You may have thought from our review of the K&M 101 music stand that it was the be all and end all. Music stand nirvana! Well, it’s a very, very good stand. I loved it because I knew I could rely on it. But there some more options to it than that, and choices to be had. If you’ve read any of our instrument stand reviews, you don’t have to be a genius to know that Hercules and Konig & Meyer are my favourites. In this case, I just can’t include Hercules – they are just a bit too awkward to put up. In theory, they should be great. They look great. The spec is great. But in practice I just never got on with them. I just couldn’t get them up quickly and easily, and when you are struggling to do this in front of your customer, it makes it a hard sale indeed!
The K&M 101 does, however, have competition, even within it’s own range. Next up in the K&M range is the 10065. Like the 101, it has a 3-piece folding design, but as it is a more robust stand, weighing in at 1.55kg, compared to 1kg for the 101, the folded size is 490mm compared to 390mm for the 101, and it has a height range of 585 – 1220mm. The desk dimensions are slightly larger as well at 485 x 240 mm compared to 440 x 215 mm. Although it’s a bit more expensive, I think this model represents excellent value for money. They also have an extra tall model (no. 10052) which goes as high as 1500mm. Only downside is that none of these K&M models come with a bag, but these can be bought separately if that kind of thing bothers you.
If you are looking for a good, and slightly cheaper, alternative to Konig and Meyer, TGI have some decent offerings which are well worth looking at, not least because they do come with a carrying bag. Personally, I would avoid their basic offering, the MS10BK as I simply had too many returns over the years – but the MS20BK is ok. It’s a fairly strong stand, although the page retainers are a bit fiddly and don’t work as smoothly as they should. If you’re looking for a lightweight option, we think the best around is the RAT Scherzo stand. It weighs in at 0.7 kg and is made of aluminium. The stem clasps enable you to set the stand at the perfect height and stay there. Comes with a carry bag as well.
