Sound Footing MR47 Granite Speaker Stands [Archive]

esf

07-10-2006, 10:16 AM

I've been using these stands for about six months now with a pair of Triangle Stella ES speakers and can report excellent results (Unison Research Unico P hybrid amp, Goldring GR1 turntable, and Music Hall cd25.2 cd player). A quick overview of materials. These stands are solid granite, using epoxy (stronger than the stone itself when it comes to breaking, according to the builders) to connect a tall rectangular pillar to a triangular base and rectacular mounting deck. The top and bottom surfaces of the base, deck, and pillar are perfectly flat and smooth (not polished), while the sides of the base, deck, and pillar offer a pleasingly irregular surface - all this in light gray granite with dark flecks. Note, if you're looking for smooth, polished granite, that's (thankfully to my mind) not on offer here. These stands complement the wood grain (ok pretty nice vinyl) of the Triangles, without intruding like a glossy kitchen countertop in the middle of your living room. The fit and finish of the stands, especially the joint where the rectangular upright meets the base and deck, are excellent - the bead is smooth and uniform, carefully following the natural irregularities of the stone. As far as size goes, and this is key, all stands are made to order and incur no additional charge for this service. The guys in the shop double-checked my sizing twice to make sure that everything was in order (you know, was that with or without the spike included in the measurement, etc.) and it came exactly as specified (24.5 inches).

The stands come with acceptable spikes (threaded into the base) that you may want to upgrade later (I keep saying I will, but I have my doubts about whether it will improve the sound much and I never seem to get around to it) or you may want to ask the company about options. I used Michell floor protecting cones (upside-down machined aluminum cones with a hole in the top to accommodate the spike) with a dab of Blu-Tack for stability, which works very well - these stands are too heavy to mount directly to the pine floors I have in my living room. To mount the Stellas, I used Herbie Audio Lab's Big Fat Black Dot (with adhesive). These stick nicely to the top of the stand and make minor repositioning of the speaker easy. They also work as well or better than Blu-Tack as far as isolation goes and they're easier on the speaker's finish.

As far as the sound goes, the stands do the job better than anything I've heard to date. I've been a fan of small two-ways forever - for all the reasons everybody knows about already - imaging, coherence, responsiveness. All this comes in spades with the Triangles. Before the Stella's I had a pair of Triangle Titus's on these stands for a little while - now there's a speaker that defines "responsive"! The MR47's brought both pairs of Triangles into focus. For the Titus's, it was a matter getting everything in the right place and helping the Unison amp do the tubular part of its job. With the Stella's, which I've had in place for most of the time I've owned these stands, the MR47's complemented the unusually rich base of these monitors (the primary difference with the Titus's) and kept the imaging right where it needed to be. With the Michell cones, subtle repositioning of the speakers was easy, despite the weight of the stands. After a day or two of experimenting with placement, I had it all dialed in (which of course didn't prevent obsessive nudges this way and that in a vain attempt to find the promised land).

An excellent standard of form and function - that's what these stands accomplish. They sound good - very good - and I look at them quite happily everyday, positioned well out from the wall in my living room. These are fine examples of high quality work out of a small specialist company.