Mye Audio Stands for Maggies

[Feanor]

I made stands for my MMGs. The intend was to stand them truly vertical and raise them 7-9" off the floor. Height was adjustable in that range. I used scrap MDF; the out-of-pocket cost was for the levelers, screws, and paint.

Did the stands help? They made a very minor improvement in the imaging; the main thing was to raise the center of the soundstage to eye level.

[DcnBlu]

Thanks folks for all the input. I have decided to build my own stands. It will more fulfilling and I like the idea of a custom touch.

[Florian]

Good choice. And while your ad it give this a try. Thanks to Mike for the guide!


"Mike at the Magnepan User Group

Mike's Wing work

I just whipped up a set of wings from 3/4" plywood. They are the height of the 1.6's and 19" wide. I clamped them to the edges of my stands and played around with the angle briefly before doing some listening. So far, I'm not that impressed. I think the bass is better/fuller but they seem to have an effect on the midrange making it sound a bit more forward and nasal.

I think reducing the width and cutting vertical slits in the panel may help reduce/eliminate the problems I hear.

I couldn't resist running some numbers using a frequency generator and RatShack spl meter. The measurements were done with both channels driven and taken at my listening position:



I then tried a triangular shape filling in the angle braces in my stands because I didn't like the sound with the 19" x 60" horizontal wings. I felt that it had a negative effect on the imaging and midrange.



That tip turned out to be the ticket (thank you)! Using a 1/8" sheet of recycled hardboard, I cut it out to fill in the support area one side of the stand. I first tried the board on the inside side of the speaker (closest to the tweeter panel). The results were far better than my previous attempt using the large plywood wings. Bass was noticeably improved over stock and full wing design. The imaging was slightly affected, sounding a bit closed in (like a box speaker), but I preferred the sound (tonally) with the board in place compared to no board. I then shifted the hardboard to the outside of the speaker (the bass panel side) and everything snapped into place. Awesome bass and no negative imaging effects! I haven't run any measurements yet but I can say that I no longer have a suck-out in the mid bass. Low bass is also vastly improved over stock. I'm very happy with the end result in this configuration. I'll post frequency response numbers after I get tired of listening to the music... If interested I posted a parts list with dimensions to construct the

[DcnBlu]

Please keep us informed on the outcome of your experiment.

Thanks,

Michael

[twochannelsonly]

For a total of $430.00 (stands with struts plus shipping),

They are worth every penny, Im on my second year with them on my Maggy 1.5's
My old Audio room before I moved was a 10 X 12 / 7ft 2in cieling and the Bass improvement was noticeable and I never really noticed any difference in the high end except the ability to lean forward or back the entire speaker was neat, I could raise and lower the Vocals and timber slightly. YES it does make the speaker sound more like the big ones.

Now that Ive moved the speakers are in a 17 X 22 foot with a 7ft 8in cieling, Im bumming becuase I still havent unboxed(found them) the stands yet so Im using the stock stands with the supplied white washers in the bottom screws to lean the speaker forward. I may get serious this weekend and try and find them, Ill take a picture and post them with and without stands if I do. They raise the speaker about 1 & 1/4 inch off the floor.

Ive been running 2 HSU VT-2 subwoofers and have a friends Velodyne FSR 15 over at the house now since last saturday(he swears its better) and it appears to have deeper bass, but it is slow compared to the HSU's and drowns the timber out in certain areas of the room. The stand's may help correct that.

[Mike Anderson]

Here is a very cheap and quick solution that makes it easy to try out various configurations:

I got four 8x8x16" cinderblocks, with two of these comprising the base for each speaker. These raise the speakers up off the floor.

I also got four large rubber ramp-shaped doorstops, which I place under the factory-supplied legs. These let me tilt forward the speakers to any degree I wish. I don't like having them exactly vertical; in that configuration, simply standing up takes you out of the optimal listening area. I like them titled back just slightly to raise the sweet spot a little.

I then put smaller cinder blocks on top of the back legs to keep the speakers from taking a face dive if they're bumped. Finally, I covered the bases with felt to make the setup less of an eyesore.

You can do all this for about $25; I just don't see the point of spending $400+ on stands for $550 speakers. Why not just spend $900+ on nicer speakers that come with stands?