The Acora Acoustics SRS-G speaker stands, which are made from solid blocks of granite and retail for $5,000 per pair, are designed for two groups of people.
The first group consists of owners of the $15,000/pair Acora Acoustics SRB granite speakers, for which the SRS-Gs are designed. After reviewing the SRBs (and giving them a Reviewer’s Choice), I’d have to say you are nuts if you don’t buy these as a set. But if you think $5,000 stands are still too much for a pair of $15,000 monitors, the Acora Acoustics SRS is also available in an M version, which stands for metal. These are almost identical versions as the SRS-G, without the G, and they’re half the price. The bottom pedestal, in fact, is still made from granite on the G. See? I just saved you $2500.
But you’ll probably have to pick one SRS model or the other. You don’t want to set a 60 lb. granite boulder on something flimsy that you found in Target’s “furniture” section. I’ve witnessed that devastation before, and I can show you the pictures of the dents on my listening room floor. A bookshelf speaker on a stand should never be top-heavy, in my opinion. I don’t care how sharp the spikes are.
The other group of potential Acora Acoustics SRS-G owners consists of, well, pretty much just me, the guy who is obsessed with finding the ultimate two-way bookshelf monitors. (Let’s not call it an obsession, however—noble quest sounds so much nicer.) At least that was the thinking behind the decision to hold onto the SRS-G stands after I reluctantly sent the SRB monitors back to Canada. Valerio Cora and Scott Sefton of Acora Acoustics, outside of Toronto, asked me if I wanted to keep the SRS-Gs as sort of a platform for continuing that two-way monitor quest. In other words, I should think of them as a precision tool for a very specialized professional application.
Over the last few years, I’ve been whining incessantly about my speaker stand situation. Traditionally I have two pairs of stands hanging around, 28” and 24” in height, and that covers most bookshelf speakers that waltz through my listening room. As the two-ways I tested became more sophisticated, with higher levels of performance, they generally became bigger and/or heavier. Size precluded the 28” stands from Opera in most cases, which always seemed too high for my room, and my 24” Quadraspires weren’t designed for speakers much heavier than 20 or 25 pounds. As I mentioned, I generally don’t care for heavy monitors on wobbly stands—I was four miles from the epicenter of the 1994 Northridge Earthquake. Enough said.
The Acora Acoustics SRS-G speaker stands met or exceeded my expectations in this regard. I could have performed rigorous A/B comparisons between them and the Quadraspire and Opera stands, and I planned to do so. But in some cases, there were other variables to consider—the height of the stand relative to the position of the tweeter, as I mentioned, as well as some loudspeakers just not “fitting” the stand, as we’ll see later.
But I did find that time after time, with all sorts of two-way monitor speakers from $1600/pair to $15,000/pair, the Acora Acoustics SRS-G speaker stands consistently made a huge impact on the overall sound.
What Makes the Acora Acoustics SRS-G So Special?
I’m sure that question is weighing heavily on most readers’ minds. Well, they’re heavy. Really heavy, around 93 pounds each. (The SRS-Ms, by the way, are a very manageable 43 pounds each.) The Acora Acoustics SRB monitor adds 60 more pounds up top. That’s a heavy speaker, although Acora Acoustics floor-standing speaker models both weigh around 250 pounds each.
Anything that weighs a lot costs a lot of money to transport and that has to be worked into the cost. (I just received a shelf from HRS for the Brinkmann Taurus turntable, and it’s also expensive and heavy for the same obvious reason.) But it’s the mass of that granite that makes the Acora Acoustics SRS-G speaker stands so effective at coupling your favorite monitor to the floor, extending its bass response and focusing more tightly on the imaging. (Those are the two differences I usually find when comparing the performance of speaker stands.)
But mass isn’t everything with the SRS-Gs. The granite has to be mined, selected and cut. In the world of high-end audio, however, you need tight tolerances—not to mention two speaker stands that are as close to identical in color, pattern, weight and probably much more. That requires a CNC machine, and those things are as expensive as they are revolutionary.
But aside from the shipping costs, the mining and polishing and cutting costs and the CNC machine costs, the Acora Acoustics SRS-G speaker stands stand out from every other high-end audio support out there due to the attention to detail. It’s right there on the Acora website:
“Each and every component is hand-picked and screened for quality, first through meticulous measurement, and then by thousands of hours of extensive listening. The integration between all parts must be seamless with musical synergy and transparency.”
Designer Valerio Cora, if you haven’t heard, is in the business of pursuing perfection to make a connection with your emotions. That sort of artistic commitment is what makes these products so endearing and yet powerful. From a design standpoint, however, it all goes back to the coupling–coupling a box that pushes air to a solid surface without absorbing any of that mechanical energy. That requires an “everything matters” approach.
In addition, the differences between the Acora Acoustics SRS-G and the SRS-M are a little more complicated than just a swapping of materials. That extra mass and rigidity of the granite is more efficient at coupling than metal, and there are insulators between the layers on the SRS-G, chosen carefully after listening tests. Even the bottom plate of the SRS-G is larger and heavier than on the SRS-M, adding to the stability. In other words, the SRS-G will get you further along the road to two-way monitor paradise.
Acora Acoustics SRS-G Set-Up
Despite their mass, the Acora Acoustics SRS-G stands are relatively easy to move around. First of all, they come fully assembled in a nice sturdy box—you just have to slide them out. As I mentioned in the original review, a nylon nut is placed at the end of the footers—otherwise you’ll dig new grooves into your floor sliding them around. Even with the nylon tips, you’ll have to do some lifting to avoid drawing pretty pictures on that cheap plastic apartment laminate that looks like a hardwood floor but isn’t.
That nylon nut, which I originally thought was an excellent idea, is now replaced with more conventional furniture sliders, which are even better. (My Fern and Roby rack has ’em, and it has yet to damage a floor despite being really heavy as well.) Other than that, there isn’t a lot to talk about. Acora Acoustics provides “sticky dots” for the interface, and the footers allow for easy leveling from the top, which is always helpful and appreciated. In addition, the gold footers you see in my pair have been replaced with black ones.
Now let’s see how the speakers fared with the Acora Acoustics SRS-G speaker stands.
Brigadier Audio BA-2
Want to hear another sad speaker stand story? The last time I had the Brigadier Audio BA-2 on the Quadraspire stands, one of them was toppled by someone’s errant backside during a small gathering. These are my reference speakers and have been since 2016 or so, after we showed them at the 2016 Newport Show. They’re not even mine—I probably have to give them back one day, but I think I do have the only pair in the US. (Many pairs have been sold in Europe and Asia, though, as well as Down Under.)
Anyway, the one-of-a-kind New Guinea Rosewood veneers are no longer mint. The speakers seemed to work just fine, though, but the last thing I wanted to do was set the 45 lb. BA-2s back on the Quadraspires. The BA-2s went into storage a while, but I brought them back at as soon as the Acora SRBs left—I really wanted to give them a once over while sitting on top of the Acora Acoustics SRS-G stands. If there was a problem or internal damage, I would probably hear it more clearly with the big granite SRS-G. That’s a good theory, right?
Anyway, I was almost moved to tears when I fired up the hi-fi with the Brigadiers on the Acora Acoustics SRS-G stands. First of all, they looked really nice up there, as if they were now the two-way royalty I’ve always suspected they were. This pair of speakers hasn’t really seen stands of this quality during its entire life. Other than the Quadraspires, the BA-2s were voiced and tested in Sydney with a small pair of suspiciously no-name stands, and then placed on a pair of Rogoz stands that were, indeed, spectacular. But this was for the show, and we had to give them back.
Second, I’ve never heard the Brigadiers BA-2s sound better than when they were placed on the Acora Acoustics SRS-G stands. These Australian two-way monitors always sound big and composed and capable of doing it all without breaking a sweat, but I was reminded of why these speakers have been my personal references, along with the Trenner & Friedl ART monitors, for the last five years. The BA-2s are lively and forward and full of good times, just like their daddy-designer and my audio brother Brad Serhan, and the SRS-Gs just polished off those bruises and scratches and the BA-2s just sang to me, night after night.
Trenner & Friedl ART
Speaking of the Trenner & Friedl ART monitors, my other reference speakers that I’ve now owned for over a decade, it was so nice to bring them out of their boxes for the first time in too long of a while, and I had nearly the same reaction to them as I did the Brigadiers—mainly, I know why these two speakers are my two-way references.
I had the Margules I-240 integrated amplifier, which is powered by EL34s, in the system when I plopped the ARTs on the Acora Acoustics SRS-G stands. I wasn’t sure if the ARTs and the I-240 were going to be a good match—the amp is only 25 watts per channel and the ARTs are only 85 dB sensitive. They do have an 8-ohm impedance, but I do remember the ARTs failing to come to life with a 22 watt per channel EL-34 tube integrated I once had.
I’m not suggesting that the Acora Acoustics SRS-G stands had anything to do with it, but this was a warm, sweet and sunny combination that remained intact for longer than my schedule dictated. The ARTs, which are rated down to 44 Hz but at -6dB, coupled with the room and were able to deliver that same balanced and layered bass energy as the Qln Prestige Ones.
Qln Prestige One
I instantly loved the matching of the Qln Prestige Ones and the Acora Acoustics SRS-G speaker stands. First, it was an aesthetic dream, all straight angles that seemed to accentuate the light on all those edges. I wound up truly loving the Prestige Ones, and I’m sure the SRS-Gs were partially responsible.
That brought up an interesting discussion with Dave McNair, who happens to have both the Qln Prestige Threes and Prestige Fives and was able to listen to my review pair of the Ones before I did. I brought up the fact that the $6,800/pair Ones, placed on the SRS-Gs, were now an $11,800 pair of loudspeakers. This, of course, surpasses the price of the floor-standing Prestige Threes and inches toward the price of the flagship Fives.
Unfortunately, until Dave and I live on the same coast it’s unlikely were going to make this comparison. But Dave thinks the Prestige Threes will best the Prestige Ones on the Acora Acoustics SRS-G stands. He also admits that he’s not sure, because there was definitely something special about the Qln Prestige Ones when he had them in his system.
As for me, the Qln Prestige Ones and the Acora Acoustics SRS-G stands are an exquisite value, even at almost $12K/pair, and I would not hesitate to buy both and be done with it forever.
Falcon Acoustics LS3/5a MoFi Edition
Okay, let’s be honest. The Acora Acoustics SRS-G speaker stands were not designed for use with the tiny, shoebox-sized Falcon Acoustics LS3/5a MoFi Edition monitors despite the fact that when I wrote the review of the Acora SRB monitors, I wondered out loud what a pair of the little BBC monitors would do on top of the SRS-Gs. And here we are.
Quite simply, the MoFis are so small that they only cover about half of the SRS-G’s top plate. They look teeny and tiny and odd on those massive granite stands, but that still didn’t stop one reader from asking me about the stands in the Falcon review and telling me he was considering a pair for his Rogers LS3/5as from the ‘80s. So I guess they didn’t look that strange.
That didn’t matter. If you go back and read the Falcon Acoustics review, you’ll know that I had almost a religious experience with the MoFis, and I admitted that these tiny $1995 monitors could come over my house and stay as long as they want. Yes, it’s crazy to go forward with this match and then declare THIS IS IT. Y’all have to listen to the MoFis on the SRS-Gs or you’ll never get it! You’ll get the magic of the LS3/5as without the Acora Acoustics SRS-G stands.
But I’ll mention once again these were sublime days in my listening room, and I’ll probably remember every record that was played with the LS3/5as on the Acora Acoustics SRS-G speaker stands.
Strangely enough, the LS3/5as were too small for the Quadraspires, which are not flat across the top. I couldn’t do comparisons. I really wanted to. Here’s the thing, though. If I bought a pair of the MoFis, I’d ask Acora Acoustics to build me some custom stands for the LS3/5as. A custom job might cost more, but these would undoubtedly be smaller. You could always try the “M” version if you still think the speaker/stand cost ratio is still nutty. I’d do it.
Acora Acoustics SRS-G Conclusion
I heartily congratulate you on getting to the end of a 2688-word review about a pair of speakers stands! But as you’ve seen, the Acora Acoustics SRS-G speaker stands deserve deeper scrutiny for what they are and what they accomplish.
If there’s still a question of who would buy such a stand for li’l ol’ two-way monitors, at least other than people like me who are obsessed with finding the perfect bookshelf transducer, remember that there are plenty of five-figure mini-monitors out there that will reach new heights of performance with the SRS-Gs. Most already have some sort of dedicated stand, and maybe those stands were designed to be a cosmetic match rather than a carefully engineered pedestal that will improve the performance of anything placed on top. I’d be interested to see if any of those stands—some which can cost crazy money anyway—can outperform the SRS-G.
Let’s say you collect BBC monitors. Outside of a few unicorns, you think you have them all. You’ll never worry about some diminutive stand made from spare parts from an Ikea floor lamp robbing you of any BBC-licensed magic and sorcery. Get the SRS-Gs and treat them monitors like the little kings that they are.
I don’t think we should have sad speaker stand stories. We’ve known for a long time that good speaker stands improve performance, especially in deep bass and image focus. But why would we place great small speakers on merely good stands, or ones that are just designed to look merely stylish? If you love two-way designs—the coherence, the imaging, the livability and ease of ownership—you should consider the Acora Acoustics SRS-G stands as the finest way to pursue that love.
Highly recommended for bookshelf monitor lovers all over. There are more of us than you think.
