Audibility of speaker stands, feet, isolation pads etc.?

[ryanosaur]

Sand also acts as a damper which dampens the vibration of the steel stand.

Most stands are made of jist steel. Being made of a single material, it will have its own resonance frequency (could be more than 1).

Agreed, but putting anything between the Speaker and the Stand will likely be enough to keep a well designed Speaker from causing the Stand to begin vibrating. My VTIs didn't before I filled them. I tried and didn't hear anything. I filled them to lower the center of gravity.

Perhaps if one were to identify the specific frequency of the pipe and play a sine wave at that exact frequency...? Of course, you may fry a VC doing that...

 

[OldHvyMec]

The stand just like everything else matters in the room. If the stand is metal it will ring. Fill the stand. Expanding foam, kitty litter, pea gravel, shot, etc.
It is for weight and to dampen the vibration from the floor up and the speaker down. I use springs, pods or air ride (inner tubes work fine). Blue Tac, silicone jell pads
between speaker and stand are good. I've hard mounted a few and decoupled the stand with pods at the base.

I always decouple everything with valves, transducers, spinning platforms (TT, CDs, Tape decks, Reel to Reel) or vibration producers like speaker cabinets or helmholtz traps. It doesn't help, if you live by freight tracks or heavy freight corridors. The sound from the raised HW isn't the problem. We live on the delta, tule and underground water amplifies the signal and vibration. A TT will actually HOP. LOL I don't need to measure it, I need to catch it before it bounces across the LP.

The stand has a purpose, height. The reason for the size of the speaker is it "disappears" easier in theory. There is a cost usually in the bass region. The face of the speaker stand can act as bass reinforcement by adding width to the first point of reflection and eliminating leakage between speaker, stand and floor. Add a piece of cardboard wider than the stand, see for yourself.

If you can get a good enough response and treat the room correctly a standmount can get away without subs. Especially with a TT involved.

OR

OB servos fixed any bass pumping along with great individual piece isolation. I have fewer tube failures after in home concerts too.

Regards

 

[dorakeg]

Agreed, but putting anything between the Speaker and the Stand will likely be enough to keep a well designed Speaker from causing the Stand to begin vibrating. My VTIs didn't before I filled them. I tried and didn't hear anything. I filled them to lower the center of gravity.

Perhaps if one were to identify the specific frequency of the pipe and play a sine wave at that exact frequency...? Of course, you may fry a VC doing that...

No, you can't hear the vibration. This is not about stands making noise.

In an ideal situation. speaker cabinets adn stands will have 0 vibration and only the cones are moving creating sound. Of course, we know that this is not possible in real world. Hence, we can only minimise it. This is also why stands are made of metal and heavy. Intertia applies here. More mass = higher intertia less less vibration. Adding sand (or other matierals) not only dampens vibration, it also adds more weight which again reduces it.

 

[audiofooled]

This is a question that I've been wondering about for a while. I know many people fill their stands with sand. Has anyone measured if there is any difference? What about elastic vibro-isolating pads? I don't mean for huge subwoofers, I mean regular speakers, bookshelf and floor-standing but nothing huge. And what about slabs of different materials that audiophiles place under their speakers and claim that the material makes an audible difference (e. g. marble, concrete, different kinds of solid wood)?

I understand that decoupling speakers from the surrounding environment could improve sound by exciting resonances in the environment to a lesser degree. But in a typical living room, typical speakers, typical listening volume, can it actually make an audible difference?

For my DIY setup (a couple of floorstanders and a sub), in a typical living room, decoupling everything from the floor actually did wonders. But the actual benefit is not the audibility of it all (no difference at normal listening volumes). It was to tame and prevent from rattling the windows, doors, furniture, kitchen utensils, basically everything sensitive to floor vibrations and making sounds of their own resonant frequency. On occasional higher SPL listening sessions, that is... Hardwood floor was truly vibrating under my feet and exciting room modes at several frequencies. The downside is now I need to be more careful about when to turn down the volume because subjectively it's never too loud.

 

[Frgirard]

No, you can't hear the vibration. This is not about stands making noise.

In an ideal situation. speaker cabinets adn stands will have 0 vibration and only the cones are moving creating sound. Of course, we know that this is not possible in real world. Hence, we can only minimise it. This is also why stands are made of metal and heavy. Intertia applies here. More mass = higher intertia less less vibration. Adding sand (or other matierals) not only dampens vibration, it also adds more weight which again reduces it.

have you proof of your tell?

for you and do not hesitate to search with words like mass or frequency of reasoning or deflection...

Freestanding speaker decoupling system DIY on a budget question - Gearspace.com

It's a subject I don't totally understand -to say the least, since it can be very technical. But I want to learn to do it right. First, here are 2 great threads about the subject, covered mainly by Thomas JJ/Northward. All quotes from this message are fro

gearspace.com

zaor stand.

Monitor Stand | Classic Stands Line | Zaor Studio Furniture

Most constructions have a fixed height which might just not suit your particular situation. This stand offers a solution for you to find the best position.

zaorstudiofurniture.com

 

[Chrispy]

Personally have used a variety of stands, some metal/tubed both sand filled and not, some simple wood diy risers/stands as well as misc whatever might work that's at hand if needed but all were sturdy. Never noticed the stand having an audible impact at all. When I moved households with the sand filled stands, it was a bit messy so I just dumped the sand and never went back. I usually use a reasonable amount of blutac/museum putty on top of a metal stand's surface both for protection of the speaker's finish from the stand as well as very good adhesive for stability (takes some effort to get them apart). I've never found an ongoing use for spikes, altho did use a set once under those sand filled stands but they were a bit of a pain in positioning/moving speakers and worried about the hardwood floor a bit, found later the stands were just fine stability wise without (but didn't have particularly thick carpeting either).

ps on wood stands or other objects tend to just use a thin rubber pad....old mouse pads work great.