RIGID vs. SLIGHTLY WOBBLING desktop speaker stands

Rigid stands will get you the results you are looking for, according to all reliable (non-commercial) sources - provided your speakers have solid quality cabinets. Isolation pads and isolation stands make little or no difference.
To quote Ethan - "it's clear that moving a loudspeaker even a small amount makes a very real change in the perceived and actual frequency response. So raising your speaker on an isolating stand can change what you hear because of the height difference alone, even if any isolation present had no effect. (It's well known that the correct loudspeaker height puts the tweeter at ear level because that gives the flattest response, so please do that!) But my tests also call into question the hearing acuity of professional recording engineer endorsers, and "golden eared" magazine reviewers, who claimed to hear "obvious" improvements in clarity, bass tightness, and imaging."

This sentence from the third paragraph of the linked article above by Bruce Black is totally wrong:



The energy lost by the inefficiency of a loudspeaker manifests as heat in the speaker driver. If the cabinet vibrates it's because it's not rigid and massive enough.

There are many articles (and videos) about speaker isolation, and any that don't come to the same conclusion as my article are just wrong. It's that simple.

As for "wobbly" speaker strands that isolate. Yes, they do isolate, but isolation isn't needed. It's like wearing a raincoat on a sunny day.

I assure you that the height can definitely make a big difference in the response you hear. This graph from my "Believe" web article shows the low frequency response in a room about 16 by 11-1/2 by 8 feet high at two locations four inches apart. Even over such a small physical span the response changes substantially at many frequencies.



Conventional wisdom holds that the bass response in a room cannot change much over small distances because the wavelengths are very long. (A 40 Hz sound wave is longer than 28 feet.) Yet you can see in Figure 1 above that the peak at 42 Hz varies by 3 dB for these two nearby locations, and there's still a 1 dB difference even as low as 27 Hz. The reason the frequency response changes so much even at low frequencies is because many reflections, each having different time and phase delays, combine in different amounts at every point in the room. In small rooms the reflections are strong because the reflecting boundaries are all nearby, so that further increases the contribution from each reflection. Also, nulls tend to occupy a relatively narrow physical space, which is why the nulls on either side of the 92 Hz marker have very different depths. Indeed, the null at 71 Hz in one location becomes a peak at the other.

So continue to use books, or buy a nicer stand that lets you put the tweeters at ear height. But don't waste your money on isolation stands.

Thanks for adding to this thread. Many of us know the answer but waiting for your reply was worth any reasonable amount of time.

The idea of massive and rigid speaker enclosures is not new. I learned the basics long ago.

Massive and rigid enclosures make me remember a story my electronics instructor told in class back in about 1975 about his color TV gaussing.

It starts with him digging a rectangular hole in his back yard. Then mixing up some concrete and pouring it into the hole he dug as a form for his DIY concrete speaker enclosure. I think the sides were about 2" thick. He also dug a shallower hole for the front (or back). FWIW, I remember he was into Wharfedale drivers. Anyway, after he was finished and set them up in his living room, for some reason he wanted to move the enclosure across the room to the other side of the TV. As the story goes, the path of shortest distance passed right in front of the TV so, not being able to pick up the enclosure, he pushed the concrete speaker enclosure across the floor, directly in front of the TV to it's new location on the other side of the room. Needless to say, he was not concerned about loudspeaker isolation.

This was my instructors way of telling us A. Massive speaker enclosures=Good. B. So massive they're not easily moved=Not so Good. C. Putting strong magnetic fields near a color CRT = Not so Good either.

So, back in the '70's when we degaussed TV, we'd turn on the TV, light up some incense and/or your choice of smoking material, click on the degaussing coil and enjoy the show!

rock : he really made some concrete stands incl. enclosures and placed the speakers inside? or just the cones? basically he made concrete speakers in flintstones fashion? lol. anyway the heavy mass thing seems to be the old school approach.

Ethan Winer : what about the footprint thing (bigger vs. smaller body=stand under the speaker)? any science behind it?

"Old School Approach" Yeah, well it was the '70's...that's almost prehistoric LOL

even ikea understood that audio sells and joined the trend lol ikea.com/it/it/p/obegraensad-scrivania-nero-00525116, they make dj bags too now ikea.com/it/it/p/obegraensad-borsa-nero-70525071, it's a new collection in collaboration with the swedish house mafia ikea.com/it/it/new/collezione-obegraensad-in-collaborazione-con-swedish-house-mafia-pub4d829620.