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The speaker stands are getting more popular day by day. Brands are advertising the stands for the best sound experience.
There are many designs and materials for the speaker stands. These designs and different materials can confuse those who are looking for new stands.
Also, how true is it that these stands contribute to better sound quality? This guide is designed to help you choose the best speaker stand for yourself.
Let’s dive in and know about the characteristics of the best stands.
Characteristics Of A Good Speaker Stand
Characteristics at a glance:
- The height of the stand should keep the tweeter at ear level
- It should bear the weight of the speaker
- It should cost 20-25% of the speaker’s price
- It should have nice cable management
- It should have isolation pads at the top
- The stand should absorb vibration
- The material of the speaker should be steel
- The stands should be stable
- The base of the speaker should be heavy
- The spikes of the stand should be environment friendly
These are the characteristics that a speaker stand buyer should take good care of. These characteristics can make or break the sound experience. That’s why you should read it carefully.
If you want to know where the speakers sound better. Then you must read my this guide. Do speakers sound better on the floor or on the stands? It is a very short guide. But if you already know then keep reading this existing guide.
The height of the stand should keep the tweeter at ear level
The stand should have a height that can keep the speaker’s tweeter at your ear level. Depending on the height of your speakers, sometimes fixed height stands can make it higher or lower than your ears.
But in those cases, you can choose a height-adjustable stand. Buy those adjustable stands when you are frequently changing the speakers in your home theater. Otherwise, good quality fixed-height stands will be good.
Know more about how high should each speaker be in surround sound. I have talked about the different heights in this guide. Don’t forget to check the squid games meme designed for speaker optimization.
It should bear the weight of the speaker
Read the description if it can support the weight of your speaker. But don’t fall for it right away. The rated weight support of the stand should be 15% to 20% higher than the weight of your speakers.
In this way, you ensure future accidents to your speakers. But the heavier the stand, the more expensive it gets. Don’t worry, I have a solution for you in the next section.
It should cost 20-25% of the speaker’s price
The stand should cost 20-25% of what the speaker costs for which you are buying it.
If the speaker costs $150 then the stand should cost $30-37. But if there are some extra features like the heavy base or nice cable management, then you can up the budget accordingly.
Don’t go for the most expensive speaker stands. I said, “choose 20% higher weight rated stands”. But avoid the high price it brings.
Confused? Don’t be. Two types of stands are worth the money and those that don’t. Hunt for another stand by keeping the 20% higher weight rate in check. You will find another one online. Don’t settle for just one metric, check the budget too.
Know how to update home theater on a budget. I have revealed my unique tips in this guide.
It should have nice cable management
Many stands come with nice cable management. Some have holes in the body through which you can fish the wire up to the speaker, while others will have clips at the side of the stand to hold the wires.
I love wires in my home theater to be clean and sometimes want them to blend into the environment of the room. That’s why I want this characteristic in speaker stands to be a must.
I love the passage they have created inside the stand’s body for the wires, but those clips are good too.
To know more about cable management. Read my guide. 13 creative ways to hide speaker wires in home theater.
It should have isolation pads at the top
Many stands come with rubber pads or dots on the top plate of them. These isolation pads help to absorb the vibration and don’t let it travel to the stand body and then to the floor. These pads make the sound feel clean and superior.
But if the vibrations reach the stand then This will create a noisy vibration sound which is not pleasant to the ears. The vibration sound will have separate frequencies with which you will have to deal.
But these pads sometimes can’t absorb powerful basses. So, what to do at that time? Keep reading to know.
The stand should absorb vibration
If little sound vibrations escape from the rubber pads/dots, those can travel through the stand. If the stands are made up of cheap and thin material, then these vibrations can be heard a lot.
These sound vibrations can vibrate thin and light material easily. This will have the same annoying effect on the sound.
To check the vibration absorption capability of the stand. Simply hit it with a finger or a little hard thing and check how much it vibrates. What if you are buying them online? Keep reading to know which material is the best for the stand.
Know how to optimize the home theater audio. I have talked about vibration limiting and soundproofing along with optimizing the speakers in this guide.
The material of the speaker should be steel
The material should be steel. This material is the heaviest to be used in the stands. The heaviest can reduce vibrations and contribute to a clean and better sound.
Avoid aluminum-material speaker stands. These stands have the highest number of vibrations in them. This will ruin the sound of the speaker. No matter how good the speaker is, it will always sound the worst if you choose aluminum-based stands for it.
The stands should be stable
The stands should not wobble easily when hit just a little by anything. This stand can cause accidents, especially if you have pets or kids.
The triangle-shaped base stands tend to wobble easily. Try to have square-shaped base stands. They are more stable.
This stability will help you a lot when you are calibrating or optimizing the audio of the home theater. Because in the optimization, you should have to change the positions of the stands a lot to check where they sound the best.
The base of the speaker should be heavy
The heavy base stands speakers have the tightest bass. The bass feels tighter when the base is very heavy.
Many will argue that it brings no change, but many home theater enthusiasts will agree that it does bring change.
Few speakers stands have a hollow area in their body. These hollow areas can be filled with stands to make them heavier. Along with sand, you can get metal powder online to fill those stands with. But for me, the sand worked fine. I felt a slight improvement in the bass.
Know how to increase the speaker’s clarity. I have revealed the secrets of the pros in this guide.
The spikes of the stand should be environment friendly
It should be friendly to the environment of your home theater. If the spikes are sharp and made of steel, then they can make holes in your carpet. If you care more about the sound then you can ignore the sharpness of the stand’s spikes.
Which idea did you get by reading the headline? Mean I will talk about global warming here? I hope Greta Thunberg is not here, otherwise, she will leave a comment full of anger. LOL. BTW! She is amazing and doing great.
But if you have kept the stand on a hard surface, then make sure these spikes are not hard which will let the vibration travel to the floor. If this is the case, then buy rubber pads for these spikes.
The pads wrap around the feet and isolate them from the floor. In this way, it will further reduce the vibration sounds and will give you a clean sound.
Did you get something out of this speaker stand guide? Hold On We Have Something Exciting To Share.
FAQs
Do speaker stands improve sound quality?
The speaker’s stand affects the sound directly. It will improve the sound of the stand and has all the isolation characteristics. Mean if the stand has rubber pads on its top plate, it is made of dense material and has rubber feet or pads at the bottom.
This type of stand will improve the sound. A speaker will sound better after placing it on such a stand.
What is a good height for speaker stands?
There is no absolute number or value to look for. The stand should be able to keep the tweeter of the speaker at your ear level. That’s why the best height of the stand is relative to the height of the speaker.
You need a height of the stand that will work with the height of the speaker and give your real-life dialogues experience. To hear the dialogues better, the tweeter of the speaker should be at your ear level.
How can I make my speaker stand more stable?
You can weld a heavy gym weight at the bottom of it. If it is made of wood then you can create a cabinet for it and then screw the stand base with this cabinet and fill the cabinet with sand.
You can weld gym weight to the base, but if you can’t do it then you can hire a professional to do it for you. The heavy base will make it stable and will also improve the sound of the speaker. That’s why I suggested this method.
Helpful Resources For The FAQs To Read More
- This was my opinion, read more about it from this Crutchfield Blog. (Resource for the first answer)
- This was my opinion, read more about it in this AVSforum discussion. (Resource for the second answer)
