I'm on the market for some monitor stands to change my seating position in the studio to a lower desk. I'm considering the following two atm since they're the ones that show up on the 3 or 4 sites I checked:
sand-filled steel tubing:
http://www.americanmusical.com/item.asp ... =QUI+BS342
or
sand filled wood columns:
http://www.americanmusical.com/item.asp ... m=RAX+SS42
Anyone have any experience with monitor stands?
I am not realy in the market for such things anymore, but from my Hi-end Hi-fi past, I recal some considerations:
Dead materials are good. Steel become dead, when filled with sand.
Think of, how you would stand to stay safe in heavy wind comming from in front of you and the minute later from behind - you will very likely put your feet quite far from eachother. The stand should do the same.
Three legs is the best solution - everything else can rock. By legs I mean, that the speaker may have four "sticks" of metal going from top to buttom, but it must only have THREE contact spots to the floor - and to the speaker for that matter.
Heavy is good, because it makes it harder for the speaker to move the stand.
The contact to the speakers is just as important as the contact to the floor. People argued, if spikes or cheewing gum like stuff was best.
Connecting to the floor, the common procedure was to use spikes on carpets, and rubber feet on solid floor.
It hope you can use some of it.
Dead materials are good. Steel become dead, when filled with sand.
Think of, how you would stand to stay safe in heavy wind comming from in front of you and the minute later from behind - you will very likely put your feet quite far from eachother. The stand should do the same.
Three legs is the best solution - everything else can rock. By legs I mean, that the speaker may have four "sticks" of metal going from top to buttom, but it must only have THREE contact spots to the floor - and to the speaker for that matter.
Heavy is good, because it makes it harder for the speaker to move the stand.
The contact to the speakers is just as important as the contact to the floor. People argued, if spikes or cheewing gum like stuff was best.
Connecting to the floor, the common procedure was to use spikes on carpets, and rubber feet on solid floor.
It hope you can use some of it.
Information for new readers: A forum member named Braincell is known for spreading lies and malicious information without even knowing the basics of, what he is talking about. If noone responds to him, it is because he is ignored.
The most stiff material is the best.
The most silent material is the best.
Take into considderation the thickness of the material - it affects the the stiffness.
Take into considderation the shape of the material - if the legs are rectangular seen from above, the one way will handle vibration better than the other (think of bicycles - many of them are not made with rounds "sticks"/"metaltubes" anymore - because other shapes are better at handling the shock from a 200pound biker over bad roads).
Personally, I think I would go for a material with a high self resonance (steel) and then dampen the high resonance with something slow (sand).
I believe lower frequency materials will have a tendency alove bigger amplitudes of resonance - being more lively and making the sound less precise.
There might be a point in very hard wood, as wood might be a little different in resonance from the one inch to the next - thereby making it harder for a resonance to move along the full length of the material. I don't know - it is just a thought.
Mind you, I go into detail here to an extend, where our ears/the rest of our gear may not care anymore.
But you can try knocking on some of teh "sticks"/"tubes" the stands are made of - that should give you some idea of the deadness of the thing.
p.s. a low cost solution could be concrete tubes like this:
Concrete is pretty dead, and you can even fill it with a lot of sand, if you want to bother carrying so much sand.
The most silent material is the best.
Take into considderation the thickness of the material - it affects the the stiffness.
Take into considderation the shape of the material - if the legs are rectangular seen from above, the one way will handle vibration better than the other (think of bicycles - many of them are not made with rounds "sticks"/"metaltubes" anymore - because other shapes are better at handling the shock from a 200pound biker over bad roads).
Personally, I think I would go for a material with a high self resonance (steel) and then dampen the high resonance with something slow (sand).
I believe lower frequency materials will have a tendency alove bigger amplitudes of resonance - being more lively and making the sound less precise.
There might be a point in very hard wood, as wood might be a little different in resonance from the one inch to the next - thereby making it harder for a resonance to move along the full length of the material. I don't know - it is just a thought.
Mind you, I go into detail here to an extend, where our ears/the rest of our gear may not care anymore.
But you can try knocking on some of teh "sticks"/"tubes" the stands are made of - that should give you some idea of the deadness of the thing.
p.s. a low cost solution could be concrete tubes like this:
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Information for new readers: A forum member named Braincell is known for spreading lies and malicious information without even knowing the basics of, what he is talking about. If noone responds to him, it is because he is ignored.
I'd love to fix the room first, but my budget only allows for homemade fixes atm. However, I'm after improving my seating for other reasons, my current desk is too high and poorly shaped for 2 crt's and 2 nearfields. I have another desk in the studio (holds my technics and some other errata atm) that I want to use as my main desk and dump this one as it's killing my back. The problem with the 2nd (lower) desk is that it doesn't have room for my nearfields & 2 crt's. Monitor stands will fix that =]
Thanks for all the input, I'm going to go with my original instinct and nab the steel ones & a box of sand.
Thanks for all the input, I'm going to go with my original instinct and nab the steel ones & a box of sand.
I have the height adjustable version of those Quiklok stands that you link to and they are nice. They are sturdy and strong but the triangluar base is a bit of an awkward shape when placing near desks and wall corners. They can also be dismantled for easy transport.
If you want to ensure best quality sound from your stands you should probably look at hifi speaker stands like Target that offer one piece steel stands with up to 4 legs that can be sand filled.
Blue-tak is the best thing to stick your speakers to the stands. Its properties allow low frequencies to pass but block high frequencies. And its sticky so they dont fall off.
If you want to ensure best quality sound from your stands you should probably look at hifi speaker stands like Target that offer one piece steel stands with up to 4 legs that can be sand filled.
Blue-tak is the best thing to stick your speakers to the stands. Its properties allow low frequencies to pass but block high frequencies. And its sticky so they dont fall off.