In an article yesterday explaining how to position desktop speakers, I mentioned speaker stands from IsoAcoustics (Amazon.com, Amazon UK). These stands are practical and offer good insulation from vibrations. If you have full-sized speakers on your desk, I’d recommend getting stands like this.
You can set them to two heights: 3 inches and 8 inches. There are metal tubes that slip into rubber-lined holes in the top and bottom section of the stands, which provide a solid grip. The rubber also insulates vibrations, freeing up your sound a bit, removing any gassy boom you may have caused by vibrations.
The stands come in three sizes: 130mm, 150 mm, or 200mm wide. There’s also a 230x430mm designed for studio monitors placed on their sides, or larger, heavier speakers anywhere (probably much larger than you’d use on your desk). Get the ones that fit your speakers best. You could get the smallest ones for most speakers, but they might be a bit less stable if you bump into your desk. (I got the 150mm size.)
Here’s a quick picture of one of the stands under a Focal Chorus 705v speaker on my desk. (I’d have taken a picture of the entire desk, showing both speakers, but my desk is too messy right now…) As you can see, it provides good support, and leaves space below the speaker as well. Theoretically, I could alleviate some of the mess on my desk by putting things there.
I do notice a slight difference in the sound with these stands; there is a bit more midrange, a bit less bass, and the soundstage is a bit more open than without them. Before I got the stands, I had the speakers on books, which do insulate well, but not enough. Don’t expect any major change in sound, though if you have speakers sitting flat on your desk, you will notice more of a difference than I did.
One thing to note is that you can tilt the stands a bit, using inserts that come with them. This allows you to tilt them back so the tweeters are pointing more directly at your ears. However, this requires that the speakers be of the appropriate height; since mine are fairly large, the tweeters are at exactly the right height with the stands set to 8 inches.
All in all, this is a good way to get speakers at the right height on a desk. If you want to get better sound, read my tips on how to position desktop speakers, and get a pair of these stands.