What do you guys typically fill your speaker stands with? I’m leaning towards play sand from Home Depot or something.
My broken hopes and dreams they weigh a ton
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I used sand, but mostly because it was cheap. I’d like to replace it with lead shot.
Oh god, I didn’t even think of doing that…
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Of course, if you want to achieve the optimum, there are several brands which sell their own specifically designed filler, optimised for purpose.
There are several options for filling your stands, and the general consensus is that as long as the material is dense, the damping effect is sufficient. Here are some of the internet’s most popular DIY fillers:
– Rice (uncooked, of course)
– Sand (kiln dried for preference. We’ve even read stories of some drying the sand in their oven!
– Cat litter (unused, of course)
– Cotton (well packed down – use a poking device like a broom handle)
– Lead shot (take care – very hazardous)
– Volcanic sand (a real favourite amongst audiophiles – extra dense)
I used aquarium sand. Got it on sale at the time and worked well.
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i used mud to fill the base of some stands once cause its free in my backyard. left them out in the sun couple days to dry out the mud. w/e it takes lol. just dont make it runny =)
why are we filling the speaker stands with high density product?
Maybe others can provide a better answer, but from my understanding, it removes vibrations and resonance from the speakers. It’ll keep all of the energy directed at you rather than wasting some of it through the stand that it is on.
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interesting.
my Kanto stands have bloody heavy base plates, so they’re not light by any means…however the vertical portion is definitely hollow. I need a bit more height though, so I was going to use some big blocks of wood to put the stands on, which should act as excellent dampeners, especially if they’re on a small bit extra carpet on my carpet, themselves.
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It should reduce possible ringing and give a sonically dead platform.
As in best possible situation with stands <> Achieve better sound.
There is plenty of info that you can search. Even big speakers manufactures e.g Dynaudio talk about stands. So it’s one small part getting things better, depending of stands of course.
so…sand? lead pellets? or cement?
and some put toilet paper behind headphones drivers.
Or those copper plates or “moon dust” to enhance audio experience.
/me sees someone walking around downtown with tp trailing behind them, hanging off their headphones…
edit - which would, btw, lead to a lot of interesting or disturbing conclusions / possibilities, LoLoL!!!
All the material added to stands is primarily to lower the resonance of the stand. That’s why light weight stuff is essentially useless. Sand is good and cheap, but watch for leaks! Don’t put it in wet it’ll rust the stand. Shot is good. If you can get into the “legs” of the stand from both sides you could stick some Dynamat in as far as you can reach (with tools - to glue it down) that will deaden the stands better than just about anything.
My favorite solution for dipoles is hang them from ceiling beams/joists with stranded 1/4" cable (2 or 3 contact points), then wrap the cables in something audibly inert, and make sure the center of your speaker is at ear height/angle. Talk about drying up nasty upper bass/low mid cruft from the sound and your carpet not eating the mids… heck of a conversation piece too.
However, most systems are not good enough to justify time/cost/hernia of making your stands heavy. Instead borrow a book from the library on how to set up your system using basic and correct principles. Maybe shift your furnishings about, change the listening distance, etc. first.
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Btw, for anyone thinking about doing this and haven’t done so yet, I highly recommend it. I just finished doing mine and it was definitely a big difference!
If you tap your speaker stand and it makes a resonating sound, I definitely suggest that you fill it with something.
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Also you might not want to fill up so called “studio stands”.
Since in many cases they are very adjustable, small in area of material, not designed to be filled… have “rubberized or isolated” joints. Also the bottom plate might be isolated from floor and speaker plate. Reduced vibrations from the beginning and many times meant to be used with monitors. Some of them don’t really vibrate. Hard enclosures, isolating feet/or other and so on.
Makes very little or no benefit to sound.
So. These so called “home stand” in many cases are bit bulkier and have large areas and more of metal, also many times they have “solid” joints. They look really good in most cases and have the WAF.
They usually benefit from filling, used with many different type of speakers, designed differently. Environment is also different, normal living rooms and so on.
There is more gain possibility in improving overall sound also the filling is cheap and easy mod as to say.