Mapleshade Bedrock Stands - Axiom Message Boards

I just have to pass on this info to anyone with a pair of quality bookshelf speakers on conventional stands. The Mapleshade Bedrock stands are absolutely astounding. The bass sounds as if you added a sub and the mids and highs are considerably smoother and better balanced. I cannot possibly imagine any greater improvement possible for $280. Let me add that my listening space is atrocious and i'm forced to sit in a bass null so my speakers (Paradigm Studio 20s) sounded thin, harsh and forward. Now they sound like a pair of towers. I cannot express the degree of improvement these stands have made and I urge you to try them.

Well Ace, put on your brass cup and nomex underwear.

I never tried the mapleshade stands, though I saw their description and claims for it. I have a pair of Mapleshade Clearview Double Golden Helix Plus Speaker wires and think they're the best I've ever heard. The consensus here is that all speaker wire is essentially the same, and I'd guess the mapleshade stands would be put in the snake oil category as well. Hope you're not funnin' me with your positive review.

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Well Ace, put on your brass cup and nomex underwear.

How do you take your ACE...? I like mine well done.

All kidding aside, I just looked up these stands - the wording and promises on the site are sketchy at best. Time alignment? We worry about that in arenas - not living rooms! Sound travels over a 20' area in open air in 0.015 milliseconds, so even if there was a difference of 20' in your speaker distances, the "time alignment" wouldn't suffer nearly as much as the relative loudness would. The "major time shift" involved in something as drastic as that is about the same length of time occupied by a single CD sample (of which there are 44100 in one second).

But these at least have a good chance at changing the sound of a set of speakers, they reorient the drivers (to a strange, uppercut - below and rising - kind of stance?) and in the case of rear ported speakers (like the Axiom bookshelves), they reduce the breathing room behind the port (much like placing an M22 on a stand in a corner) which accentuates the bass reproduction.

Bren R.

Well, I've got no problem with believing that. You're changing the characteristics of the speakers (sounds like for the better!) Congrats on the improvement!

I certainly can't vouch for time alignment or anything else. All I can say is that my speakers sounded 1000% better on the Bedrocks in my listening room as opposed to 24" conventional stands. Whether anyone believes that speaker wire changes the sound is one thing - I think everyone agrees that changing the position of the speaker changes the sound and in a bass-shy environment the Bedrocks are a huge benefit. I would think that if someone wanted to know if this type of positioning would make a difference in their room, all they would have to do is place their speaker on the floor and prop up the front with a piece of wood or a thick book and see if the sound is more or less satisfying. I have another system I have setup in another home with a pair of cheap Ikea wrought-iron stands that cradle the speaker in the tilt-back position about 8" off the floor and I think even these are a big improvement over the standard straight stands. Anyway, just passin' on my experience with the product to anyone who is interested in a review from someone who has actually tried a product in their own listening room as opposed to one from someone who hasn't and just explains why it's all BS. Thanks all.

You know, I can kind of believe this for the reasons already cited - that these stands fundamentally change the approach to speaker positioning.

The heavy spike thingys and lower center of gravity would seem to achieve a tighter physical coupling with the floor. Likewise, shouldn't there be some inherent enhancement of the bass frequencies due to the proximity to the floor itself? Kind of like corner-loading a subwoofer?

The professed weight and density of the stands is something that has long been accepted as "good". I remember seeing a compelling article a while back that using concrete pillars (like from a garden gnome store) was the ultimate speaker stand.

When I was but a lad, I built some small, wood stands along the same premise; short, but angled upwards. They made my Kloss-era KLH speakers sound decent, I thought. I guess I was just ahead of my time.

While I think the premise is sound, I think the price of the Mapleshade version is obscene.

Cool. Thanks for sharing.

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While I think the premise is sound, I think the price of the Mapleshade version is obscene.

Indeed Tom.
It is the idea of changing the speaker position that makes the change, not the Mapleshade brand product in itself.
A reasonable local carpenter could make the stands for alot less.

Ditto to chess, Tom and others who've pointed out that the key factor is the distance from the floor; the type of stand, or whether there's any stand at all has nothing to do with it. Although not the total hoax that many of the audio "accessories" of that outfit are, the stands are grossly overpriced.

I've probably discussed a dozen or so times in replies over the past couple years the significance of distance to room boundaries and the possibility of getting good results by placing bookshelf speakers directly on the floor and tilted back.

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possibility of getting good results by placing bookshelf speakers directly on the floor and tilted back.

Some of the sweetest sound I've ever heard came from a cheap Yamaha receiver and a pair of Dahlquist (back when they were a mighty force in the audio world) bookshelf speakers which were raised about 4" off the floor and tilted back about 15 degrees.

Yes, of COURSE it's the positioning of the speakers that makes the difference. It certainly isn't the fact that the stands are blessed by Mapleshade. That aside, if you want to place the speakers in such a position you can't simply prop it up with a piece of wood in the front because the brass cones make a huge difference in keeping the clarity intact with the low positioning. So, you can buy some cones from whomever and have your local friendly carpenter make you up something suitable and wait god knows how long and then save what- $50? My local carpenters are fairly expensive. If I could buy the same stand for less I certainly would, but i'm unaware of anyone making something comparable. In any case, I was listening to glorius sound 2 days after I placed my order, which is worth something to me. Others may choose to wait months for the local friendly carpenter, but I want to enjoy my system. Go in peace.

And maybe save $50?

The stands are $280US - for two hunks of wood cut and routed sitting on three bullets.

Bren R.

No doubt the Maplerock stands are an excellent candidate for a do it yourself home project! I'm going to make a pair.

I've already made some nice brass vibration dampers from a marine drive shaft. This one weighs over 3 lbs:

I made some smaller ones from, yes you guessed it, a smaller marine brass driveshaft.

The value of these dampers is probably purely cosmetic, but I like 'em.

Ah yes! They would be a superb project for someone handy. As I said though, the heavy brass cones are crucial. I was worried about the pointed top of the cone marring the bottom of my speaker so I placed a small piece of cardboard between the speaker and the cone and I was astounded at the loss of bass frequencies. The wood part would definitely be easy for anyone with the tools and you could always buy the cones from Mapleshade. They're not too expensive. The results will be worth it.

$16.95 partsexpress.com