Isoacoustics now offers the sculpted Aperta 200 isolation aluminum speaker stands that combine monitor speaker isolation with beautiful design. Like hanging them in free space, isolating your monitor speakers’ vibrating cabinets from the solid surfaces they rest on is vitally important. Resonances emitted from rattling, vibrating surfaces cause phasing-sounding audio, blurred stereo imaging and indistinct bass.
They have a low (3.5-inch) profile and are designed to support speakers weighing up to 75 pounds. Up to six degrees of speaker up/down tilt is possible by adjusting two of the four posts that have fine gradation markings. You can tilt your monitors back up at you from a lower desktop position or down at you when they are on tall, freestanding monitor stands.
I set my pair of black Aperta 200 stands on my monitor shelf and placed my Adam S2.5A monitors on them set to maximum down tilt and set the “toe in” angle using JBL’s SpeakerAngle and SpeakerPro iOS apps. The rubberized tops and bottoms of the Aperta’s four posts cause them to almost stick to the bottom of the Adams and also my shelf making them resist accidental bumping.
Even within my acoustically treated control room, the differences are hearable as a more “open” sound with enhanced sonic clarity and better stereo imaging. The Aperta 200s are winners and I highly recommend them for any project studio, stereo or home theatre system.
The Aperta 200 stands, in either black or aluminum, sell for $299.99 MSRP per pair.
isoacoustics.com/aperta200.php
BARRY RUDOLPH is a recording engineer/mixer who has worked on over 30 gold and platinum records. He has recorded and/or mixed Lynyrd Skynyrd, Hall & Oates, Pat Benatar, Rod Stewart, the Corrs and more. Barry has his own futuristic music mixing facility and loves teaching audio engineering at Musician’s Institute, Hollywood, CA. He is a lifetime Grammy-voting member of NARAS and a contributing editor for Mix Magazine. barryrudolph.com