Stand tragedy and problems with my new Mordaunt Shorts - at my wits end!

[admin_exported]

Hi all

I'm new here and have a question. We had these old Eltax Liberty 5+ floorstanders that were getting a little long in the tooth and looking tired so went and got a pair of Mordaunt Short Aviano 1s today along with some Soundstyle z2 stands. We've never not had floorstanders before so were new to stands - assembled the thing and it seemed very precarious - like it would nearly be knocked over by the wind. These stands have a base much smaller than the speaker and don't screw into anything on it. Then our tomcat lept at the right speaker before it was even connected, knocking it onto the wood floor from a height of about 1.8 feet up. Fell on its top back corners and scratched the bottom on the way down. Has a knock on the middle of the rear on the right too. How badly would it be damaged? Just cosmetic? It seems to be working (got it burning in with some Coltrane) but I am terrified it is now badly compromised. ;-(

They now are sitting on the floor next the TV stand where our amp and cd player live. On a book. I'm not sure what to do - surely stands are meant to hold them in place securely? Do they need mounting on the wall to be safe? What can we do? I feel a right idiot for getting bookshelf/standmounts without a shelf for them, and am amazed a stand would be so precarious. What can I do to get the best out of these little guys while keeping them safe from being knocked over?

Any advice to this hifi noob would be greatly appreciated. I am in total despair and confusion. ;-(

 

[bretty]

I reckon the damage will only have been cosmetic from that height. A blob of Blu Tac under each corner will hold the speakers securely to the base.

 

[Sizzers]

I have the Soundstyle Z2ii stands and they are great budget stands; perfectly solid and sturdy.

I can only make an assumption that somehow you have assembled them incorrectly if you're saying they would fall over in the "wind". Have you also spiked them through the carpet? Even without the spikes, providing the floor is level they are quite secure.

Speakers are not meant to be "attached" to the top plate they simply sit on it, although it's a good idea to isolate them from the plate itself using either the accompanying speaker spikes or blu tack is a good alternative. And as the name implies, standmount speakers are specifically designed to be mounted on stands otherwise you will have a seriously compromised sound.

I would think your speakers are likely to be perfectly okay, but best way to check would be to swap the speaker connections around on your amp. Best suggestion would probably be to get rid of the cat.

 

[Anonymous]

Cheers both. I can't get rid of the cat, sadly.

I think they were assembled OK - spikes and all (though we didn't put spikes on the top bit, just those adhesive feet as we assumed impaling the speaker was a bad idea.). Hard to be sure. We might mount them on the wall or else get a stand with a bigger base. The Soundstyle Z2 stands appear to have a top plate that is 5"W X 6.5"D and a base that is 8.9"W X 12"D. The Aviano 1 is 7.2"W X 10.7"D. Which might be part of the issue...Felt kind of like balancing a dinner plate on a fork.