Someone responded to my recent post about Reference 3 asking about my comparison of them with and without the Brightstar stands. I hade no made it clear that I had not heard thenm with the stands, so I am sharing my reply:
-…..I have not made an A/B comparison of the Reference 3s with and without stands. There is a very positive review in TAS and I have one positive report in the Brightstar stands from a customer who has a very fine system (better than mine for sure) but I haven't gone there to hear his setup.
.....Personally I just don't care. I am so pleased with the sound and so averse to spoiling the looks of the Ref 3s that I have no plans to check it out unless someone loans me stands to try. Professionally, as a dealer, I would not make a recommendation for or against because I think that the effect of any acoustic change is so highly room dependent that each person must try it for himself. Though I might add that I saw cinder blocks at Lowes for $1.29 and noted that they are the right size, so if I ever get curious I might make a trial. Of course that would only check out the effect of height, which is only part of the benefit of the Brightstar stands which have a very sophisticated assortment of vibration absorbing materials.
