We all understand the importance of getting your monitors in the right place relative to your ears. Working at nearfield distances small changes make a big difference so unless you’re one of the few people still using a console big enough to accommodate nearfields on the meter bridge tall monitor stands are a must.

If you search online for speaker stands you’ll have to wade through telescopic tripod stands for pole mounting PA speakers, spindly things for domestic rear surrounds which couldn’t reliably support an Auratone and domestic HiFi stands standing 18” tall. None of these products are appropriate for our needs.

This collection isn’t our top picks, we haven’t used many of these products, neither is it an exhaustive list. What it is is a response to Julian’s recent experience of buying a new set of monitor stands (he ended up buying a pair of Ultimate Support MS90 45b with which he’s very happy). He found it difficult to get an overview of what was available and this list represents a good jumping-off point if you are considering buying a pair of monitor stands.

Rather than you having to go through the same trawl past so many inappropriate products we have taken our experience and put together this article.

What Does A Studio Monitor Stand Need To Be Like?

Of course, it depends on the monitor is supports but for the purposes of this article, we’re featuring stands tall enough to support a typical 2-way monitor to the ear height of someone sitting at a desk.

The criteria for studio monitor stands is that it should be suitable for a typical set of 2 or compact 3-way monitors of between approximately 33 and 45 inches. If you have large monitors you’ll need something more specialised than most of these and when it comes to quality, this is old fashioned engineering and you definitely get what you pay for, if you are happy to put £5K monitors on lightweight stands costing under £100 then that is very much up to you but you do get what you pay for and even the cheapest monitor stands have a place (that place is under a pair of cheap monitors…).

Some of these monitor stands are adjustable but most are fixed height. We have included a picture, the manufacturer and model number or code and a ballpark price per pair (these things vary with retailer and with time). We haven’t included links but instead, provided all the information needed to track them down using your search engine of choice.

We also haven’t included the weight capacity as we frankly didn’t believe some of them. In some cases where there are several similar alternative models, which meet the criteria we have included one, if you look you’ll find the others so don’t be put off by the height of a particular model. there might be a taller or shorter variant available, for example, we have included the Ultimate Support MS90 45 which is 45” high, they also offer a 36” version.

Have you found a studio monitor stands that you use in your studio that should be on this list? If so do let us know as we’ll be updating this article.

In addition, if there are any companies making stands suitable for studio use you think people should consider when looking for stands, again please let us know in the comments below.