****** - Verified Buyer
4.5
I bought this stand and the second tier add-on. This stand appealed to me since it has a very shallow depth of 17” compared to the other options available, most of which were 24” or more deep. Note that based on how high you set the height of the first tier, and at what height and angle you set the second tier, you may end up needing more depth for spacing from a wall behind the stand in order to accommodate any cable protrusion from the rear of your instruments.=== WHAT’S GREAT ABOUT THIS STANDThe stand is very light, very simple to construct, ridiculously simple to fold, and extremely stable. If you try to make it wiggle from side to side, it will - but very, very slightly and not in a way that will scare you. There is zero backward/forward sway when you’re playing normally - in normal use the stand is rock solid.The second tier inspires a ton of confidence with the very hefty construction of the arms, the way they bolt securely into the rear of the top of the base arms, and the heavily constructed interlocking geared teeth that lock tight when you set the angle adjustment. I put a 45lb Alesis Andromeda on the second tier, and with it being my rarest and most valuable synth I wasn’t going to compromise on quality. With this stand being so sturdy, I had no doubts whatsoever about it holding up my Andromeda safely.=== WHAT COULD BE BETTERThe first tier has no lip of any kind to hold your synth on, so if you pushed your synth from the back it would slide right off. This shouldn’t be an issue in normal use, but if you’re not careful you could back into it or have a kid come running by and knock your first tier synth clean off if they hit it with enough force. The rubber pads that are supposed to hold the first tier synth in place are not as grippy as I would have liked. I plan to remove these pads and use sticky-back industrial strength Velcro to secure my first tier keyboard to the stand. In fairness, I’ve had to do this with other stands I own as well so I find this to be a bit of a common problem.The second tier is really well-built as I already spoke to. However, once it’s installed, it blocks the rear of the first tier synth where the second tier arms slide into the back of the first tier’s arms. This means that certain ports may be blocked for access at the rear of your first tier synth where the second tier arms stick up. This issue can potentially be minimized with right angle cables, but right angle cables are not always available depending on the connection type. This may also be a non-issue if you don’t have ports in these positions, or if you don’t use those ports. I have a Korg M1 on my first tier and it was a tight fit to get outputs 1 and 2 and the power supply cable lined up against the edges of the second tier arms. That said, the second tier arms don’t obstruct ports for the instrument placed on the second tier at all, since the second tier arms are entirely beneath the instrument.Finally, the gap between the second tier is pretty wide, and expects a full size keyboard to be mounted on it. If you have smaller devices that you want to use on the second tier, you’ll need to get a base of some kind to mount them on, like a sheet of plywood or plexiglass that’s wide enough to straddle the second tier arms. If you’re mounting a full size keyboard then obviously this is not a concern.All in all, I’m really happy with this stand. I’m an engineer and very picky about what I buy, but I think this stand really strikes an excellent balance between utility and making smart compromises where necessary. The build quality is superb, and the stand looks fantastic to boot. Highly recommended.
