How much did they cost llatpoh76
It was $410 shipping + $70 shipping, they also widen the base at no extra cost since my loudspeakers were too deep for the standard single-post dimensions.
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Flimsy ought not be mistaken for weight or ability.
Flimsy suggests they’d flap,about in a gust of wind.
The SolidSteel have a certain tubular construction, tubular specification, plate interface and bracing designed to control speaker resonance.
The report from Bologna Uni is worth a read.
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Do you think it’s a good advertising to sell stands and say: well, our stands sound very good, but if you fill them with arabites, then put some isoacoustics Gaia under the legs, you will have still much better.
I don’t understand all the members who trust completely different audio brands Rega, with their only Rega carts, Naim and Linn with their « don’t need expensive switches and Ethernet cables, Uptone and « no need external ps with my perfect switch, and now Solidsteel and their NASA like long researches and studies.
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Good point and I can relate. No offense to anyone. Most (not all) manufacturers would say that their product is good on their own. In the case of Solid Steel, saying that the stands will sound better with other products such as Isoacoustics Gaia will imply that the stands are poor on their own which may drive potential customers away since some people don’t wish to spend more money other than the stands. It’s the same with any other product such as amplifiers and speakers as most if not all manufacturers do not have interest in promoting other brands other than selling their own products.
In the case of Marten speakers, they have collaborated with Isoacoustics and come up with their own Marten isolators which are based on Isoacoustics’ design, hence they could recommend the Gaias as a cheaper alternative to their own Marten isolators. Marten actually told me that they ran tests and compared spikes and isolators below the stands/speakers and the sound is better with isolators below the stands.
FWIW all my speakers sound better with Gaias under the stands, especially the Graham LS5/9. The Graham’s bass sounds terribly off and unnatural when spikes are used below the stands.
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Now I’m thinking about filling my SS7s.
Or buying a pair of KEF stands for the LS50s and screwing them down. Do I fill those too??
I think the report suggested there’s a little bit of gain on the SS7 by filling up to a 1/3rd of leg volume at the 150hz level.
I’m unsure it’d be noticeable but interested to know.
I’ll NOT fill my SS6, they’re transparent with my SCM11
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I probably won’t fill my SS5’s with 19’s atop
They are sounding great together so part of me says to leave well alone
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I did custom 4-posters. They were incredibly stout.
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I’m not reading that University report, but they said only half fill one leg? What a bunch of BS. I’ll pass.
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I’ve not read any of the reports that Solidsteel have available on their website
All I can say is that my SS5’s seem to love my ATC 19’s on top of them; they sound awesome together
I’ve not filled the stands yet and not sure I will as they sound so good without any filler
What I love about the SS5’s is their triangular shape which makes them sturdy and naturally stable
I’ve not even fitted the spikes yet so I can move them about easily until I get the perfect position for them then I’ll fit the spikes
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You have top-notch gear, it’ll very difficult to make it sound bad, but the point of this thread is how to tweak it to enhance performance. With that in mind, what are you using between the speakers and the top plates of the stands? You can gain considerable improvements by getting this interference right, and it’s usually cheap and simple to do.
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I filled my Kef stands with attabytes and had my Ls50 metas screwed to them, the Ls50’s might have been redeployed but they are really good stands.
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If the speakers are injecting allot of energy into SS stands you can tell….give the speakers some decent volume and feel the steel tubes…my speakers S12 Vivid inject allot of energy into the stands due to their light but stiff build…heavier designs such as the ATC’s should not have an issue as their Q is at a lower frequency as soon as I isolated my speakers the stands hardly vibrate at all….I suspect your ATC speakers don’t shove high frequency into the tubes…so there is no issue.
I have a SolidSteel rack S 3-4 It came with the pillars prefilled with damping material. Maybe some of the speaker stands are also prefilled?
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Oops forgot about that article that I did read TLR but certainly no others
Main reason for not reading everything Solidsteel have on their website is because I’m so happy with the SS5’s just as they are so no extra reading required
I own them and love them and my ATC’s are very happy sitting on top of them 
That’s a very good point Richieroo..
To be honest I’ve not felt the stand tubes when giving the ATC’s some volume… but I doubt there’s much going through the stands as the only contact between the speakers and the SS5 3 tubes are 3 x 10mm ball bearings that sit on the top of each of the three tubes which are then clamped against the top plate so there’s very very little contact area between the tripod tubes and the speakers themselves. I’m using the supplied little PataFixe’s x 3 on the top plate which the ATC’s then sit on
It’s an ingenious design that works amazingly well
Sounds good…The vibration energy I am talking about…was something I discovered with the Warfedale 708 many years ago…I tried them on Heybrook frame stands…it was not good lots of vibration and smearing…. I then built a massive set of stands…a replica of the Cliff Stone Foundation stands…I filled mine with sand and lead shot…they weighed about 35kg each… This worked no vibration and a great sound. The Vivid/SS combination reminded me of the Heybrook stand situation….hence I was delighted with my solution. I think light rigid speakers represent quite a unique challenge…speakers like the 708, Celestion SL series, Vivid..can’t think of anymore off the top of my head…The puks I use are large Audioquest sorbothane units which have an air cavity…they are very effective.
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