter if I filled them or not (half full, 75% full, etc.) or if I used the Oreas, I could never get close to the low end definition and impact and the imaging and clarity that the SS6 (unfilled) with the Oreas provided. The speaker base of the SS6 is made of a material that is not metal and I think that contributes a lot. Highly highly recommended.
I don’t have stand mount speakers but if I did I would definitely try Chord Silent Mount spike shoes beneath the stands. We use them under our Quadraspire SVT rack and the improvement in PRaT is very marked indeed. They are costly but they work.
