Go to a dive shop and get plastic coated diving belt weights. They come in various weights, up to about 5 pounds each. A cheap solution for this tweak. |
VPI and Cardas offer products that do this. Also you will find that it can help by placing weights on your amplifier since all amps produce a sonic hum these weights can restrict "movemment" and tighted the amp up |
Double Ziplock bags filled with fine grained sand works well. These can be put into cloth bags if aesthetics are an issue. |
You are hearing the effects of damping / altering cabinet resonances. The problem with using something solid to damp resonance is that it too has a specific resonance. As such, you've traded one resonance for another. Try using sandbags atop the speaker as Frank suggests. Unlike the solid mass that most people use, the sand shifts within the bag as it is vibrated. This dissipates energy as heat rather than adding yet another resonance.
In order for this to be effective and not messy, i would suggest filling the bags to the point of having solid weight but not packing them full. If the sand can not shift in the bag, you'll end up with something pretty close to the solid object that you were trying to avoid using. I would use locking freezer bags for this, as they are both good sized and slightly thicker than regular bags. Fill one bag up and then insert it into the second bag. The top ( zip side ) should be at the bottom of the other bag i.e. reversed in direction. If the inner bag leaks due to the zip locked seal breaking, it has to work its' way through the other bag and seal at the other end before leaking out.
This also allows you to experiment with various amounts of weight in a very easy to add or subtract form. I would find the amount of mass that you want to add with the first bag before putting the second outer bag on. Otherwise you have to take the secondary bag off and on each time you change the amount of sand. Sean
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I heard a demonstration at CES with Harmonic Resolution Systems plates on top of Totem Speakers. These plates made much more positive effects than by just mass loading. The 4.5" X 9.5" plates that were demonstrated were around $125 each, per plate. You may wish to look into a pair? I'm ordering a pair within a week. |
Thanks for the advice folks. Theo, I'm using Mapleshades Heavyhats on my amp, preamp and cd player and it does help. I'll give the sand bags a try. You know, these tweaks are what makes people think we're all nuts. But damn, once you hear those subtle improvements you can't stop yourself. Thanks again. |
Couple your speakers to the floor as best as possible. Spikes should penetrate to something solid under any carpet.
As mention above, sand is the way to go. It also puts more pressure on the spikes. |
If you want more weight than sand can provide, go to a gun shop and get a bag of #9 lead shot for reloading shotgun shells. Putting the lead shot in freezer bags as described above does a nice job. |
rewire them with good silver wire like siltech, this
works, my friend and tried every wt. we can think of
it improves no doubt but in a very small subtle effect,
its cheaper, no skills require,or use use good copper
if your sysrem is on the bright side to rewire. |
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Right on SEAN great tweak at a no nonsense price.But-But-But it can't be any good, it didn't cost enough! |
Yes Subaruguru, $125 for small plates with huge results. Seriously, try them out. I've spent much much more with far less results. I'm not affiliated with them, just impressed all to Hell.
I've used weights, sandbags, and nearly every other tweek known. The Harmonic Resolution Systems plates are much better. I'm not into techno-speak, but their website offers info in great detail. www.avisolation.com
Best wishes,
Brian |
What about treating the cabinet enclosure with Blackhole 5? |
Try the noise killer for the speaker, music direct carries,
upscale audio carry them too, they do eliminate brightness
they do make high more listenable and natural. Try it and
leave them for about 2 weeks burn in period, for acclimation
porpuses, cheap tweak that works.Just be patient and later
it will payoff. |
Devils advocate...but would a quality enclosure....such as a low resonating design on most 1-2k level speakers...really require sand bags? I would think at this level most of these "anomalies" would have been addressed by the speaker designer...and putting sand bags on good speakers...such as Dynaudio...a bit extreme? |
How heavy should these plates/sand bags be? Mine are currently about 15 lbs on a 120 lb speaker. Never really experimented with other weights. |
BrianW, I'll make you some for $50. Or try www.mcmaster.com P/N 9050k11 for premade 8" x 8" x 1" thick aluminum plates.
Also P/N 89155K72 $38.76 each. |
Hello Cdc,
Actually, the Harmonic Resolution Systems plates are more than just a 1 inch thick piece of aluminum. Hell, if that's all they were, I'd have my brothers machinist (my brother manufactures Tube Research Labs amplifiers and preamplifiers) make me some nice aluminum plates with beveled edges, graining, and black anodizing. The HRS plates are comprised of not only an aluminum plate, but also have a proprietary polymer attached as well. Reading the info at their website, they mention that they've been involved with vibration isolation for NASA and other government agencies, so what they produce isn't nonsense.
I couldn't begin to explain the whats or whys of the product perfomance, I can only tell you that it was a night and day difference in resolution, low level information improvement, a striking improvement in micro-dynamics, a reduction of mid range and upper frequency glare/grain, and a general naturalness and ease within the entire frequency range. This is what I'd heard. I'm not affiliated with Harmonic Resolution Systems, just impressed all to hell with their products. I'd suggest, Cdc, that you try their demonstration at a local dealer yourself, so you can hear what I had at CES. I think that you'll be amazed, as I was.
Kind regards,
Brian |
Actually, the Harmonic Resolution Systems demo at CES was with the large Talon speakers, not the Totem. Sorry for the mistake. |
