Speakers on top of Ikea Lack tables/equipment on the floor - help appreciated!

[britain4]

Firstly - hello everyone, my first ever post on the forums!

I am having a problem with my hifi setup I am currently installing in a house I'm renting with my girlfriend. The only room it is allowed in is the spare bedroom (with a sloped roof and suspended wooden floors) and the only place my speakers can go is one on an Ikea Lack table and one on a stand in the corner of the room, with my amp and CD player on the floor next to each other.

I know this setup is acoustically far from ideal but due to the wishes of my girlfriend it is either that or my hifi does not get set up at all 🙁

With this in mind, what is my best option for between the speakers and the Lack table/ cheap stand? My speakers are lovely vintage Mordaunt-Short Pageant 2's, a rather large heavy speaker, powered by an imacculate Pioneer A400 and Marantz CD63KI. I have purchased some squash balls to cut in half and isolate the speakers from the table/cheap stand but does anyone have any other ideas for improving the sound from the speakers (and my amp and CD player on the floor?)

Thanks in advance!

 

[spiny norman]

Any chance of finding a way of wall-mounting the Pageants on brackets, despite the sloping walls? If not, i might suggest putting the player and amp on Lack table(or two tables woult be better), and perhaps considering standing the speakers on the floor, angled up toward the listening position by putting the squash ball halves under the front corners only.

When I was a student I had a similar set-up using big speakers much like the Pageants on the floor and angled up (you could even try them on their sides, a bit like stage monitors), and it didn't sound bad at all. You can thenplay with having the tweeters inward or outward - one will give tighter focus, the other a wider soundstage picture.

Anyway, just a thought

EDIT: Failing that, there's a pair of stands for sale here that'd suit the Pageants

 

[davedotco]

I think you need to think seriously about a proper upgrade. It is always difficult and I find that a step by step approach is usually the best.

First off, you need to take your girlfriend to one side and explain the situation.

Tell her that it is not really working in the current setup and of course that it is your fault, not hers.

Explain that you don't really want to do this, but it is 'for the best' and that you still want to be 'friends'.

Offer to help her move her things out at the weekend

😉

 

[MakkaPakka]

I have purchased some squash balls

I think you're problem is that you're lacking a different kind of balls. The kind that make you say "Listen wench, my speakers WILL be equidistant from the side and rear walls and will be placed at a uniform height. They will go where I want them to go and if you don't like it then jog on back to your Mum's house. Now get in the kitchen and make me a sandwich dammit"

 

[ID.]

Either way, personally I don't think it would bode well for me if I were in a relationship were my significant other weren't prepared to compromise a little for the things that were important for me, but then again, the stereo mightn't be that important to you.

 

[BigH]

Whats wrong with men these days. All I read in places like this is stories such as: I want these speakers but my GF/wife won't have them in the house or living room etc.

 

[chebby]

I think you're problem is that you're lacking a different kind of balls. The kind that make you say "Listen wench, my speakers WILL be equidistant from the side and rear walls and will be placed at a uniform height. They will go where I want them to go and if you don't like it then jog on back to your Mum's house. Now get in the kitchen and make me a sandwich dammit"

Be careful what you wish for.

 

[davedotco]

Whats wrong with men these days. All I read in places like this is stories such as: I want these speakers but my GF/wife won't have them in the house or living room etc.

A long time ago I had a 'situation' with the first Mrs DDC.

We did a fairly major refurb of our apartment and 'those big black boxes on oil rig stands' had to go. The 'big black boxes', were of course, my ES14s on their dedicated open frame stands, superb sounding but even I could see they were not the prettyest speakers in the world and to be fair did rather dominate the room.

Can't we have something a bit smaller and 'nicer' she said.

There was some nice wood in the room, so I replaced them with a pair of Sonus Faber Electa Amators on their dedicated Ironwood stands, she was so delighted by the smaller and quite beautiful solid walnut speakers that she quite forgot to ask the price.

For a little bit of domestic harmony, I had just managed to upgrade my £600 (at the time) speakers and stands for a setup costing nearer £2500, what is called I believe, a 'win-win' situation.........

 

[spiny norman]

Whats wrong with men these days. All I read in places like this is stories such as: I want these speakers but my GF/wife won't have them in the house or living room etc.

"I love the small of testosterone in the morning. Smells like... victory (if that's alright with you of course, love)"

 

[chebby]

Whats wrong with men these days. All I read in places like this is stories such as: I want these speakers but my GF/wife won't have them in the house or living room etc.

Our mothers had the right idea...

... a portable in the kitchen.

 

[cassper]

At the moment I have been dealing with the similar situation (luckily, not with the girlfriend - she understands that what has to be done, has to be done, and as long as I respect the colors, I am ok to install any gadgets I want)... I have not been happy with the sound of my hifi setup for a while, so last week I had a guy from the studio over. The verdict - speaker placement seems to be the culprit..centers of the speakers are more than 8ft away and for the bookshelf speakers it looks like a deal breaker. I cannot move speaker stands any closer as they are both sides right next to a cabinet 8ft wide.

So, the only solution is to put the speakers on the cabinet, but this is a big problem, it is only 1.7ft high. I had to find some low (0,7ft high) hifi grade stands. Now, I found these (not sure if links to products are allowed here, if not, admins please delete the link and keep just the name - Isoacoustics ISO-L8R155 http://www.isoacoustics.com/isol8r155.php?id=speaker%20stands%20studio%20monitor%20isolation) and ordered then from the UK (they are not distributed in my country), they should arrive next week. I will test them as soon as they arrive and let you guys know how they compare to the dedicated hifi stands.

Has anyone tried these stands for hifi yet?

 

[BigH]

I have not tried them myself but have read on here that they work well, let us know how you get on.

 

[britain4]

Oh dear, I seem to be taking some stick here :rofl:

I'm not yet at the stage where I'm willing to make the 'ultimate upgrade' which would allow me free reign with speaker placement :wall: however she has just bought me a set of Harman-Kardon Soundsticks for my birthday which are currently in the study where my computer is, which are just fine and dandy for in there as a substitute for my other gear.

I am willing to give her a break on this one as there really isn't a lot of room in the house to play with at the moment :roll:

However I am still restricted as far as the placement of the rest of the gear goes. The isoacoustics stands look just what I'm looking for with the speakers positioned as they are, within budget too which is unexpected. The squash balls actually seem to do a competent job, the sound as it is is just lovely despite the issues with speaker placement.

Anyway, if anyone has any more ideas to improve on what I have now for less money than that, along the lines of chopping boards and along that sort of budget then that would be appreciated, thanks for the replies up to now 😛

(the maximum topic title seems to have decreased since I created this thread)