The series of reviews continues with the Solidsteel SS -7 Vintage Hi-Fi speaker stands, which offer a real piece of Italian craftsmanship and a more than a considerable increase in performance at an affordable price.
AN ITALIAN HISTORY
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| Moreno Conti during summer of 2011 |
Solidsteel is arguably one of the oldest Italian audio furniture brands. The heritage goes back decades to the time when the founder Moreno Conti, a great music lover with exceptional creative abilities, launched the brand that today can be found in many homes of audiophiles and music lovers around the world.
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| Painting by Dora Bellini |
The brand, the first in its field in Italy and also one of the longest standing in the world, was thus born in 1990 and with it a line of first models, entirely hand-welded according to the most precise and sophisticated techniques for metalworking. No welds displayed, high-quality wooden platforms, clean lacquers, and applied spikes to facilitate the damping of vibrations of the audio components. Soon all these elements became essential features of the work processes that characterize the uniqueness of the stands in the global market.
WHY THE SPEAKER STANDS
It is critical to the performance of monitor speakers that they are placed at the proper height.
Since this type of speaker is often relatively lightweight compared to floor-standing speakers, it is also important to ensure high stability and rigidity. And, as with all components, care must be taken to ensure proper decoupling.
SOLIDSTEEL SS-7 VINTAGE
The Solidsteel SS series fills a long-standing need in terms of proper placement and enjoyment of monitor speakers, and in many ways must be considered as important as the equipment they support.
The three tubular supports terminate in a corrugated steel rod. The stainless steel spikes are removable to allow the frame to be filled with damping material. The MDF top plate is interchangeable, ensuring a high level of optimization with a large number of speakers.
Decoupling between the chassis and the shelf is achieved by three high-precision steel ball bearings. The originality of the design of these legendary products dates back to 1992, the year in which the founder of Solidsteel Moreno Conti ignited the first mass production.
These unique tripods are assembled through a traditional brass welding process performed by skilled hands. The average production time for a single piece is about 15 minutes, with all parts already prepared for processing.
These features make them inimitable and unique. The SS stands are also supplied with “Pata-fix®” to properly fix the speakers to the top plate.
OPERATIONAL
Solidsteel recommends SS -7 Vintage Hi-Fi speaker stands for use with small and medium shelf/monitor speakers. Here are some of the models officially recommended for paring with SS -7 Vintage Hi-Fi stands:
- KEF R3® bookshelf speakers
- KEF LS50® bookshelf speakers and similar models
- B&W 803 D3® bookshelf speaker
- Brigadier MU2® bookshelf speaker
- BBC LS3/5A monitor speakers and similar products
The assembly of the Solidsteel SS -7 Vintage hi-fi speaker stands was simple and straightforward.
During an evaluation, I used them mainly with my pair of Russell K. Red 50s, which I know by heart.
It was interesting to observe that the Solidsteel SS -7 Vintage stands made much more than subtle changes.
For any monitor, stand-mount speakers are critical to have a firm foundation and to properly align the ears level. As you can read in the next two sections, Solidsteel SS -7 proved to be the real deal.
THE MUSIC
The speaker stands and the music part of the review? I know many would just skip this part and consider the review done, but as with any of my reviews, I think it’s the music that matters most and particular music references add the finishing touch to any review. Given the constant positive feedback from Mono & Stereo readers in this regard, this is the way to go.
As always, here are some of the albums and tracks that show what the Solidsteel SS -7 Vintage stands have to offer in terms of audible advances.
The latest work from Vangelis, the iconic electronic musician who carved his name on the immortal timeless altar of composers with his soundtracks for Blade Runner and Chariots Of Fire, is Juno To Jupiter.
Juno To Jupiter is a contemporary sonic portrait that explores the complex contrasts of tones.
Especially with monitor speakers, a mediocre stand or the usual furniture can make the sonic result impervious by diffusing and obstructing the energy and detail of the music to come at forte.
With Solidsteel SS -7 Vintage stands, the level of detail and energy is significantly increased.
Rather than blurring the details and pushing them into garish realms, SS -7 Vintage allowed for greater latitude in the soundstage, allowing one to pleasantly lose oneself in Vangelis’ angelic wanderlust with a clearer focus on the narrative.
Solidsteel’s conceptual rungs allowed an easier focus on the soundtrack’s commonalities, allotting for an inescapable vibrancy (when properly balanced) through the micromanagement of Vangelis’ endless poetic soundscapes. Not a subtle feat!
With Manfred Schoof Quintet Scales (JAPO 60013) Solidsteel SS -7 Vintage stands cemented music appearing from a thicker black, painting aural topographies with much more virtues, lustrous details, and stronger transitions, constellating subtle sonic atoms in a much more focused way.
The aural reality was far more lucid, with a different kind of canvas as more inner details were exposed and the music became more of a thematic chapter of the album’s colossal experience. “For Marianne” was cast with simply more equity and more engaging.
Carl Craig – Sandstorms, especially “VCO Update” is a hauntingly beautiful techno track that any electronic music lover will appreciate. Craig is a master at creating a deep, immersive soundscape with subtle, slow expansion in time and space. Think of it as a minimalist electronic orchestral work.
When monitor speakers are placed loosely, on an unsuitable surface, or casually on the furniture, “VCO Update” sounds like it is deforming the fundamentals of the track and makes it less fluid.
With Solidsteel SS -7 Vintage Hi-Fi stands, the Sandstorms were underpinned by a solid foundation with all the necessary detail levels, allowing for a more intricate level of detail and entropic flow. that The slow pulsations and ephemeral details were sounded less like chaotic fragments and more like a melodic spectacle. Both thumbs up for this!
THE CONCLUSION
Before this review, I just finished another Italian product review and the Solidsteel SS -7 Vintage stands were a clear reminder of why I like and love products from one of my favorite countries to visit, explore and enjoy the products of century-old heritage in carefully crafting the finest goods.
Solidsteel combines everything that makes Italian products so well known around the world. The legacy, the passion, and the practicality that leaves a little to be desired.
It’s in the country, regional DNA, and Italy has one of the oldest traditions in manufacturing. This is not a marketing aspect, but a factual thing in most cases.
While some such upgrades as adding hi-fi racks and/or speaker stands are novel discoveries for some, common sense calls for putting monitor speakers on stands and there is no reason to rethink or question the things you have already learned. Hi-fi racks and stands have a real and valuable role to play. Period!
Monitor speakers stands are a must for true to the source and balanced audio reproduction. As the prolonged evaluation has shown, Solidsteel SS -7 Vintage Hi-Fi stands stabilize sonic migrating fractions consisting of endless parts and packages that come together to form a harmonious whole that results in a viable music presentation.
Self-anointed Solidsteel SS -7 modus operandi is actually a mandatory thing. These stands provide just the right dose of balance to allow a broader, telescopic view of the music without changing the right perspective.
The energy that moves, migrates and spreads the mass never happens without parasitic hubris and the rigidity and passivation of the Solidsteel SS -7 stand allow a fundamental transmission of the sound, offering a well-noticed efficiency that allows horizontal and vertical expansion without interrupting the acoustic latitudes.
The stand Solidsteel SS -7 Vintage grants a simple but immediate response to much-needed musical stimuli, allowing the acoustic crucible coordinates to have a higher density so that details in space occupy the focus of the music that does not change from track to track.
The mechanical impedance of Solidsteel SS -7 acts as a cornerstone of rigidity, helping our auditory organelle to receive the denser sound information so that less is lost in translation. Any sound propagation is doomed to lose something on the way from the source to the listener, but there are ways to reduce these losses, and Solidsteel SS -7 is certainly one of the accessories that do not hinder the final sonic result but positively affect it.
Solidsteel SS -7 Vintage hi-fi stands need no caveat emptor statements but in the blink present their advantages with ease and hands-on!
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| Artwork by Roger Angeles |
Solidsteel SS -7 Vintage stands are not only beautifully crafted but also extremely durable and can be used in the real world without the need of re-reading marketing blurb or grandiose announcements to prove their capabilities in the real world. ∞
Matej Isak
PRICE
- EUR 499,99
TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS
- Three-leg plate in Flat Black, White & Raw finish;
- MDF top plate in Flat Black finish;
- Stainless steel vertical tubular supports with anti-resonant finish;
- Height-adjustable, stainless steel spikes;
Weight:
- 13 Kg | 28.66 lbs
Finish:
- Black or White
Outer Dimensions mm | inch:
- W 330 (13) H 725 (28,5) D 310 (12,2)
Inner Shelves Dimensions mm | inch:
- W 160 (6,3) D 160 (6,3)
Colour:
- Black
- White
- Raw
