townshend stella stands under summit x

thanks to bonzo these amazing stands are under my summit x on loan

I used to use sonority desighn stands under my box speakers but could not afford here

the difference in sound is pretty amazing , funnily enough a martin logan dealer came by 2 years ago and said they made no difference ....well he is rather mistaken

my son who I rely on was well impressed , he felt they were much much cleaner in sound and the bass was much much more controlled . the sense of presence is much better

they did sink a bit at the back when I put them on but have just advusted the spikes at the back and they look very good

photos to follow

http://www.techradar.com/reviews/au...fi-accessories/townshend-stella-684506/review

since this was more of a 'commercial' modification I moved it from the 'Tweak Section' to the main discussion forum................

This is good timing, having just installed my new Magtech amp :rocker: there is much more of everything in a good way.

Now I am looking at supports, my Ethos are on stone slabs. The comments in review saying the boom and bass resonance is greatly improved is interesting as this is one of the things I am looking at to improve. Doing this will cause less disturbance to the rest of the home.

Let us know your findings with more time, I'm sure bonzo won't miss them so pass them on to me to try

Reinforces / underscores the negative effects of vibration on all components, including speakers.

GG

I am confused, I thought the point was to make the speakers stick more strongly to the floor so that when the woofer pushes forwards, every else doesn't move back. With these devices, it looks like it achieves the opposite effect.

If I may offer an alternative explanation: I have found that elevating the speakers so that the woofer is further from the floor also tends to "improve" the sound. It seemed to help with my Scenario speakers. My Vistas have the woofer pretty close to the floor, and the bass response is all over the place.

With all due respect, I believe you are confused.

Stick to the floor? I think you mean isolate transmission of energy (and resultant floor induced vibrations) from the speaker to the floor.

GG

PS: And yes, increasing the vertical distance from the woofer to the floor will result in a more uniform (improved) response.

Hi these don't work on coupling to reduce vibration, they work on decoupling to reduce vibration. Phil, you should actually take the spike and the legs off, and then place them on it, it will sound even better. The increased distance from woofer to floor makes a massive difference, I actually hated the sound on granite where the bass and sound felt cut off abruptly in comparison.

I wish as a tweak someone could come up with just simple blocks to put under the feet that would raise the height, and yet keep it stable

Gordon Gray said:

Stick to the floor? I think you mean isolate transmission of energy (and resultant floor induced vibrations) from the speaker to the floor.

Click to expand...

By "stick to the floor" I mean just that. The speaker does not move with respect to the ground. The same principle behind using spikes on carpet. It pokes thru the soft carpet and hits concrete so the speaker does not flop around.

So when the woofer pulsates, do you want the speaker body to flop around also (like what this device does), or do you want the speaker to not move? (stuck to the floor)

bonzo said:

Hi these don't work on coupling to reduce vibration, they work on decoupling to reduce vibration. Phil, you should actually take the spike and the legs off, and then place them on it, it will sound even better. The increased distance from woofer to floor makes a massive difference, I actually hated the sound on granite where the bass and sound felt cut off abruptly in comparison.

I wish as a tweak someone could come up with just simple blocks to put under the feet that would raise the height, and yet keep it stable

Click to expand...

I used cinder blocks on top of a piece of mdf with wood screws thru the 4 corners to poke down thru the carpet.

With these the speaker will move around, which is better than being stuck to the floor

Actually looks like the perfect stand for a turntable.

Not so sure about this approach. Love the benefits from ultra solid spiking of my Spires tensioning them for max stability......fabulous focus and precision. Hi fi critic mini review also points to loss of upper bass output where the Summit frequency response already has a dip.....
any thoughts from those who've heard them?

I have heard both and Townsend to me are much better than spiking. The increase in distance between woofer and the floor might also be a factor. Better bass, high frequency, and much more room filling and full

I have heard both and Townsend to me are much better than spiking. The increase in distance between woofer and the floor might also be a factor. Better bass, high frequency, and much more room filling and full

To me spiking has always seemed the way to go; you don't want the speaker to move relative to the floor. I wonder if bonzo would get the better bass and highs he has mentioned with spiking and room treatment.

Bernard said:

To me spiking has always seemed the way to go; you don't want the speaker to move relative to the floor. I wonder if bonzo would get the better bass and highs he has mentioned with spiking and room treatment.

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or repositioning, or EQ.

Came across them first in 2009.

http://www.martinloganowners.com/forum/showthread.php?8468-Bristol-Hi-Fi-Show-2009&p=96225&viewfull=1#post96225

Bernard, my speakers are currently spiked. Spiking is nowhere as good because you don't get the increased distance from woofer to the ground. Also, it will be tough for you to guess what the sound will be like since from what I know this is the only such product in the market, customized by someone called Max Townshend in the UK who will probably be unknown to the US lot. He does specialize in decoupling and the summits get the increased benefit of the woofer going up

What Justin has posted will only benefit from decoupling, the benefit would have been higher if those speakers in Justin's pic had downward firing woofers. And no, EQ does a very different thing. As for repositioning, nothing stops you from repositioning here. There is added weight making dragging the speakers around tougher, but can be done

bonzo said:

And no, EQ does a very different thing. As for repositioning, nothing stops you from repositioning here. There is added weight making dragging the speakers around tougher, but can be done

Click to expand...

Hi Kedar,

Have you measured FR 20-300 Hz @ 1/12 octave and/or bass decay, with the speakers off and then on the stands? This would best allow us to see any differences in bass performance.

No, but it sounds better. I am not trying to solve a bass problem here. The bass (and other music) sounds more extended and musical.