Atacama gel pads from eBay…
1 Like
Thank you
I use Blue Tack on my PMC 25 21i, mainly due to having a cat in the house. He loves to rub his cheeks and neck at the top edge of the speaker grille. To discourage him from doing this, I put a microfiber cloth over the speakers and rub a bit of lemongrass oil on it.
2 Likes
Using these for years.
2 Likes
+1 for Herbie’s Audio Lab Fat Dots. I notice that their website shows these and many other products as being out of stock. Has anyone any insight?
2 Likes
Initially I used Blu Tack on my Custom Design FS 104s, but it bothered me that they flattened out so easily, causing the speaker to contact the not-quite-true top plate. My solution was to embed a single Atabite (approximately 1 mm. thick) in a tiny blob of Black Tack instead, which provided the necessary spacing.
I have no worries about removing the speaker when the time comes. In addition to using a twisting motion, I find it helpful to first cut through the Black / Blue Tack with a length of dental floss, using a sawing motion from the corner inwards.
Back when I used stands I tried cones, blutac, even screwing them together one time but nothing beat a few blobs of Silly (or Potty, or Science) Putty, just be sparing with it if you have a carpet. It will form a very thin layer but any excess that drops will slowly sink between the pile and make a very tenacious stain if not picked up in time.
I’ve seen that happen quite a few times, my guess it’s due to a backlog of the raw materials. The expected restock date shown has been consistently accurate though.
Devore speakers come packed with a white form of blue tack for mounting the speakers on the stand. John Devore also suggests business cards as a shim under the stand. The “putty” used at the interface of stand and speaker is a critical and integral part of the design according to DeVore
Business card between stand and floor??
Yep - it’s not the clearest passage in the review but the reviewer asks John what to use over a hard floor to place the stands on and business cards as simple shims was suggested as the best option.
I don´t think things have changed since this drawing in the flat response,Spikes are still the best way to support a speaker.
2 Likes
Indeed, but not against a hard floor, vibrations need to be dissipated for optimum performance.
Personally I find either interferes with the speaker stand coupling and performance, especially the upper mids. I prefer to place the speaker directly on the stand, preferably a wooden platform, with nothing else… for me the best sq and imaging. I once used Atacama’s gel pads on my previous ATCs… absolutely horrendous things, and they were then hard work to remove to add insult to injury.
I have tried many types of coupling material including various sorbothane compounds, and all rob something in the performance. I use relatively light mass open stands.
Well maybe, but listening to the designer of the speaker seems like a fair punt to me.
I would stay away from any design with soft pads under the speakers.
1 Like
And between speaker and stand you use?
Totally agree… I thought I was a lone voice advocating this… encouraged to see I am not.
The reason I understand is in a passive isolation system as damping is increased, transmissibility roll-off decreases… which means higher frequencies compared to the speaker /stand resonant frequency tend to decouple less, which can result in smeared higher frequencies due to baffle vibration… not good at all for hifi audio reproduction for fine detail, transients and spatial queues… ie those attributes we pay a lot for our electronic systems to reproduce accurately.
I am not a mechanical engineer, I am a computer and electronics engineer… however I am often interested in the similarity of systems behaviours between the two disciplines.
1 Like
Hard metal spikes
3 Likes
interesting. My scm 11’s sound more free with atacama pads compared to blue tack on heavy stands though