Well I've had my 3a' -I's for about 2 weeks now. At first I burned in my speakers using the Osiris stands w/o sand. Because the 3a's are so revealing , each cd will be given the sonic lie detector test. Some speakers hide or correct the mix of a particular cd ,not the 3a's,they throw it all in your face ,which can be euphoric or fatiguing depending on the cd.Bass slam and midrange detail are excellent.I just love being able to hear lyrics or instrumental decays for the first time on cd's that I've played a zillion times before. After about a week of listening with the Osiris stands I put in the Mapleshade Gibralter stands.These are their top of the line $500 10 inch solid maple stand coupled to the floor with brass cones and using a triplepoint cone to angle the tilt of the tweeter to the proper ear height.Well the first cd just about knocked me off my chair ,the bass was just incredable.I'm talking deep,heart thomping ,detailed bass. The mid-range is a little tricky to get right.I'm pretty close right now ,but still need to fiddle around with some placement. Soundstage is hugh and believe it or not the soundstage height is pretty good,considering the speaker is low to the floor. The center image is very tight ,overall if you were sitting in the swet spot you would not think that you were listening to a floor mounted monitor. BTW ,I'm using all Mapleshade cabling,and their Samson rack. Each time I added a platform or cone I always found it to be an upgrade so this has been a gradual process over the past 6 months.(AND NO I'M NOT AN EMPLOYEE OF MAPLESHADE)In fact I'm getting ,as I write this,dedicated lines installed,to get rid of my Mapleshade power strip.I found them to be too hum inducing on my 22 watt mono-blocks and also on my Naim CDP and Flatcap power supply. I also didn't find any improvement using the heavyhat brass cones on top of any component.My system is very simple the above mentioned naim products connected to the vintage Stromberg amps(Giant Killers!)
So the stands are a keeper.My next step is to see if I can get the tweeter position in it's best spot.
