For B&W owners - How stable are FS700 stands?

[d4v3pum4]

I'm planning a speaker upgrade and one concern I have is stability. I have floorstanders (no plinths) up front at the minute and am looking at either downsizing to bookshelfs or compact floorstanders. My shortlist includes B&W CM1 / 685, Focal 806V, MA RS1 and whatever else is at my local dealers. For floorstanders I am looking at the Tannoy Revolution Signature DC4T (I have always liked Tannoy), Focal 816V, MA RS6 and B&W CM7. My budget might need some adjustments though!

If I go down the bookshelf route, I will obviously get some decent stands (Currently using Atacama Nexus 10 for my rears) and obviously if I favour the B&W bookshelfs the obvious choice is the FS700 as they can be bolted together. However, they don't look the most stable stands in the world and I'm concerned that pets/kids/me etc. might knock them over quite easily. The Tannoy DC4T don't look particularly stable either and I've had this backed up by a dealer on another forum.

So how stable are the FS700's?

 

[Anonymous]

Add; can the 685 be bolted into the FS700?

 

[d4v3pum4]

Not sure, think it's just the CM and 700 that can be bolted to the FS700. If I went with 685, I wouldn't probably go for the FS700. As nice as they are, I'm sure I could get more sturdy stands for less.

Would anyone that owns the FS700 stands care to comment on their stability?

 

[toonfan]

i have my cm1 bolted to the FS700 and find them very stable,you can fill both columns in each stand with sand to further add to there stability

 

[DandyCobalt]

I also have CM1s as surrounds on the FS700s, filled with Atacama bites, and are very heavy/stable. Useful with the CM1s because they bolt on, but they are not the most attractive stands (and quite expensive) in the world tbh. For surrounds they are quite short, so I've had to make a platform to raise them higher.

Worth looking at the CM8s as floorstanders too? - they are quite slim profiled and very smart, if space is an issue. Bass output adjustable to suit room with the multi-ringed bungs that come in the box. Mine are about 25-30cm from angled wall, and I have used full bung in rear-facing bass ports.

 

[ID.]

685s can't be bolted on.

My FS700s supporting PMC DB1i remained stable and didn't fall over during the earthquake in Japan (In Tokyo so around 2 minutes of shaking equivalent to around magnitude 5).

I wasn't at home to observe their performance, but the hadn't shifted position at all when I came home to check on them the next day, and I was relieved they hadn't fallen over. Not sure how they'd survive a household with toddlers. The plan is to take the speakers off stands and move them to the bedroom in the event of kids.

 

[manicm]

I have the 685s with the FS700s. They're stable enough with spikes into the carpet. I've stuck the speakers on with blu-tac.