Definitive Studio Monitor 450 steel stands and how they worked out?

[stevenlevel 146]

Bought a pair of Def Tech studio monitor 350/450 steel stands on Ebay about a year ago. The box had everything except it was missing a main support post.

 

I went ahead and received a partial refund and ended up paying $26 for the single stand and all the parts.

 

I was able to get one of the post from Def Tech support sent to me free, and wow was I excited.

 

Now they are assembled and it was the simplest assembly of two steel stands and took all of about 10 min to get the bottom and top (450) plate centered perfectly.

 

WOW! What a difference in the overall sound. I'm in awe at the difference these really full sized bottom plates and 42" height makes to the imaging, sound stage, and channel balance as some have seen my posts about the right channel not playing as loud as the left was.

 

Well they sound the same or so close to it now I can't hear a difference anymore. The highs are not as bright as they were before allowing me to cut less out with the L-Pads I added to both front speakers.

 

I am just in shock that a pair of steel stands at a 42" height, including the speaker can make such a huge impact. I'm in vinyl Heaven again and my speakers sound better than they ever have before.

 

Now I have to drill some tiny starter holes in all four corners and get things nice a tight with the 1 1/4" wood screws that tighten up the speaker to the top plate.

 

A little nervous about putting these really long wood screws into the speakers bottom but I asked a few other people about it and they said as long as you use a small drill bit to get them started they work perfectly.

 

So once again my post was way too long but this is a once in a lifetime type of thing actually getting a support post for the second stand for free giving me 2 steel stands that sell at $150 everywhere that I picked up for the grand total of $26.

 

But more important than anything is the fantastic sound I have gotten from these stands that never expected or even thought was possible. Must be something to do with the height and the solid construction of the stands and the top plate being so close to the actual speaker bottoms size.

 

YEAH............................

[aslan7 954]

Congrats Steven! Great to hear.

Post some pics when u get the chance.

[gold98gtp 295]

Bought a pair of Def Tech studio monitor 350/450 steel stands on Ebay about a year ago. The box had everything except it was missing a main support post.

I went ahead and received a partial refund and ended up paying $26 for the single stand and all the parts.

I was able to get one of the post from Def Tech support sent to me free, and wow was I excited.

Now they are assembled and it was the simplest assembly of two steel stands and took all of about 10 min to get the bottom and top (450) plate centered perfectly.

WOW! What a difference in the overall sound. I'm in awe at the difference these really full sized bottom plates and 42" height makes to the imaging, sound stage, and channel balance as some have seen my posts about the right channel not playing as loud as the left was.

Well they sound the same or so close to it now I can't hear a difference anymore. The highs are not as bright as they were before allowing me to cut less out with the L-Pads I added to both front speakers.

I am just in shock that a pair of steel stands at a 42" height, including the speaker can make such a huge impact. I'm in vinyl Heaven again and my speakers sound better than they ever have before.

Now I have to drill some tiny starter holes in all four corners and get things nice a tight with the 1 1/4" wood screws that tighten up the speaker to the top plate.

A little nervous about putting these really long wood screws into the speakers bottom but I asked a few other people about it and they said as long as you use a small drill bit to get them started they work perfectly.

So once again my post was way too long but this is a once in a lifetime type of thing actually getting a support post for the second stand for free giving me 2 steel stands that sell at $150 everywhere that I picked up for the grand total of $26.

But more important than anything is the fantastic sound I have gotten from these stands that never expected or even thought was possible. Must be something to do with the height and the solid construction of the stands and the top plate being so close to the actual speaker bottoms size.

YEAH............................

 

I bought a new pair of DCM Time Window's back in the early 80's, loved the way they sounded in my small living room.  About 10 years ago, I installed a set of speaker spikes on them and the improvement was impressive, especially low bass.  My house is built on a slab,  so the spikes couple the cabinet to the concrete.  I have a K2 disc of ELP, and the lows at the end of Tark now shake your body.

 

I'm guessing your improvement is from the spikes and raising the drivers closer to ear level.  I agree you should secure the cabinets to the plates, should only help lows.

 

Mark 

[danowood 2,167]

It didn't happen without pics 

[peck555 366]

You could also put some dampening material between the top plate and the speaker, BlueTack for example.

[stevenlevel 146]

Already placed four 2" x 2" double sided rubber pads that I doubled up for a total of 8 in the same 4 places on the bottom plate.

 

These are actually from a back stimulator I used a few years ago. With them being super sticky and placing the 2 on top of each other gave them enough height to actually isolate the entire bottom plate from actually touching the speakers bottom.

 

I had 4 of these doubled up rubber pads perfectly spaced out with two on each rear back corner area and two more on the front plate near the corners.

 

So with the screws tightened up (Used a some shorter 3/4" screws instead of the 1 1/4" wood screws) they put all the pressure on the rubber 2" X 2" square shaped pads that have that gel like sticky coating on both sides, as they were designed to be placed on human skin repeatedly.

 

So I have perfect isolation with these double sided 2"x2" real rubber pads. I had to double them up for this stand as they have the bottom speaker bumps actually placed right in the 4 outer pre-drilled holes that end up with the 4 screws getting everything nice and tight.

 

I then predrilled the holes into the bottom of the speakers round raised bumps and then added the 3/4" wood screws up from the bottom plate into the speakers bottom raised bumps.

 

The are really tightly screwed in giving a 1 or 2mm gap between the bottom plate and the actual bottom of the speakers.

 

So they are perfectly isolated just as they were with my old Sanus NF-24" wooden stands. As far as using carpet spikes I can't use them with my old carpeting in my apartment. I just have the stands sitting on the threaded four bottom points that the carpet spikes or soft rubber ended feet(For hard wood floor use) So they are rock stable and even as well with no movement on the bottom plate at all.

 

I hear you about the spikes but the bottoms would be super wobbily with the spikes or the rubber feet.

 

As they sit right now they are very stable and with my super think carpeting they just don't move at all. I'll play with the spikes since they are adjustable and maybe I can get them down to the wood flooring under the thin carpet.

 

I tried that with the Sanus NF-24" that cost me $75 without any success. But these are a bit more flexible with setting up the actual spike distance so I may get them to actually go thru the carpet and still adjust them as even as they are right now.

 

I'll post some photo's when my buddie comes over as my Phone has a lousy camera in it. My Buddie has a brand new phone with a excellent camera built in.

 

So hopefully on Friday sometime I can post a few pics. They also so a good job of hiding the speaker wire as well. Required me to drill out the bottom hole on the bottom base a few sizes larger for the wire to fit under and up through the new drilled out hole and up the back of the stands.

 

So great stands with that small speaker wire hole being the only flaw. A simply fix to just enlarge it so that 10 gauge speaker can be used without any trouble at all.

 

I'm so happy with the sound and what a difference good steel stands can make. I feel that the 42" total height also added to changing the sound by allowing the tweeters to not be quite so bright as they were when they sat so much lower Happy-Happy-Happy.........

[aslan7 954]

I'm reminded of the saying

 

"A picture is worth a thousand........"

 

Or you can do both.

 

Looking forward to your pics.

Thanks for sharing., Steven.

Nice job.

[stevenlevel 146]

Hopefully, later today Yeah sorry about the book I wrote

[Ar9Jim 6,512]

Glad they worked well for you Steven..