Buy book speaker stands or floor stand speakers?

[DamienS]

Hi Jim.

The room is carpeted. As you've mentioned the stands are a little short but seems hard to get everything perfect without going the fully hog and paying out for the official ones (which I have debated myself extensively on ). However the stands are meant to be 568mm (22.36" we'll round up to 22.5") excluding the spikes. While I don't have a hard dimension for the spikes I'm guess they would add another 40mm (1 1/2" ). Then from the bottom of speaker to the center of the tweeter is 10.5". All in that give me 34.5". I'm figuring in a seated position my ear would be at 36". I figure I'll get a couple of paving stones for the stands to sit on as (a) this will give me the benefit of height of the spikes as well as bring the tweeters up to the 36" that my ear would be at.

Sound right?

Yes, I agree Eppie. While the size of platform and height of the white ones sounded good, there were concerning comments. Overall percentage wise they had pretty good reviews but the ones that were not good seemed consistent with their complaints related to packaging and QC issues. While I had considered them I wasn't thrilled about those comments and had been back and forth to looking again at the official ones. However when I came across the 'Mission Stancette' one which I would get from a local distributor (HiFi hut), I felt that would be the way to go as they would have good customer service, etc. and any return would have to be dealing with international transit, etc.

 

[-Jim-]

Hi Damien,

I'd try the stands out as they are first before looking to modify. You may find them fine, particularly if you are 8 feet or so away from them in your typical listening position.

Buying local makes a lot of sense to me.

 

[lovinthehd]

Don't know if it will help but here's a page from Amazon us for a search of "museum putty"....I tried both Blu-Tac and museum putty on Amazon UK and got zilch....hopefully just a language difference.... https://www.amazon.com/s?k=museum+putty&ref=nb_sb_noss

 

[Kingnoob]

Thank you Jim and Eppie for your insight. My mind is beginning to feel like a ping pong ball going back and forth on the options .

I think if I was to change to floor standers then it would likely mean changing brand to get something with range on the lower end. And likely means spending more money than I was originally thinking of (but then not needing a sub).

I have listed the 3030i for sale and there hasn't been any enquiries yet, but it's only been a few hours. If there hasn't been any bites tomorrow then I may pull the ad and go with the stand option. I have a sub in the living room that I could put in the new room to play around with for a while to decide whether or not to get another sub for the new room.

Appreciate the link to the thread about the speaker stands Jim and it would be nice to not be spending 66% of the value of the speakers on the official stands. However I have done a bit of browsing on 3rd party stands and since the 3030i are such a large bookshelf speaker it limits the options. The few that I have seen so far that would be a suitable size seem very low so I might have to bite the bullet and go for the official ones to get the speakers at the right height. Even going for the official stands I'd still be spending less money than changing to floor standers (since I'd be selling the 3030i at a loss).

Eppie, the new room is primarily for music rather than home theater. There'll be a tv but it will be just for casual viewing rather than movie night type viewing.

Again, thank you all very much for your insight! Think I'm getting closer to a decision (so long as I don't get any takers on my ad for the 3030is ).

What are you using as surrounds, are the 3030is better. ???
Higher sensitivity speakers get a Lot louder for movies but towers are always a bit louder and clearer then there bookshelves counterpart.
I’d test out if your speakers get loud enough before selling the them , if you don’t listen loud can be more pateint waiting for deals on larger towers .
Mono price stands , check crutchField , Bookshelve can work fine for Fronts.

 

[DamienS]

Indeed Jim. Could try them without initially but I have a feeling that no matter how good they sound I will always be wondering to myself - "I wonder if they'd sound better up that bit higher". So at some point will likely get the slabs just to see. While the paver would only be 40mm (1 1/2") high, it would seem to give me nearly 3" in height as without the paver the spikes are going to sink into the carpet. I was thinking something like this https://mybuildingsupplies.ie/product/paving-slabs-400-x-400-x-40mm-charcoal

Getting the 3" (1.5" via paver and 1.5" from the spike resting on solid paver)

But again, I can certainly live without the slabs initially and until I happen to pass them in the store/curiosity gets the better of me.

lovinthehd, I can find that 'Quakehold' putty on Amazon.uk but it is 3 x the price as what is shown on the US site AND they don't deliver to Ireland. If I go to eBay for it - between the price and postage it's approx. $30 .

I'll try a couple of local stores to see if they have anything that I feel good about in lieu of the museum putty. If not then I might order some of this (cheap) and see how it feels in place....

Home Page - Packlinq

www.packlinq.com

Otherwise I could probably use something like this:

https://smile.amazon.co.uk/Kissral-Adhesive-Waterproof-Outdoor-Excluder/dp/B086JXBDJS/ref=sr_1_35?crid=UMCUE7UJ6IA4&dchild=1&keywords=double+sided+tape&qid=1619469180&sprefix=double+sided+%2Caps%2C160&sr=8-35

It states on there " When you do not need double-sided tape, please remove it slowly, it will not leave sticky residue, and will not peel off the surface coating of the object.". I think if I were to use this and latter needed to remove the speaker that I could have success by heating it with a hair dryer first and think it would come away not too bad. But could do some testing first.

I think first trial is to see what 'tac putty' options are in the local stores and see what kind of confidence they give me when in place. I'm curious to see how it feels. I originally would have been concerned but after reading all your comments I think I was being overly concerned and that the weight of the speaker will provide more stability than I was first imagining.

Talking of testing - I only now got around to watching that link to the testing of double sided tape Jim. Pretty impressed with the testing methods that they went to for doing the tests as well as the strength of the tapes. I think those would be too strong for my application. .

 

[lovinthehd]

I've used various double sided tapes and some of that stuff tries to become permanent IME if not super hard to remove when you want to.

Sure is expensive for the putty (and the quantity in a package can last a very long time unless you've got a lot of uses for it....aside from several speakers/stands, I've also used it behind picture frames to keep my subs from rattling them, as well as some other household decoration/furnishings, air sealing my speakon terminals on my diy speakers/subs, and have found various other uses around the house as well and still have stuff left ).

ps That packling stuff appears to be the same sort of stuff at a good price....

 

[-Jim-]

Yes, I thought they were too strong but if you were really super concerned with the speakers toppling off the stand you may have wanted something super secure. Besides the videos that guy does are amazing.

There are all kinds of double sided tape. I have some that has a thin foam core, and the it would be perfect for you as it peels off quite easy, but holds more than adequately for this job. I got it from our local Hardware / Building Supply store. I wouldn't sweat what you use here. Like I said above - no one will see these surfaces. (You could also try the Refill Strips for the 3M Command Self Adhesive Hooks. They are cheap and should do the trick.)

As for the Paver, I would never get that past the WAF.

 

[lovinthehd]

Some do like to keep the speakers as free of any marks/damage, even the out of sight surfaces, for resale value. Me, I've used screws on above-floor mounts as I don't resell my speakers and no particular aesthetic concern. On the floor-stands the putty has held more securely than some of the tape would have. However, I do like to totally remove the material quickly and easily without worry (like for just changing the speaker/stand), why I thought putty was more attractive than double sided tapes I'd used for various things (and have at least three different types on hand). YMMV.

 

[DamienS]

Right guys, the stands have been ordered. Had to pull the trigger before Jim talked me out of it bringing up WAF .

No in fairness Jim, it's a fair point and while I don't have to deal with it right now, to keep options open in the future I was reconsidering. However in looking again at the 'spikes' on those speaker stands they are not 'super pointy' and so won't sink into the carpet (losing height) as much as I was first thinking. That being the case these are likely to only be 1 1/2" or so lower than the official ones so I think that would be totally fine without the pavers (good call - thanks).

Yes lovinthehd, I would see the putty as being preferable for the reasons you've mentioned and seeing what they have locally will be my first option when I'm passing them sometime this week. I have a bit of time as I'd imagine it'll take a few days/week to get the stands delivered.

Whew, a relief just to be able to put it to rest. Funny how these things can send you down the rabbit hole of researching double sided tape/sticky tape and the likes .

Will likey revisit that double sided tape video again in more detail when I am looking for a 'permanent solution'. Hats off to them.

Again all, thank you very, very much for all you have endured through this thread. Looking forward to getting these set up and enjoying some music now .

 

[DamienS]

Kingnoob, apologies. for some reason I missed your post. Must have come through similar time as one of the other posts and I just saw the other one.

As I've mentioned above I have proceeded now with getting the stands ordered so we'll just have to see how it goes. TBH, I think it probably is the right way and despite spending more time looking at stands than I would have thought/cared for originally it is probably dwarfed in comparison to the rabbit hole of research I'd have been setting myself up for if I started exploring the option changing to floor standers.

To answer your question - I'm not having surrounds in this room, where the 3030i are going. Just a 2.0 set up for music with the possibility of adding a sub (pending some initial experimenting with the one I already have (BK P12-300).

Platinum P12300-SB

www.bkelec.com

 

[-Jim-]

Hi Damien,

Don't forget to update this thread when you get it all installed. We love real feedback to see how our recommendations worked out.

 

[DamienS]

I will indeed Jim.

Thanks again for all your help!

 

[JengaHit]

Hi Jim.

Thanks again for the further reply!

Unfortunately the postage (to Ireland) for the Rockville speakers costs more than the stands themselves .

While the 3030i aren't the biggest speaker in the world I don't seem to be able to find any suitable sized ones for less than official. The problem I'm finding with sizing is two fold. (a) getting one with a big enough top plate for the speaker to sit on and (b) the correct height.

TBH, I think I'd be a bit nervous of using the CCB-8 speakers on the Rockville stands. Maybe it's just the way is done with speaker stands (don't know, haven't had them before), but with the top plate of the Rockville stands being 9.25" x 11.8" the top plate is smaller than the speaker itself. Is that considered kosher? I would have thought (perhaps mistakenly) that the top plate should be bigger than the speaker footprint so that the feet on the speaker are resting on the speaker stand. I also thought that one would have wanted the top plate to be a bit larger than the speaker so if someone brushed against it that the speaker wouldn't be likely to fall off the stand.

Thoughts on this would be appreciated as if I'm thinking incorrectly on this it may open up some other options on 3rd party speakers that I've seen but dismissed due to this concept.

I do feel there would be a certain sense of security with the official stands as the speakers would be able to bolt to those, so would have to bump into them pretty hard to knock those over...

Again, thoughts would be appreciated as I I've only had speakers on shelves/cabinets in the past.

My CCB-8s are on VTI stands. The top plate is smaller than the speaker, but I secure the speakers to the plates with Quake Hold museum putty (a necessity since I live in earthquake country). Don't have to use a lot; just five small pellets, four at corners and one in the center hold well. Very strong stuff; the speakers won't budge. And there's plenty left over in one pack to use for securing equipment to shelves, which I also do (again, earthquakes). You can also use Blu Tack putty.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0002VA9NA/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_glt_fabc_TH8HSEXVWPSB3JDWAYGA?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B001FGLX72/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_glt_fabc_1WSVH8NGS4M2VYZPXWPC