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Speaker/Monitor stand solutions...

Maxiseller

Maxiseller

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Jan 11, 2005
846
1
Little grey, chilly island.
Hi Guys.

I've decided it's finally time to get some decent speakers for my setup. I'm writing music for media, and have stuck with these home stereo speakers for long enough. I've managed, but it's time to get a true indication of the way my mixes sound.

So - here's my problem.

I've got a desk that is so large that the left hand side sits against a door (next to the light in th picture) which means I can't get any room down the back to use speaker stands. As I'm not particuarly fond of drilling any holes in the desk I was wondering if anybody had a particular solution in mind for rasing the speakers (will be about 70lbs) to ear height?

On the picture, I've included a white line to indicate where the top of my ears sit relative to everything else. I know I'll only need the middle of the speaker at that height and so the base considerably lower.

Any desktop speaker stands? Any boxes? Are these solutions right for professional audio? I'm going to use Mo pads underneath to help the sound.

Any ideas?!
 

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Mydriasis

Mydriasis

macrumors 6502
Mar 17, 2005
476
0
Would drilling holes in the wall work? There are wall mounted speaker-holders out there and that way you have more room on your desk.

BTW, you might not want to have your speakers in the corner of the room (too much reflextion).
 
Maxiseller

Maxiseller

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Jan 11, 2005
846
1
Little grey, chilly island.
Yeh, I'm going to move them to the centre anyway when I change speakers. I'm not sure about drilling holes. Its only drywall anyway.

Plus, I'll probably change the room around until I find the ideal spot so I'm looking for a removable solution really.

I read on another forum about a large breezeblock underneath the speaker - would that alter the sound in anyway?
 
theblotted

theblotted

macrumors regular
Nov 10, 2006
211
0
Los Angeles
Mydriasis said:
BTW, you might not want to have your speakers in the corner of the room (too much reflextion).
Click to expand...

having the speakers in corner is actually okay, compared to say in a small room and having them sit closer to a wall horizontally.

in the corner will actually let the sound travel out and disperse better, as opposed to having reflections coming back equally, which'll create cancelling.
 
zimv20

zimv20

macrumors 601
Jul 18, 2002
4,402
11
toronto
theblotted said:
in the corner will actually let the sound travel out and disperse better, as opposed to having reflections coming back equally, which'll create cancelling.
Click to expand...
there are way too many variables in each room to make a blanket statement like that. all untreated rooms will produce comb filtering, all over the place, depending on variables such as speaker placement, room dimensions, objects within the room, the various absorptive properties of everything in the room...

for those interested, GIK acoustics has a decent acoustics primer here. also some good stuff over at realtraps.com, such as here.
 
zimv20

zimv20

macrumors 601
Jul 18, 2002
4,402
11
toronto
Maxiseller said:
I read on another forum about a large breezeblock underneath the speaker - would that alter the sound in anyway?
Click to expand...
ah, i had to look up 'breezeblock'. it's a cinder block, for all the yanks here.

what was the theory of using the block? it's rigid, so i don't see how it could decouple the monitors (decoupling is the goal).
 
theblotted

theblotted

macrumors regular
Nov 10, 2006
211
0
Los Angeles
zimv20 said:
there are way too many variables in each room to make a blanket statement like that. all untreated rooms will produce comb filtering, all over the place, depending on variables such as speaker placement, room dimensions, objects within the room, the various absorptive properties of everything in the room...

for those interested, GIK acoustics has a decent acoustics primer here. also some good stuff over at realtraps.com, such as here.
Click to expand...

too many variable is true, and i have read GIK acoustic and Ethan Winer's realtrap articles also. i'm just speaking from personal experiences. we don't know much about OP's room (no exact dimensions), and if you want to get into speaker placement, this thread can go on forever.

from the pic tho, assessing speakers in corner should be okay. for now.
 
Maxiseller

Maxiseller

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Jan 11, 2005
846
1
Little grey, chilly island.
Thanks for all your replies so far!

Ok, so what I've done after a LOT of searching around and your comments decided on buying speaker stands afterall!

They're a lot smaller (after searching) and managed to find ones with half the footprint of the Quiklok ones I was originally going for.

So; they still sit in the corner. I am planning on getting some Auralex Mo Pads for underneath, but how exactly will the corner affect the sound? Is there any treatment that you can recommend so that I can get an accurate monitoring solution?

My trouble is that I want a squarish room with lots of acoustic treatment so I won't have any of these problems and the speakers would sit somewhere in the middle so there are no reflections off the room, but unfortunately I also use the room as a teaching studio so it has to look neat and tidy!!

I've attached a room plan below so that you can get an idea of the possibilities of acoustic treatment.

By the way, thank you for the replies so far.
 

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zimv20

zimv20

macrumors 601
Jul 18, 2002
4,402
11
toronto
theblotted said:
if you want to get into speaker placement, this thread can go on forever.
Click to expand...
indeed. other than offering some CW as a starting point, i think it's like a war: you make all your plans, then everything changes the moment you start implementing it :)
 
zimv20

zimv20

macrumors 601
Jul 18, 2002
4,402
11
toronto
Maxiseller said:
how exactly will the corner affect the sound?
Click to expand...
it will exacerbate bass problems and the early reflections will spoil your stereo separation.

Is there any treatment that you can recommend so that I can get an accurate monitoring solution?
Click to expand...
buy as many bass traps (actually, they're broadband absorption panels, but they're most effective in the bass frequencies) as you can afford. i have panels from both GIK and Realtraps and can recommend both. performance is similar, GIK is cheaper, RT has better build quality.

for placement, the first thing you should think about is having the speakers fire the long way into the room. then you should move them as far away from the corners and front wall as is practical. the CW for listening position is 38% of the room distance from either the front or rear wall.

put bass traps in all 4 corners (you can mount them on moveable stands to deal with the doors) and as many 2 surface meets as you can. also consider placing the high-freq versions of those panels at your 3 first reflection points (ceiling, left wall, right wall). finally, acoustically decouple the speakers from the floor.

if you can do all of those, you'll likely have a nice sounding room. of course there are always constraints, so do as many as you can.
 
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