These are a pair of custom stands specifically designed to get the absolute best from the legendary Yamaha NS-1000 Monitor speakers. They are fabricated from a mixture of 50mm and 40mm square section tube with a wall thickness of 4mm. The open ends of the tube are capped with 7mm steel plate. In addition, threaded inserts have been welded in to the legs at both the top and bottom to extend the available thread and increase rigidity.

Custom spikes have been manufactured for both the top and bottom of the stand. Those that make contact with the speaker have an M12 thread and captive washer. They tighten against a washer custom made from 0.8mm polypropylene. If desired, the supper spikes can be replaced by ball bearings or an adjustable spike/pad.

The spikes that make contact with the floor have a substantial M16 thread and are sufficiently long to allow a wide range of adjustment (over 30mm). They are fabricated from stainless steel and have a 4mm hole drilled through them to aid adjustment. A lock-nut is provided and this tightens against a custom made polypropylene washer.

The three main legs of each stand are entirely filled with lead shot and the finish is a textured satin black.

The logo badges are 25mm square and are laser etched on to 1mm brushed aluminium to visually match the original badging on the Yamaha monitors.

The completed stands are extremely solid, inert and rigid. They raise the tweeter to the optimum height and offer a wide range and ease of adjustment.

Comments

• katza
• 10 January 2013 at 10:57AM
• Hi, this pair're just superb. The logo's the icing on the cake. Awesome.
  I want to fabricate this pair for my Yamaha pair. Could you pls share with me the exact height without the top and bottom spikes? How do you fill the main legs with lead shot? Thanks

• YNWaN
• 10 January 2013 at 02:43PM
• Hi, glad, you like the stands, they turned out rather well.
  I will have to check the exact stand height (without spikes) but it does depend on your ear height when seated- relative to the level of the tweeter.
  The stands are easy to fill with lead shot.They are hollow and have an M12 threaded hole through the top cap - you simply fill the legs through that.

• katza
• 11 January 2013 at 03:01AM
• YNWaN,
  
  Many thanks for the prompt response. Got it, the height depends on the ear height when seated relative to the level of the tweeter. I'd go for a total of 12 inches (including the spikes).
  
  Just a thought: wont the M12 top spikes dig into the speaker's plywood base over a period of time? To prevent this, is it a good idea to use blutak instead?
  
  Thanks again for your time.

• YNWaN
• 11 January 2013 at 05:03AM
• Hi, the stands without spikes are 240mm (very nearly 300mm with spikes fitted) tall (correct for my seating position).
  
  Yes, the top spikes will dig into the cabinet (though it is chipboard rather than plywood). I have found 5mm thick aluminium pucks between the base of the speaker and the stands top spikes to work very well (better than using Blu-Tack).

• katza
• 11 January 2013 at 06:19AM
• Hi, the 5mm aluminum puck'd be the perfect solution to stay between the chipboard base and the M12 top spikes. However, how'd you attach the puck to the base to prevent slippage? Some adhesive perhaps?

• katza
• 11 January 2013 at 08:08AM
• Hi, in the picture, your speaker does not've the black shade. Was the surface sand-papered for that finish or would you be applying black paint?

• katza
• 11 January 2013 at 08:24AM
• You said in the main description: If desired, the supper spikes can be replaced by ball bearings or an adjustable spike/pad.
  
  I agree. Its a good idea to replace the top spikes with ball bearings on M12 threads. The aluminum or brass pucks can stay between the base and the bearings.
  
  Do you think the bearings'd cancel micro-vibrations better than the spike?

• YNWaN
• 11 January 2013 at 09:13AM
• I have made the aluminium pucks so that they have a machined conical recess on one side. The top stand spikes locate in these receses. Gravity and frictiion are sufficient to stop the actual cabinets from moving on the pucks - although an adhesive can be used.
  
  The actuall speakers had been sanded back by a previouse owner - removing most of the black paint. Next week I will be laminating them in a piano gloss black melamine laminate. I have also made anti defraction rings for the mid and trebble, rebuilt the crossover in external cases, made exact copies of the front Yamaha NS-1000M badges and redesigned the back panel to use Neautrik SpeaKon connectors and have an out for a super tweeter.
  
  I have not tried ball bearings yet, but I intend to. They can simply sit in the 12mm hole in the top of the legs - no need for them to be adjustable (more rigid if they are not). They may well prove better than the spikes; though I have found that the smaller the contact area the better and spikes are very good in this regard.

• YNWaN
• 11 January 2013 at 09:19AM
• If you are interested, I have written quite a lot about my modifications on my forum - which can be found here:
  
  www.audioflat.co.uk/phpBB3

• katza
• 11 January 2013 at 10:58AM
• Seems you're onto the whole nine yards :), the mods're simply splendid, so you're throwing in a super tweeter too? What amps run the Yamahas?
  
  Yes, spikes give the smallest rigid contact, ball bearing can allow some speaker movement.
  I've registered in your forum. Catch you there. Thanks.

• katza
• 11 January 2013 at 11:03AM
• I'd changed the stock caps to Solen, using same vdh cable I use as speaker cables. I removed the wool from behind the mid and tweeter.

• YNWaN
• 12 January 2013 at 03:41AM
• I haven't built the super-tweeters yet; but as the NS-1000M is known to roll off steeply above 15K it seems likely that a super-tweeter would be a worthwhile addition.
  
  I use modified Naim amplification and Naim Nap135 mono-blocks power the speakers. I have designed the back panel so that the bass section has its on input and intend to investigate running the bass from a custom active crossover (and dedicated amplification) whilst using the passive crossover to run the mid and treble.
  
  Th balls (instead of stand top spikes) would not be free to move in the implementation I intend to use them in.
  
  The capacitors in my crossovers have been replaced by matched Clarity Cap ESA's for the mid and treble and Monacor for the bass. Removing the wadding from behind the mid and treble is an interesting idea; but as both these units are sealed, it would make more sense to experiment with the wadding directly behind the bass driver (IMO).
  
  I look fora rd to discussing these matters further with you on the forum :).

• katza
• 15 January 2013 at 08:34AM
• Hi, regarding the height of the stand, read in some forums that instead of considering the tweeter's height, the mid's height to the ear level has been considered. Whats your take on this?

• YNWaN
• 27 January 2013 at 05:07AM
• My take on that is that whilst the mid directivity is relevant it is not more so than that of the tweeter. In my opinion, the best solution is to tilt the speaker back by approximately two degrees. This will also help to bring the drive units in to relative time alignment. I have read that five degrees of tilt is desirable. However, I have modelled this aspect and 2.25 degrees is a better compromise.

• wchwsky
• 27 November 2014 at 08:45AM
• I know this is an older project/post, but I am in desperate need to find M12 speaker spikes. NOBODY offers them here in the US. I have a pair of Eficion F200's with matching Rosewood stands. But the stands are missing 2 spikes.
  Thanks.. Richard

• YNWaN
• 13 March 2015 at 06:39AM
• Hi, I'm afraid I have only just seen your comment (hopefully you have now found suitable spikes). I'm afraid I made the spikes for these stands from M12 threaded stock and am not aware of any commercial offerings as large as this. Your best bet is to have a local machine shop turn some for you.

• katza
• 13 October 2015 at 05:40AM
• Hi YNWaN, how's you?
  Its been some time since I got back to making this pair of stands.
  Regarding the 2.25 degree tilt to time alignment drive units, did you implement it by raising the front 2 M12 spikes a notch or 2? Does the speaker's weight help keep it from sliding backwards over a period of time?

• YNWaN
• 26 October 2015 at 06:23AM
• Hi Katza, wow it is complete chance that I have just seen your comment (this site really needs email notification of new comments I think).
  
  Before I answer your question their a few updates to list on these speakers and stands. I did build super-tweeters for these speakers and their is a seperate project description about them on the website (I'm very pleased with their performance). Also, the bass drivers of my Yamaha speakers are not actively driven by a Lab.gruppen IPD1200 power amp - this includes a digital crossover and room correction (in room measurements were made to set this).
  
  The speakers now make contact with the stands via Delrin pucks. These are approximately 40mm in diameter each and the front two are longer slightly than the rear one - this imparts the angle of rearward tilt to the speaker. A hole is drilled through each puck and this interfaces with the ball bearing which rests in a similar hole in the top of each stand upright - this overall construction is similar to a ball joint. The mass of the speaker coupled to the relatively large surface area of the puck surface means that the speaker does not move over time (I've been using this system for over a year now with no problems). It also helps that the speaker does not vibrate independent of the stand, the Delrin puck/ball bearing (stainless steel ball) is very effective at transmitting vibration from the speaker to the stand.
  
  I made an error in an earlier reply, the floor spikes I made are not M12 but actually M16 (so quite large :-)).
  
  I do have a diagram explaining the speaker/stand coupling arrangement but I'm not sure I can post it here - I will try.

• YNWaN
• 27 October 2015 at 10:36AM
• I don't think I can add another picture but here is a link to the diagram:
  
  http://i62.photobucket.com/albums/h90/markemark_2006/Yamaha%20NS-1000M%20Refurbishment/Speakerstanddiagram_zpscb5d3e16.jpg

• anaam
• 25 November 2015 at 09:35PM
• hi , i have some ns1000M 's that are slightly bigger..looking for some stands now, didn't see a price to make them .
  look foreward to your reply ....nick

• YNWaN
• 20 December 2015 at 07:28AM
• I'm afraid I don't know how much they would cost to make as I already had all the steel (tube, plate and threaded rod). The only bits I had to buy were the lead shot and paint. They did take a lot of time to construct though, particularly with regard to the finishing and I'm not planning on making another pair.