Why are speaker stands so expensive?!

@audiopoint Excellent post.  Ive been involved in pro and consumer for 40+ years.  Stand demos are the most shocking demos in the business.  Cheap stands add a sound to the speaker that cannot be removed.  A good speaker can be ruined by a crap stand.  Even a good looking one.

I really wonder how many people are convinced all these accessories (stands, cabling) are all just evidence of "the man" trying to rip people off.  Funny, if you do an audio demo, it's hard NOT to hear a difference.  In a proper mastering room you will find a very high mass stand and weight tuned springs to completely decouple the speaker from the floor.

Here's an interesting mastering room tour of speakers mounted in glass (high mass), isolated with weight tuned springs.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZAO9WjsFcaI  (full disclosure, we are the supplier of ATC to Northward Acoustics and understand why he does what he does) 

Brad

Brad

Mitch:  You use sound anchors and are the rep for them in the USA. I’ve always recommended them over the years a solution for most people. Very popular in pro, less so in Consumer but should be.

Not sure I understand your comment above? Are you saying a listener doesn’t need to buy Sound anchors and can do this themselves?

@mitch2

Can’t argue with any of your statements. Sound anchors run around $1200-$1500 for bookshelves, and more for larger monitor type speakers but still under $2000. It is a challenge for some to add this amount to the speaker, but it can be a bigger positive difference than some speaker cable IMHO. There are some users that add pucks of various sorts to the speaker "plate" and this can make a difference (up to you if its better or just different).  I’ve seen larger wooden (MDF) boxes filled with sand that sounded good, a good mastering client built some for his ATC 150s. I have found NO version of wood only or cinder block that sound as good as that or stock sound anchors. I am not a fan of the foam speaker squares that are commonly promoted in pro. Isoacoustics has received some good support in pro and consumer, Ive used them myself under towers at trade shows to positive result. I know a few people that use them on sound anchors.

It is fortunate that I do shows and demos and get to try lots of variations in the same environment- so it’s easy to hear the results of A vs B.

Brad