Stands & Isolation

Vibration is the enemy of accurate sound. A loudspeaker cabinet is trying to hold still while its drivers push air; a turntable is trying to read a groove measured in microns; an amplifier’s transformer is humming quietly into the shelf underneath it. Every one of those is a mechanical problem, and every one of them is cheaper to solve than it is to compensate for further up the chain.

Stands and isolation are the least glamorous purchase in this catalogue and, pound for pound, among the most reliably worthwhile. Our range runs from around £70 to £3,850.

Why a matched speaker stand is not an accessory

A standmount loudspeaker is designed as a system with its stand. The mass, the height and the way the cabinet couples to the stand are all part of the acoustic design — which is why the manufacturers who care make their own, and why substituting a generic stand is a real, audible downgrade rather than a marginal one.

Three things the right stand does:

It puts the tweeter at seated ear height. This is the single most consequential dimension in the whole setup, and it is free. Too low or too high and the tonal balance changes measurably.
It stops the cabinet moving. Every bit of energy that moves the box instead of the air is detail you paid for and did not get. Mass and rigidity fix this.
It decouples from the floor. Particularly on a suspended timber floor, which will happily turn into a large, badly tuned radiator of everything below about 100 Hz.

Rack and equipment isolation

The same logic applies to the electronics, though the priorities differ. A turntable is the most sensitive item in any system and should be dealt with first — on a suspended floor, wall-mounting or a properly isolated support is transformative. Valve equipment is next: tubes are microphonic by nature and genuinely respond to a stable, decoupled platform. Solid-state electronics benefit least, though a heavy transformer will still tell you about a flimsy shelf.

Get the order right: turntable, then valve equipment, then everything else.

What actually goes wrong

Spikes fitted for the wrong floor. Spikes couple. On a solid concrete floor that is usually what you want. On a suspended timber floor it can be exactly wrong, feeding energy straight into a springy surface. The right answer depends on the floor, and it is worth ten minutes of experiment.
The stand not filled. Fillable stands are designed to be filled. An empty one is a resonant tube.
Cabinet-top placement. A speaker on a sideboard is a speaker driving a sideboard. If it cannot be helped, isolate it deliberately.
Buying isolation before fixing placement. Moving the speakers 20 centimetres will usually do more than anything on this page. Do the free things first — we would rather tell you that than sell you something.

What we carry

Matched loudspeaker stands from Sonus Faber, each designed for its specific model: the Sonetto I stands around £975, the Olympica Nova I stand around £1,150, the Olympica Nova centre stand around £850, the Heritage Carrara stand around £1,500, and the carbon-fibre Guarneri G5 stand around £3,850.

From Lyngdorf, the MH stand for the MH-2 and MH-3 around £999, and the BW-20 stack insert around £70.

Next steps

If you tell us the loudspeakers, the floor construction and your seated ear height, we will tell you what to buy — and, quite often, that moving the speakers first is the better use of the money. On a full installation, correct placement, coupling and isolation are part of the job rather than an extra. See room acoustics or get in touch.

All prices shown include VAT. Hidden Home Technology is a family-run, CEDIA Professional Member business based in Bath.