Sierra 2 questions (stands mostly)

[theriddler07sms]

I am hoping to have a pair of Sierra 2's ordered by this weekend (praying to the postal worker god haha). I am going to use them as front L/R with an eventual Horizon for the Center channel. I need to find a couple stands that would work well with these.

I looked thru 20 pages on this forum before I gave up. Found one thread that the options were discontinued stands, custom, or Sanus. I read a couple people filled the stands with sand and some did not. Is it normal to fill the stands with sand? Are most stands able to be filled?

How do you mount the speaker to the stand? Does it cause any vibration issues?

What guage of wire is needed? banna plugs or spade plugs? I read the blue Jean company has pretty good price on speaker wire, will probably stick with them.

[Mag_Neato]

Any decent stand should work well, just try to find the correct height that will place the center of the tweeter at approx. ear level. Ascend offers one on this site. Some people actually use the CMT-340 pedestals as stand for their Sierra's, although they are only available in standard black unless you can get a custom finish. Filling stands with sand or shot is done for several reasons: 1) It can dampen any resonances out of the support tubes, and 2) It adds stability to the stand which resists tipping over better. Usually the stand will state if it is fillable.

All stands(at least the decent ones) include bumper pads that stick on to the top of the stand for the speaker to sit on which decouples it from the stand eliminating vibration. You can additionally use a putty-like product called "Quake-hold" or Museum wax to affix the speaker to the stand to further secure it.

The speaker terminals on the Sierra's will accept most types of wire terminations(Bare wire, Spade, Bananas, pin) so use whichever you prefer. If you will be connecting/disconnecting frequently then use bananas. Blue Jeans cables seem to get great feedback.

[sludgeogre]

Any of the Sanus stands are just fine. Yes, they have new models all the time so there are a lot of discontinued ones out there, but just get a height that will put the tweeter at your ear level, which is usually around 24 or 26 inches.

All of the decent stands can be filled with sand. You don't have to do that if you don't want to, my surrounds are on Sanus stands that aren't filled with sand and they still sound great. They are mated to the stands with Blu Tak wall putty stuff. Also google Pangea Audio, they make some cool stands as well.

As long as your speaker wires aren't going to be longer than say 15-20 feet, just order the normal Belden 5000UE 12 AWG. That will be more than enough. Most people use 16 gauge so you'll be way ahead of the game. I bought that wire for all of my speakers and it works great. I highly recommend the locking banana plugs that are the default choice, as they are probably the most secure connection you could possibly have.

[SGCSG1]

www.skylanstands.com

[curtis]

www.skylanstands.com (http://www.skylanstands.com)
The Skylan stands look nice, but they are a bit pricey.

I would think you could get some thing made by a local cabinet maker/woodworker at a comparable price.

I have had custom stands made for about $300/pr.

https://photos.smugmug.com/Other/Ascend-Acoustics-pictures/i-QBQqTMf/0/L/P1020169-L.jpg
Older pic...my old stands, MDF covered in a maple veneer.

https://photos.smugmug.com/Other/Ascend-Acoustics-pictures/i-TR8Lc5j/0/L/IMG_1247-L.jpg
I've had these for around 7 years. Bamboo ply.

Both of these stands were/are filled would about 50 lbs. of sand each.

[davef]

I am hoping to have a pair of Sierra 2's ordered by this weekend (praying to the postal worker god haha). I am going to use them as front L/R with an eventual Horizon for the Center channel. I need to find a couple stands that would work well with these.

I looked thru 20 pages on this forum before I gave up. Found one thread that the options were discontinued stands, custom, or Sanus. I read a couple people filled the stands with sand and some did not. Is it normal to fill the stands with sand? Are most stands able to be filled?

How do you mount the speaker to the stand? Does it cause any vibration issues?

What guage of wire is needed? banna plugs or spade plugs? I read the blue Jean company has pretty good price on speaker wire, will probably stick with them.

I personally like these stands for Sierra-2: http://amzn.com/B004T7VCM0

[idrather]

Dave, you mentioned before about filing the stands but I forgot. What do you like to fill them with? Thank you.

[Mag_Neato]

Dave, you mentioned before about filing the stands but I forgot. What do you like to fill them with? Thank you.

Just pick up a bag of play sand from Home Depot or Lowes. Some people have used steel shot (Sort of like B-B's). I also recall someone using Styrofoam packing peanuts by stuffing them in the stand tube. They claimed they got great resonance elimination while adding virtually no weight.

[curtis]

Just pick up a bag of play sand from Home Depot or Lowes. Some people have used steel shot (Sort of like B-B's). I also recall someone using Styrofoam packing peanuts by stuffing them in the stand tube. They claimed they got great resonance elimination while adding virtually no weight.
I'm not sure how those packing peanuts work.

Make sure the sand is play sand.

I've seen some people use cat litter.

[theriddler07sms]

I personally like these stands for Sierra-2: http://amzn.com/B004T7VCM0

I will put my order in today. Thank You. Hopefully by the time I get back from guard camp I can get everything set up and running.

[davef]

Dave, you mentioned before about filing the stands but I forgot. What do you like to fill them with? Thank you.

I like to use inexpensive clumping cat litter. :)

[idrather]

Thank you Dave and everybody. Found a 40 lbs bag of it on Amazon. 99.9% dusty free too.

[theriddler07sms]

Instead of starting a new thread might as well use my old thread. I will be ordering a sierra 2 instead of horizon for my center channel due to an unforseen bill. It will sit on top of my tv stand with the TV mounted above it. Hopefully I can measure right and leave enough room to place the horizon on the stand eventually.

My tv stand sits about 24" off the ground, will I need to tilt the speaker up or is it about high enough? What would I use to tilt it if needed?

Also, I have my Sierra 2's about 11' from each other and I sit roughly 12' away from the TV and if I didn't know any better I would swear the sound was coming from the TV. Simply amazing. One time I turned off my receiver to mess with my sub and my tv speakers kicked on about I thought my ears were going to bleed, it sounded awful. I have no idea how I ever watched movies on that thing.

[justthinking]

IMO, those Sanus stands are fairly heavy and stable so filling the columns with sand/pebble/steel balls are not really necessary...

[Blutarsky]

I have a pair of custom Sierra 2 Skylan stands for sale on the For Sale section on this forum.
Send a message.

Blutarsky

[LexLynx]

I got these $120 stands from Sanus, and I really love how they look:1348