My target stands have poly-bags filled with [garden centre] salt-free sand.
When i got the bag home it was damp so i dried some out in the airing cupboard, and only used it when completely dry.
At the time a colleague-friend was very interesting in doing the same with his target stands which were a larger size than mine, so i took the trouble of drying out the rest of the bagful in my airing cupboard which took a week or so of shaking about and stirring everyday to wick-out all the dampness, painstaking effort actually, lugging it out to the car, and driving it special delivery to his house.
But with true dedication i presented the bag of very dry and special salt-free sand to my colleague.
However, didn’t see him for a while because we worked different shifts, but a couple of months later i asked him how he’d got on with the sand, and he nonchalantly replied, “Oh i couldn’t be bothered with it, but i used the sand on my lawn”!
Around the time of your research I bought a new woodturning lathe. Whilst waiting for delivery I built a stand based on advice from another woodturner with an engineering background. Rather than use solid timber, everything was made as box section using battens and marine ply, then filling with dry sand. The idea being to reduce vibration especially when making bowls with wood that more than likely had irregular density.
The chap who delivered told me I had missed one vital part, soaking the sand in engine oil.
He went away and came back with 5 gallons of Duckhams Q 20-50.
No chance of finding out if without or with made a difference.
However with a chance of seepage, probably not the best idea in a domestic situation.
Lidl. Less than 2 squid a bag. Whats not to like and if you don’t like, you haven’t lost much especially if you have or know someone with a cat.
While not as heavy as sand it does stop tube ringing. 2/3 full, tap the column below fill level and … dead as a Dodo.
I have to say after many years with trying different stands… I find filled or unfilled metallic stands colour the sound unacceptably (to my ears)
I ended up with metal open framed unfilled stands, but I got that bettered with open framed wooden (oak) stands… and to me they are just right… no noticeable treble smearing, great mid frequency compliance, really sublime with voices and reasonably good bass… perhaps the slightly weakest point, being ever so slightly slow, so best partnered with infinite baffle fast stand mounts…
The reason I steer clear of floor standers, is unless they are uber expensive and refined … they tend to exhibit many of the traits of compromised stands, but you can’t do much about it.
So I say the best material is air in a critically damped material.
I have forgot the name of the sand,.I haven’t done it since 1996-97,but it was black in the color.
Should you fill your speaker-stand,or…some speakers also had the possibility to fill up a bit at the bottom with sand.
So fill a little at a time…
•Listen,.better-worse.
•Fill in more.
•Listen,.better-worse.
Yes,.you understand the principle.
When you cross the border when it gets worse,.then you remove some sand so that you have the level where it plays best.
If you change speakers to your speaker-stands,.then you have to do the process above again.
So be very careful as you do this.
Tend to agree. A filled stand sounds better than unfilled but I’ve always preferred open frame by miles. They do get vetoed often though by “decorating committees”.
Non-moisture-absorbing sandblasting sand.