crooked speaker stands?


Hey,

Kind of a nit-pic concern here. I recently bought and put together some new Atlantis speaker stands. They feel solid and strong, especially after I sand-filled them. They are 21" two-pole design.

My concern is... if I look down on the top plate where the speakers rest and compare the edges of that square to the edges of the floor base, they are not flush. One stand is off more than the other.

I put them together well I think and can't think of anything I could have done wrong or should change in how I assembled them.

Has anyone else experienced this?
djembeplay
You might have turned top or bottom plate wrong?Switched?I had a pair of fairly expensive stands top plate was uneven with bottom of speaker(extra tak was necessary).Still annoying though.Youll change it if really plays on ya!
It's weird... its completely level and the speakers sit on it perfectly, but... Its like if you had a square jar with a square lid. The lid lid is just partially unscrewed and uneven with the edges of the jar... even though it is still horizontally level.
I have put together a few stands and they are never lined up right. Once in use I never gave it a second thought because they were level. The real frustration will be when you try to unscrew that square lid from that square jar!
If I read correctly, it appears that the only issue is the top plate is not a perfect square piece. Is my assumption correct? If the circumference of your speakers is larger than the top plate itself, I guess this issue is negligible since the minor flaw cannot be seen. Poor quality control I guess.
No, the top piece in it's self is a perfect square piece.

I'm sorry, it's tough to explain. I wish I could post a picture.

Picture this example... lets say the top plate and the base plate are two perfect boxes of the same size, one resting on the other. With these stands, the edge / corner of the box resting on top does not line up with that of the bottom. It is as if someone grabbed the top box and turned it maybe 5-10 degrees... They are completely functional and the crookedness isn't noticable anyways, but... I would still like to know if others have had similar problems.

Thanks.
Well, since it is not a welded design, it's easy to assemble them and have them come out the way you describe. The fix is simple. Have someone hold the bottom plate (or the spikes may hold them tight enough if on carpet). Grab the top plate with a hand on either side and twist the top plate until it lines up correctly.

A pair of moderately priced speaker stands are not precision instruments. They are not likely to line up perfectly without a bit of "adjustment".

Enjoy,

TIC
Hmm... but there are two poles secured by a screw at the top and base plate... if I just torqued it over, it seems like I would be forcing something and breaking... something, although I dont know what.... doesn't it?

So this isn't uncommon for $200 stands?
With only two mounting points, its very easy to have the assembly/alignment slightly off. It shouldn't be a problem to tweak it just a bit. If you are concerned, simply loosen the screws a bit befor tweaking it. The is likely a bit of room for adjustment in the screw/plate/post connection.
Hmm... So it sounds like it's not a defect in the stand that its a little off and that it wont affect performance at all... i.e. it's a pretty normal happening... right?

If that's the case than I just assume leave it... I was just worried they were defective or I put them together wrong somehow.
Reubent cannot desribe it more perfectly. For self-assembled stands, issues like you have encountered are bound to happen. In most cases, the installation by the user is the cause (in screwing the plates to the vertical pillar) but sometimes minor flaws such as a slight uneveness at the edge of the vertical pillar will cause this 'skew' of 5-10 degress you are talking about. I think I get what you are saying right now. Quite a norm in self-assembled stands and won't affect performance too much.

Cheers.
If the top plate is level, but it is just cocked 5-10 degrees out of true with the bottom plate, it's likely just a minor assembly problem. Again, I would suggest loosening the screws and trying to turn the top plate to the correct position, then retighten. However, if the top plate is level and everything feels solid and stable, you could just leave it.
The root of the problem has been described well by others already.Your top plate is not lining up on the vertical with the bottom plate.Something is off.I believe the machining must be poor on this design .But you can fix it with the help of a big square ,or easier make a jig byt puting together two plywoods that form an "L" shape and they form a true 90 degree angle.Then put your stand in there on it's side and make apropiate adjustments,until both
plates touch the plywoods.When they erect buildings they could easily run into same problem but they don't ,right?
George
This doesn't surprise me. I had an Atlantis Reference 5 equipment rack a few years ago and it was the poorest designed rack I have ever seen.

Shakey
Man, that's suprising... They were $200 dollar stands and I saw a TON of designs cheaper than that... I guess it just goes to show ya... price doesn't dictate quality.

So if I were to replace my stands, what are some cheap but high-quality names to look for?
Djembeplay,

Did you try reassembling or adjusting the suspect stand yet? It really could be a simple assembly issue that you can resolve easily. Loosen the top plate and see if there is a little play in the plate that will allow it to move the 5-10 degrees in the opposite direction so it will line up with the bottom plate. If that doesn't work, turn the stand upside down and see if you can loosen the screws and adjust the bottom plate so it aligns with the top.

Remember, these are self-assembled stands and there may be a slight amount of play in the top, bottom or both that is accounting for your twisted top plate scenario.

If you ultimately choose different stands, you may want to go with a welded model to emliminate the posibility of this issue. However, if you do decide to go with a budget stand, I think the $100 high mass stands from Parts Express are pretty good. They use a large single pillar with thick cast top and bottom plates.

Enjoy,

TIC