My stands are weighted with dry kiln sand and are on tripod spikes which rest on plaster or wooden floor, a modern 3 bed semi buildt in the nineties, so made with cheap basic materials. What i have noticed is quite a lot of bass can go especially when turning volume up into the floor and can resonate to next doors same bedroom as he came round once and asked to turn volume down. The bass did seem to go into the floor more rather than feeling it physically. Is there anyway i can remove this floor bass so it comes out more in the speaker and not the floor as well? I’ve just purchased some ssteel isolation boots but havent tried this yet as i’m awaiting return of my speaker cable.
Herbies Audio Labs makes a de-coupler that works great. https://herbiesaudiolab.com/collections/loudspeaker-rack-decoupling-and-isolation/products/threaded-stud-glider
I think it depends on your floor structure.
Back in the day I used Mana stands with my SBLs to provide isolation and tighten up the sound. This worked well on both wooden and concrete floors. Nowadays, I would look at other factors such as orientation, seating position etc. before going to expense of isolating the stands.
I am concerned that sound/vibration is travelling so much to your neighbour. Therefore a little more information about your floors would be helpful. For example, if the floors are solid, then vibration / sound can transfer to neighbouring rooms. The solution is some form of speaker isolation, but this may be to the detriment to your enjoyment (of course volume of sound could be reduced to minimise transfer of sound). If the floor is suspended wood then transfer of sound may be via voids in the floor, and/or along shared joists. The solution in this case is tricky as it involves isolating the floor from the source of the sound - this often requires lifting the floor.
Technology has come along way from my day when treating acoustic nuisance - I.e. annoying transfer of sound to neighbouring property. As it happens one of the things that attracted me to Naim was the fact that excellent sound could be generated at low volumes.
In the old days…the advice was hi mass speakers low mass fill…low mass speakers hi mass fill…try googling Cliff Stone … he was the stand guru… back in the day…
Can’t really afford heavy duty jobs at the minute nor would i think it’s worth it really. I think the floors are made of floorboards and not wood, i think chipboard, just what the average VFM modern house has upstairs followed by wood joists or beams accross the floor. The house and nearby houses look good on the outside but they are cheaply made on the inside. I’d much prefer a cheaper solution of trying to decouple or isolate the stands spikes directly from the chipboard through carpet as they seem to transfer too much enerjy through this rigid set up. What abput using sorbothane under speakers or the stands isolation feet. i’ll try experiment when i get my cables back.
What abput using sorbothane under speakers or the stands isolation feet. i’ll try experiment when i get my cables back. Or will these make it better?
I feel for you with these modern builds.
Isolating the source of the problem from your neighbour’s perspective is going to be tricky. I fear that there is going to be a compromise between nuisance (to him/them) and sound quality (for you).
Spikes, whilst providing stability for the speaker, will transfer sound/ vibrations). Feet or castors might mitigate this effect, but won’t eliminate it.
Making speakers perform efficiently is not my area of expertise. Certainly talk to your dealer, but try to borrow potential solutions rather than buy them until a mutual solution is found. Sadly I fear a compromise.
Yes, it was Gilbert Briggs, somewhere amongst my “it might be useful one day” are the pamphlets. My dad had a mono corner baffle with a Whitely Stentorian 10-12 in it. There were Collaro record deck and turntable driven by a home made valve amp. When he went stereo he changed to the drain pipe design with Goodmans Axiette 8s.
The only way to stop the floor resonating isn’t via stands unfortunately. The floor is ringing sympathetically like a bell from frequencies travelling through the air. If you feel stands vibrating, it is mainly from the floor via the air, via the speaker cone, not the speaker cabinet. You need to change the resonant frequency of the floor to something less problematic like much higher frequencies. That means heavy carpets to weigh it down. There are specially designed lead mats for this purpose. They are expensive though and are about 40Kg for a 1x2m mat.
If aesthetics are not a huge problem, there are lower cost sound deadening carpet tiles available too. The carpet side absorbs and the underside is very very heavy which deadens (absorbing and deadening are the two tools for any soundproofing). I treated a few home cinema rooms with this wall to wall and it worked well and looks great - but not homey. But ultimately made the room too dead for good stereo. Neighbours were happy though.
Has anyone tried salt in one stand and pepper in the other?
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If you cut a slot on the top, you could fill with your pennies, silvers and golds.
After a few years worth of additions you could buy yourself some proper speakers.
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Only when listening to the Spice Girls.
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Many years ago I had stands that were empty when I purchased them, (they are Foundation Stands), and I got some shot gun pellets from the local gun shop. This was very cheap, and in fact sweepings, and I spent a good few hours sorting the gun powder from the shot, spread on trays in the garden, then mixing the refined shot with fine sand, the sort used for sweeping on block paving (which was fashionable at the time). Not too sure of the ratio of sand to pellets, but I divided the shot into two, then each half into four for each of the legs, and added sand to fill to the top. Very heavy stands and completely dead. Speakers attached to the top plate with blue tac.
Where can i buy lead pellets to fill speakers with?
I suggest trying the Gun Shops, and asking if they can help…
It was a long time ago I went to the local gun shop, and found they were very helpful, no idea if things have changed since.
Depends where you are. Try Googling!
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