Buyers Guides > Audio

Stands and Spikes

Why do speakers sound better on stands? If it's a matter of getting them to the right height, surely a shelf at the correct level will do just as well? And if it's all about putting them on something solid, a big heavy sideboard or wall unit should do the trick, right?

No - not really. Yes, stands work through a combination of position and support, but they also isolate the speakers and keep them absolutely still - and asking your shelves to do that is just too much. If you've small speakers, unless they're among a small group specifically tuned for wall-mounting they'll sound best on stands.

As a general rule, the right stand for your speakers will raise them to a height where the tweeter (the little treble driver) is at ear-height when you sit in your usual listening position. Some manufacturers tune their speakers to be positioned higher or lower than this, however, so check first.

Similarly, the best stand is usually a hefty stand, though some speakers are designed to be used on lightweight open-frame supports. The other purpose of the stand is to keep the speaker still, so that some of the energy of the drive units isn't wasted in moving the whole speaker back and forth by minute distances

To that end, the use of spikes on the stand helps locate it solidly to the floor, by piercing carpets without damaging them. They also let you level the stand by adjustment of the spikes. On hardwood floors you can avoid damage by putting a penny coin under each spike.

Meanwhile on very resonant boarded floors a paving slab under each stand will also help. Top-spikes on stands help by locating the speakers rigidly, while minimising the contact between speaker and stand.

Alternatively, blobs of Blu-Tack between will have a similar, but sometimes sonically different, effect - experiment! Filling stands with sand, lead shot or proprietary materials like Sound-Bytes adds mass, and also deadens resonances, stopping the stands ringing'.

If you're going to use sand, use kiln-dried silver sand - not that very yellow builder's sand that's much cheaper or a few bucketfuls off a beach or from the kids' sandpit. Moisture in the sand can rust metal stands and warp wooden ones.

Floorstanding speakers also benefit from spikes and mass-loading (where this is designed in). But be careful when fitting spikes to floorstanders: the threaded inserts that take the spikes can twist out of the cabinet material if you overtighten things. Use a spike-spanner, and use it carefully!

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