Do different speaker stands can really make a big sound improvement?

In a good system, any changes will make a noticeable difference. Be it speaker stands, rack material, type of spikes or never spiking, AC outlets, even the wall plates, type of room your system is in, and its acoustics with treatment (best bang for the buck) not to mention power cords that can make as big of a difference as a new piece of gear. Then of course all types of conditioners will change the sound, as well as the room temperature and humidity, so the more complicated your system the more factors you finally hear when sitting down and listening to your system which is why any reviews are only an opinion of what that speaker or gear sounded in that room with their gear etc. TAS does not exist, what does is the sound and taste of the coloration that makes your system so enjoyable.

@jallan Wrote:

As @akg_ca states, Harbeth’s are built with flexible speaker walls designed to resonate. It’s the whole idea…not to dampen things.

RadioShack speakers are designed the same way they vibrate like a Singer sewing machine.

Mike

Either purchase open top skeletal stands (like Harbeth rec's) or raise the speakers from solid top stands with something "like" the tenons depicted in the above post.

Four smaller points of hard contact instead of placing the bottom of the speaker on a solid plate which would effectively dampen it.

Harbeth and others use lossy cabinet designs (Google it).

DeKay

I really REALLY didn’t want speaker stands to make a difference. I am in the business of demoing speakers for studios and such so I need to know as studios (like users at home) use all kinds of crazy things to put speakers on. Cardboard boxes, wooden crates, plastic bins, thin metal plant stands from Target, you name it. Well after years of trying to disprove it, Ive given up. It’s one of the biggest variables in the demo. You need high mass under a stand to get it to sound its best. I then went after Sound Anchor to use and rep in the US because that’ the only one Ive found universally works. I wish it wasn’t so.

It isn’t hard to hear, but it is hard to set up a good comparison of removing all variables other than the stands. You need a large room, plenty of space to put both stands in exactly the same spot. But there is a significant difference in bass, imaging, etc between a a high mass stand and low mass one. My experiments have left me with the clear result that the stand matters more than the spikes or what comes between the stand and the floor. It’s not that these other things don’t matter, they do, it’s just the stand itself matters more.

There are ways around it, I know a mastering engineer who does very high level work that built a large wooden box (same dimensions as the speaker itself in width) to get the speakers up to the ear level height and then filled it with play sand. That box is unmovable now and probably weighs 500 pounds. Sounds extremely good in his room.