I am often asked why we don’t add mass to the ISO-L8R stands for studio monitors. Why don’t we fill the upper and lower sections with epoxy or some other dense material, or even make them solid? The answer from our standpoint is very simple. The manufacturers have added mass in the design of their studio monitors and our stands are designed to support that mass. But beyond that, our stands are designed to react to the energy and movement of the speaker enclosure and adding more mass would make our stands less responsive.
The ISO-L8R series of speaker stands move like a parallelogram with the upper section moving fore and aft with the monitor enclosure, and moving on-axis, while resisting movement in any other direction. By carefully shaping the isolators and managing the thickness and durometer (resilience), we can tune the stands to optimize the way they respond to improve isolation and sound clarity. Make the isolators too soft and they don’t react quickly enough, and make them too hard and the isolation properties are diminished. Adding more mass, again the response would be too slow and it would take greater SPL levels to hear the effects.
Our stands are designed to be used on a desktops, studio millwork, meter bridges, shelves or other floor mounted stands. We provide the resilient layer between studio monitors and the supporting structure. If that supporting structure is poor, we provide the isolation so it doesn’t become a “poor transducer”. If that supporting surface is rock solid, we respond to the studio monitor and allow it to breathe and open up with new sound clarity.
Weight is the enemy when it comes to building responsive systems, and when paying the shipping costs. Our stands are strong and durable, and very effective in providing isolation and improving sound quality….without adding ballast.
Dave Morrison, President/Founder, IsoAcoustics Inc.
