Shure S15A Telescoping Microphone Stand Reviews

The Shure S15A a good choice for location setups. It is light, extends high and comes with a carry bag. The down side is its poor stability at full extension, even with a very light weight microphone. It tends to flex and wobble when extended to its maximum height.

These do the job, but the current version has unwieldy telescoping tighteners that make it difficult to use. The previous version had thumb screw tighteners that were much more practical and easier to use. Consequently, I now use the Impact heavy duty 13' photographic light stand (LS-13HB). With an adaptor, this is a solid trouble-free stand. I have sacrificed 12", but since I use a matched pair of Earthworks QTC-1 omni's, there is no aural impact. I do not recommend the Shure for someone who needs the convenience of easy set up and tear down.

The Shure S15A stands are special use. As a classical music producer, I use tall stands both for orchestral and choral main mics as well as ambient mic placement in nicely reverberent venues. I have owned this model for well over a decade, so my experience with them is not new, but my owning them is a must with multiple setups to have backups for the much more reliable (and heavier) German-made stands I've owned for nearly 30 years. The Shure S15A is hard to raise/lower, the rubber feet come off easily, making the legs hard to expand out of the legs, and the aluminum is so soft, the top mic thread can easily be bent or its threads ruined. I have actually had the segment threads come apart after long-term use when tightening them into position. That is why I've owned something like 10 of these over the last couple of decades. The design needs work, but for me, in my music niche, they're a must-have since there are few other options, and the German stands are no longer made.

Was not impressed by the stiffness of the unit. The mike tends to flop around when fully extended. Need to watch the angle of the floor and position of legs so center of gravity does not fall out side of legs.
Also would be nice if each segment had some indicators on it so you can match heights when extended. Very hard to get them set for identical heights
Beats lugging around an MS-25 with a MS 10 extension unit

The S15A is definitely a winner in it's class. With five, light weight aluminum telescopic extentions, it's perfect for stereo mic'ing large concert ensembles. Everytime I raise my stereo array as high as I think it can go, I find another extention I missed! It can handle 14' with ease, the sturdy reinforced tripod base extends to a comforting diameter, and it would be hard to knock down without walking directly into it. I did find the telescopic sections to rattle a bit, but this disappears as the extentions are raised more and weight is applied by the mics. The tripod is held in position by a thumb screw clamp on one of the legs, so don't overtighten it or you could probably squash the aluminum tube. The only other complaint is that it doesn't come in black. It folds up just as small as any run of the mill generic stand does, and barely weighs any more. And, when I need to put the stand far back enough that it ends up in the stage pit, you can push up the bottom section (which starts to fold the legs back in = less stable) and attach a small boom in a vertical position to make up for the loss, making the stand around 17-18' high. Any higher than that you could pass notes to the lighting guy on the catwalk. A good buy overall.