Why Studio Monitor Stands May Be a Good Investment

During the preliminary stages of setting up a studio, there’s a lot of things to consider. One of the most important decisions when designing a home studio are the speakers you use to monitor your audio. Besides the acoustics of your room, this will have the biggest impact on the listening experience in your studio. However, choosing an unsuitable studio monitor online could restrain your ability to create recordings that translate well when played on other systems and in other environments.

Even after you’ve done your research and found the ideal monitors for your studio, you may find that your results are below expectations. What went wrong? Maybe you missed the simple fact that studio monitors were manufactured with some basic assumptions – the biggest being that your monitor would be stand-mounted so they are in the optimum listening position.

What is Studio Monitor Stands?

As the name suggests, studio monitor stands are stands for putting your studio monitors in order to position them horizontally and vertically.

These stands normally consist of a base at the bottom, a sturdy platform for placing the speaker at the top, and a vertical column or legs connecting the two. Most monitor stands are height adjustable to ensure that your monitors are properly positioned vertically as well as horizontally.

When you buy desktop stands online, make sure that the monitor stands support the cabinet firmly and prevent vibrations from being transferred to whatever the stand is on, e.g. the floor or desktop.

What is the aim of buying Monitor Stands?

Though monitor stands are very simple devices, employing these in your studio setup provides a wide range of benefits to your recording rig.

Generally speaking, the biggest benefit of placing monitors on stands is that it immediately upgrades the performance of your monitors, thus enhancing the overall sound quality that monitors can produce in studios.

Studio monitors are just powered loudspeakers and are meant to radiate all their sound in one direction – towards the listener (in this case, the mixing position). When monitors are sitting on a hard surface, they tend to lose some of this energy by transmitting sound/energy into that surface they’re resting on. This can decrease the output of the speaker and color the sound of your monitors. Stands are highly effective in reducing these vibrations from transmitting into other structures such as floors, workstations, desks, and mixing consoles.

Though monitor stands come in all shapes and sizes, height-adjustable stands with bases that stand freely on the floor are very popular. However, there are other types to consider such as shorter desktop mount stands and smaller decoupling devices for your home studio.

Points to consider before investing in Monitor Stands

• Availability of space – Free-standing floor monitor stands require substantial space behind or beside your current studio setup. Make sure that there's at least a 20cm - 30cm gap between the wall and the back of the monitors to reduce the boundary effect.

• Check recommended monitor weight and size – Before buying monitor stands, you must check what weight and dimensions they’re designed to be used with. It is best to check the manufacturer’s website for relevant information and specifications of the stands you wish to purchase to make sure they are compatible with your monitors.

• Floor Surface – Carpeted floors aren’t the ideal surfaces to place monitor stands on, in particular when they have a deep pile. If you have a carpeted floor, you must buy desktop stands online or freestanding monitor stands that feature spike feet under the base.