Speaker Stands vs. Cables

[BenW]

In your opinion, which makes the greatest difference to a system using no stands and standard cables?

Just i've got some reasonable stands, cost about £120 and i didn't notice much difference (slightly better bass) and am wondering if i will get a bigger or smaller upgrade from cables?

Thanks
Ben

[Dr.EM]

In my experience, much smaller improvements/changes are noticed from cable upgrades. Moving speakers around can and often does have a huge impact on the sound.

[karkus30]

Thats a really tough question to answer. I would say that they make similar amounts of difference in general, but spend £1000 on special cable that isnt suitable for your system and it might really destroy any cohesion you have built up, however spending serious amounts on stands will rarely have an adverse effect even if it doesnt improve the sound.

You could of course spend a couple of quid on some blue tack to secure (called coupling in hifi terms) the speakers to the stands (small bits, not big wodges), this can have as dramatic effect as cable or stands, but costs virtually nothing.

[BenW]

Thanks, my stands have some small bluntish spikes on the top plate as well as bottom and i've also put some bluetak in the middle to secure the speaker

If the difference is going to be less/similar then i probably won't bother. Only reason would be to make the speaker cables look better

[pdbmjb]

Have you filled your stands with sand ,I put 3kgs in each of my floorstanders this really made a big improvement to the sound.

Regards Martin

[BenW]

Yep, 1/2 to 3/4 filled the stands and put more in one than the other due to my room shape.

When i think back to the day i got my stands thats probably about the time my ear problem started (Still to be fully sorted). I noticed a very minor change when sand filling.

Anyway, i got a 5m mains cable (£26 inc from ebay) today to replace my daisy chain of extension cables which also run along my speaker cables. I'm yet to recieve my male IEC so i can plug it in but i'm hoping for an improvement.

[Nic Rhodes]

Room acoustic dominate how things sound, in this respect speaker stands are 'part of' that equation. Cables are WELL down the list.

[Drew2]

Also make sure your sand is kiln dried - a quick blast in the microwave (before it turns to glass!) has the same effect. You want zero moisture content.

Other than that; sitting your stands on concrete or if you can afford it marble slabs can help 'strengthen' the sound.

As for speaker cable - haven't done a full test on my system yet but CAT 6 LAN cable could be the way to go, and you get some real cool colours! You need 3 lengths braided per speaker, very promising and very cheap compared to Kimber!

[BenW]

Why is it that sand must be 'kilm dried'? I gave mine a toast in the oven before putting in the supplied plastic bags in the stands.

How exactly can i improve my room acoustics? I haven't got curtains in there ATM but they'll be going in soon and its a bedroom so i've got a thick matress and duvet/linen