Very sad - had a podium rack for years and changed a few legs on it in that time. Very nice people to deal with and a quality product.
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Something Solid stopped a few years ago. I bought the last speaker stands they made, for my little ProAcs.
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The trend in low to mid level systems looks to me to be towards one box or at least fewer boxes. Not great for equipment stand manufacturing?
Bruce
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They look like Quadraspire copies.
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That does look good!
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I have had a pair of speakers on order since early December from a very well known & established UK manufacturer.
My dealer contacted me a fortnight ago explaining the delay was due to the makers cabinets being made by a company, owned by another well known speaker company, suddenly cancelling the arrangement with no notice.
My company has gone elsewhere to have it’s cabinets made, & this has caused the long delay.
I hope they hadn’t gone to the Hifi Racks people’s cabinet making start up which has also now closed down along with the parent company, if an early post in this thread is correct.
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I think my Harbeth speakers cabinets were made by Spendor…
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I though that too, but I noticed that they are still mentioned on a few hifi retailer web sites still, so wasn’t sure whether closed or scaling back
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I agree, if I didn’t already have my Fraim I could be tempted.
Courtesy of my dealer, I have actually had a near 4 month home demo of the new speakers I would like!
Their demo pair were not in the finish I require, hence my outstanding order.
Knowing the cabinets are not going to be manufactured by the usual manufacturer, I am now very concerned, if my speakers are ever made, that they may not be as well made &, very importantly, may not sound the same as the pair I have been listening to at home.
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I would be asking the dealer if you could come to terms…
Unless the veneer was absolutely hideous
best wishes
Ian
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If it’s going to play on your mind then maybe consider if you could live long term with the demo pair. But I will say that speaker manufacturers demand good quality in their cabinets. I have a set of “graded” harbeth m30.2 they were a large percentage off but honestly the imperfections were microscopic and purely cosmetic that’s how strict they are. I saw another graded set, the other day even with photos of the supposed issues I had to look hard to see anything and still thought “is that it?”. I’d have zero concerns picking that pair up and I know they’d sound the same as my set and the “perfect” demo set I had for a few weeks while my dealer sorted getting mine over.
When they are that careful that they will loose a ton of money for minor cosmetic issues that quite a few might not even notice. I have no doubt that the switch in cabinet makers will not be allowed to affect the sound.
I would hope that other speaker manufacturers hold to the same level of quality.
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& @dmu
My current speakers are walnut veneer to match my LP12 & custom built Hi-Fi unit. I like the way it all looks together very much.
The speakers I would like are slightly larger versions of my current speakers, which audition has shown add a little to each area of the sound I have enjoyed for the past five years but maintain the sound characteristics I have enjoyed so much. The speakers are four inches taller than my current ones but have almost the same footprint. I have got used to my current speakers/stands not dominating my fairly small sitting room & looking about right. I therefore had the bright idea of reducing the height of my stands by four inches, meaning the new speakers would only take up the same space as the current ones & would continue to look ‘right’ in my opinion.
Using their custom option, Atacama have made me a, again to my eye, a superb looking set of stands the same style as my current stands but shorter & with a dark bamboo base instead of metal. This looks very much like the walnut of the rest of my system &, if I every receive the new speakers, should combine with them to look superb.
It has always been in my head that a clean, shinny car performs much better than when the same car is dirty so my brain tells me that the same speakers sound much better when on stands that look great in situe rather than ones which just make the combination look too big for the location!
I attach a photos of my current set up &, when & if the new speakers arrive, I will post a shot of them on the new stands.
The demo speakers I had for so long were all black, did not match the rest of the system & looked awful on all black stands, being too black (!) & too high, totally dominating the room to my eye.
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Ah I understand , I dislike the black ash look , it isn’t a minor thing it is a glaring thing
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Timber cost has increased a ridiculous amount since lockdown , however seems to have stabilised a little fortunately! Therefore, items from solid timber have increased and maybe they couldn’t make it work.
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@Ardbeg10y the problem is people can make their own quality stands themselves - pushing these companies out of business.
Here is one posted recently by a forum member and you have to admire the craftsmanship.
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The world at Naim’s feet…
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Or even “Naim - On top of the world” 