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Best (affordable) way to decouple my speaker stands?

ex audiophile

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Yet another use for the meta-acoustic neutronium wave guide audiocondensers (MANWGA) from AudioScam. But wait! Order now and you can get an additional set free, perfect for your second speaker. Just pay additional shipping/handling.

ears2.jpg
 

Suffolkhifinut

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So I moved my Argon Audio Forte A5 active speakers from the classic Ikea Kallax cabinets to the matching speakers stands today and while I certainly like how they sound and look I do need to look into a better way to decouple them from the floor.

The supplied 1cm silicon half balls do work but there is a lot of bass going into the floor right now and I kind of want to keep my neighbours happy.
Inverting the Soundcare superspikes that I used before helps a bit (basically you make it really hard for the sound to travel from the stand into the floor) but it is still coupled this way. Filling them with sand is not an option here unfortunately unless I close up the holes and run the cables externally.

Should I grab something like Audio Solution dampeners or Tonar no rumble pads? Grab lots of sorbothane sheets and start layering? Anything else?

The speakers (4.1kg/9lbs) + stands (4.9kg/10.8lbs) weigh about 9kg/19.8lbs each.


Old setup


New setup (WIP)
Try the cheapest way forward first, isolation platforms can cost and there are no guarantee they will work. Always have filled my speaker stands with either sand or on one occasion lead. The stands look a bit insubstantial and may benefit from filling with sand. A good way to test them is to play something with heavy bass and then hold onto the stands, will give a good indication of how much they are transmitting onto your floor. Looks as if the floor is made from a laminate? Guaranteed to transmit vibration!
 

Frgirard

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JaccoW

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Try the cheapest way forward first, isolation platforms can cost and there are no guarantee they will work. Always have filled my speaker stands with either sand or on one occasion lead. The stands look a bit insubstantial and may benefit from filling with sand. A good way to test them is to play something with heavy bass and then hold onto the stands, will give a good indication of how much they are transmitting onto your floor. Looks as if the floor is made from a laminate? Guaranteed to transmit vibration!
I have about €45 in marble cutting boards + dampening (sorbothane?) half-spheres. Worst case scenario I have two serving boards. :)
The stands were not that expensive at about €200 for the pair but I received a €100 Black Friday price matching discount on the speakers so at the very least it wasn't that expensive. If I had money to burn I would have bought Solidsteel SS-7 stands but those are more expensive than the speakers themselves. Maybe in the future.

The parts should arrive tomorrow so I will have plenty of time to play with them.

For now though:
 

Suffolkhifinut

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I have about €45 in marble cutting boards + dampening (sorbothane?) half-spheres. Worst case scenario I have two serving boards. :)
The stands were not that expensive at about €200 for the pair but I received a €100 Black Friday price matching discount on the speakers so at the very least it wasn't that expensive. If I had money to burn I would have bought Solidsteel SS-7 stands but those are more expensive than the speakers themselves. Maybe in the future.

The parts should arrive tomorrow so I will have plenty of time to play with them.

For now though:
Got my Kudos X2s on white quartz plinths, plinths blutacked to the floor and the speakers blutacked to the plinths works for me, good luck.
 

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GalZohar

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While it doesn't directly answer your question, if you want to keep your neighbors happier, move your speakers closer to the listening position (and/or move your listening position closer to the speakers). You'll get the same SPL with less wattage and thus less SPL at your neighbors. Also, moving the speakers away from walls/corners will help the bass frequency response, which will likely both improve your sound and your neighbor situation.

However, the closer the speakers are to the listening position, the worse imaging you'll get for those not sitting at the main listening position, if that matters.
 

UCrazyKid

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JaccoW

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The marble plates arrived today. Looking good and a pretty decent weight too at 4.4kg (9lbs 11.55oz) a piece.

The rubber (?) hemisphere help quite a bit and yes, bass is much more controlled. But sorbothane hemisperes are on their way.


 

Frgirard

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While it doesn't directly answer your question, if you want to keep your neighbors happier, move your speakers closer to the listening position (and/or move your listening position closer to the speakers). You'll get the same SPL with less wattage and thus less SPL at your neighbors. Also, moving the speakers away from walls/corners will help the bass frequency response, which will likely both improve your sound and your neighbor situation.

However, the closer the speakers are to the listening position, the worse imaging you'll get for those not sitting at the main listening position, if that matters.
do you know the word SBIR ?
A speaker must be against the front wall, always.
 

Frgirard

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The marble plates arrived today. Looking good and a pretty decent weight too at 4.4kg (9lbs 11.55oz) a piece.

The rubber (?) hemisphere help quite a bit and yes, bass is much more controlled. But sorbothane hemisperes are on their way.


:eek::facepalm:
 

Lambda

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The marble plates arrived today. Looking good and a pretty decent weight too at 4.4kg (9lbs 11.55oz) a piece.

The rubber (?) hemisphere help quite a bit and yes, bass is much more controlled. But sorbothane hemisperes are on their way.


I must say they look mush better then the Concert stones from the home improvement store!

Just found out "magic eraser" sponges are made out of Basotect®
Basotect is often Hyped as acoustic absorber material.
So if you want to experiment with one more material you can try Melamine_foam Sponges for just a view bucks.
 

Somafunk

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The marble plates arrived today.

They look good and should help. I have my Dynaudio 18s sub sitting on a isoacoustic iso-200 sub stand which is sitting on a 20kg block of slate which is sitting on 4 sorbothane pucks rated to 15 kg each, definitely helps.
 

pjug

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[edit: sorry I replied to the wrong post. This was meant to be directed @JaccoW ]
The sorbothathe hemispheres should work for you. You just need to make sure they are loaded properly to get the best results. You want them to be loaded close to the max rating. Then the natural frequency will be less than 10Hz and you will have good isolation down to 20-30Hz.
1639239141742.png

You can easily calculate the natural frequency if you know the deflection. Attached are some hemisphere deflection curves from Sorbothane (small are the 0.75" dia, medium are the 1.25" diameter, large are the 2" diameter).

The natural frequency is just fn=(1/2*pi)*(g/D)^0.5 [see here: https://ocw.mit.edu/courses/mechani...ti-dof-vibration/MIT2_003SCF11_rec10note1.pdf]

g is acceleration from gravity; D is deflection. If you use the Sorbothane deflection curves convert inches to feet and then you can use g=32.2 ft/s^2 in the calculation.
 

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sq225917

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I'm guite partial to a stack of different density foam. Evazote, neoprene ( foamed not solid)
 

storing

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Lots of recommendattions here, which makes me wonder: wouldn't there be some comparative research into what actually works best (or good enough)?
 

Lambda

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Lots of recommendattions here, which makes me wonder: wouldn't there be some comparative research into what actually works best (or good enough)?
Put something heavy on something springy/spongy works all the time good enough.
If not your not using enough wight.

If you want to optimize you need more data and also you need to now what your optimizing for.
Best absorption per wait. or per volume. or cost?
Do you care abut damping? or only abut decoupling...

I have seen vibration decoupling form IC semiconductor manufacturing patterns stepper. (A UV Projector with nm precision)
It was the same principle multiple *2*1*1m Grant block floating air springs.

There is lot of material silence to make a system Critical damped f you can't just add mass and call it a day.
In a Laptop CD drive or a drone camera and so on.

 

Pegwill

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Hi

I have had good results with these.

The price seems to have increased a bit since I last bought any but you may be able to find similar cheaper. No measurements though just my own feelings.

Regards
 
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