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Cheap speaker tweak

I was going to post this under " misc audio " but since I did only tweak my speakers I thought I would place it here. I have speakers that come with spikes from the factory, I'm sure many of you have encounter this situation. But I also have carpet in my listening room. When I initially bought my speakers I read the manual, which suggested I let the spikes go right into my carpet. What???!!! Not a chance I thought, I just put in new carpet.

So I purchased some of those carpet saver pads, you know the ones you use to put under sofa feet. I set my speakers on these but the spikes were always causing the pads to lean one way or the other. Then one day surfing somewhere on a audio site I saw a maple board ( that's right just a board ) for sale. The claim of course guaranteed to give your piece of equipment guaranteed " superior sound " I knowing a few things about wood also knew that this was merely a $2.00 piece of maple that someone had routed an edge on, selling for $70! Yikes what will be believe next? So I got to thinking " hey I think I'll go to the local Home Depot and buy a couple of pieces of wood to place my speakers on, then they won't lean "

Well to make a long story short ( I know too late ) I couldn't find any wood the right size. So I went over to the ceramic tiles and began looking. Eventually I found a 12X12 tile that was visibly expectable. I bought a pair @ 99 cents each and took them home and put them under my speakers. I only wanted to provide my speakers with a more stable base, but I got more than that. The first time I listened to my system I thought wow! Everything is more transparent, the sound stage is deeper, the highs and mids were smoother and the bass was tighter. So I got to thinking when I was at the Depot I also saw some marble tiles 12x12 @ $5.49 but 3 times as thick, of course I went back and bought a pair. And yes things improved even more, and the appearance isn't bad either. I can see it now someone is going to read this and make a fortune selling these special speaker tiles.

So if your into cheap tweaks and your speakers are under 1 foot square. I would suggest shopping at your local lumber company. If you do post your results, I would be curious to know if it is just my setup. But now that I think about it, and if my ears are not deceiving me. I'll bet their are other things like this that will work under my equipment.
kt_88
dbx
58 posts
 
Since this is a tweek that's been known about for awhile, maybe some one can anwser this question.
Will you get the same sound effect/improvement if you just bought four 4x4 inch sqaurs of marble, granite or maplewood and placed them under each speaker foot? Stability isn't my main concern since my speakers already sit on flat speaker stands.
kt_88 OP
242 posts
 
Well I couldn't find any 1 1/2" thick maple at Home Depot, I guess I'll need to check out a cabinet maker for this. But of course since I was at Home Depot and me being a typical guy ( kid in a candy store ) I had a look around. And what do you know I came up with a great new idea ( I know, someone has beat me to it. )

Since I couldn't find a maple board to put my components on, I did the next best thing. ( This will drive you $1000+ stereo rack people crazy. ) I purchased some cheap pine boards, and some basic bricks, you know the kind they build little red school houses out of? Except mine aren't red, there brown. I do after all need to keep up with the decor in my house. 15 bucks this stuff cost me by the way.

Took all this stuff home, threw out my cheap $150 stereo rack and began building. Man was I tired when I was done! But it was well worth it, for the first time ( in my system anyway ) I got the black velvety background everyone was talking about. And bonus! Still better highs and mids, and the bass. Wow! Much improved, I can't belive I'm hearing this kind of bass from the same system. I had heard that concrete would help to kill the vibrations, but this definetely settles it for me. Maybe some day when I'm rich and famous I'll replace the pine with some maple.

Umm well of course your system and results may vary :)
peter_s
1,317 posts
 
Do you guys put the spikes directly on the slabs of rock, or do you take them off before setting the speakers directly on the rock?
paulwp
585 posts
 
Peter, is that a question or a hint? Nobody has mentioned height yet. The primary (some say only) function of a stand is to get the tweeters up to the right height, based on where the listener's ears are. My speakers are designed to be used with tweeters at ear height, so if they are a little low and I raise the stands, a whole new world will open up.

But do go on, discussing the sonic attributes of maple below metal stands as opposed to marble, or sandstone.

Paul
sfar's avatar
sfar
1,756 posts
 
I had a similar problem, my listening room has a beautiful maple floor with a thick Tibetan rug on it and the optimum place for the speakers is on rug. Spikes would have gone through the rug and ruined the floor. I tried using the spikes set on a piece of wood cut to the size of the speaker bases but just didn't feel I was getting everything from the speakers I could.

I went to a marble and granite supply house and found a scrap of green slate about two inches thick which yielded two bases an inch longer and wider than the plinths for the speakers. Rather than put the spikes onto the slate I decided to try the isolation route and bought rubber and cork isolation pads from a source here on audiogon.

The improvement was dramatic, better bass, much more open mid-range and treble. Total cost of the slate was $20 cut to size and the isolation pads were another $20. I used an orbital sander to smooth and slightly round the edges of the slate and the soft green color with the cherry finish of the speakers looks very trick.
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