When you think about innovative new products in the professional AV marketplace, you probably think about high-definition video, new streaming solutions or digital audio mixing consoles. The lowly mic stand is the last place you think you would see a pioneering effort. Lighter weight, increased durability, lower cost? Sure. But a complete reinvention of the microphone boom stand? I did not see that coming.
When CPM staff first heard about the new Standformer microphone stand late last year, we were immediately intrigued. When we finally got our hands on one, our suspicions were confirmed. New ballgame. Galaxy Audio, best known for its miniature Hot Spot audio monitors, has done it again. They've successfully married a high-quality boom stand and a standard upright mic stand into one, more versatile unit.
The innovation is in Galaxy Audio's patented center pivot clutch mechanism that allows the boom arm section to slide down inside the fixed vertical section underneath.
Gone are the days of collapsing a boom stand only to have it be pinched between the boom pole and the fixed upright stand, or having them get tangled up with each other in the bottom of your storage trunk. You now only have a single pole to collapse and use for all your applications: standard straight vocal mic applications, boom vocals for guitarists of keyboards who need some distance between themselves and the mic stand, and all of your drum mic'ing applications.
For our evaluation, we were sent the MST-C60, which is the shorter of the two models. The MST-C60 has a maximum vertical height of 63 inches, which should be fine for all but the tallest vocalists when used in “straight, vertical mode.” When used in “boom mode” the MST-C60 reaches an appropriate height for guitarists who want a boom mic, and for nearly all your drum mic'ing needs. However, keyboardists who need a higher pivot point for their microphone boom, and for overhead drum mics where the pivot point needs to be much higher (eye level), Galaxy Audio's taller MST-C90 model would be a better choice.
When we unpacked our evaluation unit at mid-week worship team rehearsal at Hope Community Church in Raleigh, N.C., the first thing our tech director did was check the component materials for durability. The magnet test confirms that the legs, shafts and boom are all metal. The center base where the legs join the shaft is aluminum, but the height adjustment clutch and Galaxy Audio's patented center pivot clutch appear to be housed in plastic. Galaxy Audio inspires confidence by describing a five-disc internal cam in the pivoting boom clutch. We didn't do surgery to examine the internal mechanism, but in our evaluation with larger AKG wireless mics we can report that the boom mechanism is solid. Only time will tell how it responds after years of service or hundreds of adjustments, but after just a few hours of evaluation we can report that the Galaxy Audio MST-C60 Standformer microphone boom stand appears to be a strong, reliable unit.
We're finding the street price for the MST-C60 at about $69, and just $10 more for the larger MST-C90 version. While there are many lower-priced boom stands on the market, the Standformer is not overpriced. Units with similar quality components—metal poles, aluminum center bases and reinforced center clutches—are available in the same price range. So considering the extra flexibility found in this innovative new design, we put this decision in the “no brainer category,” and recommend the Galaxy Audio MST-C Series Standformer convertible boom/straight microphone stand.
