Stands for Harbeth SHL5

[soulforged]

Currently I have my SHL5 placed on open-framed wooden stands. While they are doing a great job I need to increase their height a bit more as my seating position is a little higher. Also, one of the speakers is positioned close to a door and I am constantly under the fear that someone would just walk out and accidently knock it over

Was thinking of going for metal frame stands with wider feet to lower the CG. Also was thinking of having the base a bit wide and have side braces that can support the speakers in case of an accidental bump.

The design I am thinking of is essentially a blend of the skylans with something similar to the stands Prithvi had in his 40.1 pics. Wanted to know if a design like this would have any detrimental effect on the sound. I will try and sketch out what I am thinking of.

:cheers:

 

[mpw]

Better to increase the height of the seat me thinks...

Mpw

 

[Hiten]

Mahesh, you mean lower the seat height. Right ?
Metal stand would not affect SQ if they are sands filled, I guess.
Regards.

 

[sidvee]

soul - see if magma can make you a pair of stands from extruded Al. I used his stands when I used to own the 5's. They worked great.
Cheers,
Sid

 

[Nikhil]

Very happy to recommend the Skylan stands.
Have been a happy user over a year now and they are very effective.

Did you mean these when you mentioned Skylan?

 

[mpw]

i did read somewhere that with Harbeths some prefer wooden speaker stand.

Hiten - yes you are right.....

soul - if you are fine with the sound then it makes sense to change the seating height to suit the speaker according to me. Unless you feel its affecting aesthetics in someway.

do post pics of your setup.. will be nice to see..

good luck !

on a lighter note - and OT - the Operation Theaters OT :lol: ) depicted in bollywood have this Red light blinking.... maybe you could have one outside your door.... Music ON..

so you would not need the bumpers..

mpw

 

[reignofchaos]

Harbeths require lossy, light open frame stands IIRC. You might want to get the same design that sidvee had built via SoundFoundations (aka Ali)

I remember reading in the Harbeth forums that they should not be placed on heavy, dead stands. This was mentioned by Alan Shaw for a similar query.

 

[arj]

adding on to what reignofchaos wrote, From all that i have heard, metal /sand filled stands will take you a step back as harbeths are a lossy design in terms of cabinet and they need a lossy stand. I dont know much about the Al stands though- might be an option
Although going for a skylan/skylan like should be good

But(t) since you are happy with it now.just get a lower seating as mpw has suggested

 

[Hiten]

On the contrary Alan Shaw have neutral stand on this. A.S. Post # 5 Stands have minimal effect on SQ and heavy speakers even less. And well made speaker even lesser. For height adjustment another idea is to have adjustable spikes if we adjust so High frequencies beam towards ears it will somewhat serve the same purpose.

on a lighter note - and OT - the Operation Theaters OT :lol: ) depicted in bollywood have this Red light blinking.... maybe you could have one outside your door.... Music ON..

hee hee or he can put a door sign of do not disturb like this. :lol:
Regards.

 

[Hassan Khani]

Murthy had made stand for my SHL5. Attaching image of the same. They are metal stand, very heavy. Wanted it to be heavy to ensure safety as one speaker is closer to the passage. Each one weighs more than 30Kg.

 

[arj]

On the contrary Alan Shaw have neutral stand on this. A.S. Post # 5 Stands have minimal effect on SQ and heavy speakers even less. And well made speaker even lesser. For height adjustment another idea is to have adjustable spikes if we adjust so High frequencies beam towards ears it will somewhat serve the same purpose.

hee hee or he can put a door sign of do not disturb like this. :lol:
Regards.

AS also says Amplifiers have no impact
Better to go by owners opinions !

 

[soulforged]

Thanks for your responses!

The main issues I have with my current stand (in the order of how they bother me) -
1. The current stands are open-framed but not super stable. Will need to put them on spikes so that I can adjust the level
2. Need to adjust the height...almost to the tune of 5 inches given my current chair height. Lowering the chair height is an option...spikes and platforms are others (man! that sounded like S&M!!!)
3. They are placed in my living room and the right speaker is fairly close to one of the door, very similar to Mr. Khani's setup but this one is about 3ft. from the side and 5 from the rear with nothing else around it. My greatest fear is someone just walking out of the room right into the speaker and toppling it over. A blinking LED is pretty much there on my list . What I was also thinking of was put them on a stand similar to Skylans (like the one Nikhil posted or Hasan's) but with wider feet and base. Also have a bit of side railing to brace it in case a bump tips it over. Wish I had the drawing skills to illustrate it but think of it as an oversized skylan crossed with a low-backed chair.

Am I being paranoid?

 

[soulforged]

Another Q -
Can I raise the height by placing bricks and granite slab under the wooden stand? I was reading in HUG about people who had placed telephone directories/magazines under the speaker to raise its height.

 

[Nikhil]

Another Q -
Can I raise the height by placing bricks and granite slab under the wooden stand? I was reading in HUG about people who had placed telephone directories/magazines under the speaker to raise its height.

Absolutely. Granite blocks with perhaps a small layer of wood will work.
The primary role of the stand is to place the speaker at the right height.

 

[mpw]

soul & nikhil,

i dont think thats advisable for speakers like Harbeth and Epos with the thin wall cabinet construction they follow. The philosophy is to let the vibrations drain to the ground rather than fighting vibrations with heavy stands.

Adding a granite + wood packing will distort the concept... me thinks..

weather you believe it or not is up to you..

if you try and like it ... then nothing else matters

but i was only pointing out the reason for open frame stands..

PS : I switched from conventional heavy stands to open frame when i had the Epos M12i and i could find a sonic difference among the two. But that's just me...

YMMV..

regards
mpw

 

[Nikhil]

mpw,

All in context - I meant to say that it would not be a problem to just elevate the current stands with granite or wood.
Might just sound alright if one is lucky till the final height is determined.

A permanent solution would of course be Open Frame Stands with the correct height.

 

[soulforged]

Nikhil, MPW...thanks for your views...I meant what Nikhil got, i.e. raising the speakers to ear level by placing the stand itself (my open framed wooden stand) on bricks/wooden blocks and a granite slab...

BTW...the skylan type designs are pretty heavy. Won't they go against the lossy requirement for these speakers? Or do the 4-pillar design allows for the energy to drain out without causing any ringing effect?

 

[mpw]

raising the speakers to ear level by placing the stand itself (my open framed wooden stand) on bricks/wooden blocks and a granite slab...

That's what i meant is not traditionally recommended.

Anyways.

Njoi !!

 

[Nikhil]

BTW...the skylan type designs are pretty heavy. Won't they go against the lossy requirement for these speakers? Or do the 4-pillar design allows for the energy to drain out without causing any ringing effect?

The Skylans are a mass loading design - and from what I understand have some give/flex built in to the pillars.
The bass and top plates are metal while the pillars are plastic (filled with sand).
Despite being very stable they are not completely "solid" in the true sense.

Skylan speaker stands are MASS-LOADING. Construction consists of a rigid central pillar which can be sand filled for mass loading. The base is 1inch thick, and features die-cast threaded inserts for adjustable steel points or soft feet. The top plate is also rigid and non-resonant and incorporates high friction neoprene de-coupling pads to improve the speaker/stand interface.

(from the Skylan website Skylan Speaker Stands)

 

[soulforged]

I am still trying to wrap my head around the concept of these lossy stands...trawling the web to learn more...here's my confusion...

Currently my stands are placed on the floor which have vitrified tiles...if I place them on bricks or wooden blocks with granite slab to give it more stability and mass...how would it be different from they being placed on the floor? I am probably missing something very obvious here but that's the quandary I'm in at the moment...