Adventures of an eccentric Irish Hi-Fi enthusiast.

[steve_1979]

Next time, to save some of the funny looks from the family, go to woodies and buy some Kiln dried sand

Just make sure there are no holes in the bag and it's been stored outside in the rain though. :help:

Yeah your right, seemed strange to me that they kept special dried sand outside in the rain.

B&Q are usually pretty good so I just wrote it off as an unlucky random occurance. The next time I want in the shop it was stored indoors and non of the bags seemed to have any puncture marks in them.

 

[BigH]

I used cat litter from Asds, £1.58 for 10kgs, a lot less hassle and cheaper.

 

[CnoEvil]

I used cat litter from Asds, £1.58 for 10kgs, a lot less hassle and cheaper.

My stands had two legs that were very difficult to fill, and Cat Litter would have been impossible to get in the very small gap.

Cat litter is designed to absorb moisture, so over time, I'm not sure how safe it would be. I'd rather use uncooked rice, but in my case, it wouldn't fit either.

 

[BigH]

I used cat litter from Asda, £1.58 for 10kgs, a lot less hassle and cheaper.

My stands had two legs that were very difficult to fill, and Cat Litter would have been impossible to get in the very small gap.

Cat litter is designed to absorb moisture, so over time, I'm not sure how safe it would be. I'd rather use uncooked rice, but in my case, it wouldn't fit either.

I see, must be very small holes. As for damp, sand absorbs it as well as you have already found out, so does rice thats why its used to dry items out and I don't believe in using food for something like speaker stands.

 

[matt49]

My stands had two legs that were very difficult to fill

I have hollow legs; no matter how much you fill them, they always want more.

:beer: :beer: :beer: :beer: :beer: :beer:

 

[DocG]

My stands had two legs that were very difficult to fill

I have hollow legs; no matter how much you fill them, they always want more.

:beer: :beer: :beer: :beer: :beer: :beer:

They must be leaking someway or the other... :? :O

EDIT: you don't use food to fill them, do you?

 

[CnoEvil]

I see, must be very small holes. As for damp, sand absorbs it as well as you have already found out, so does rice thats why its used to dry items out and I don't believe in using food for something like speaker stands.

Yup, sand does gradually absorb a little moisture (though I had to really dry it so that it was very free flowing), but is not specifically designed to do so. In the big columns of my stands, the sand is in a plastic bag.

Rice only really starts absorbing much water when boiled, otherwise it wouldn't store without swelling up.

FWIW. I think Atabites are still probably the best solution.

In case it's of interest: http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/multi-way/152592-alternate-speaker-stand-damping-material.html

 

[steve_1979]

FWIW. I think Atabites are still probably the best solution.

Atabites look interesting if a little expensive. I think they have a slightly higher density than regular sand because there are less gaps between the grains. I'm not all that convinced if it would make much/any difference to the sound in real world listening but I'll like to give it a try anyway.

I wonder if anyone has ever gone so far as to fill their stands with something like moltern lead to get the maximum possible density in there? If you were an obsessive millionaire you could even use depleted uranium for extra density like they use in the keels of some racing boats.

:help:

 

[davedotco]

FWIW. I think Atabites are still probably the best solution.

Atabites look interesting if a little expensive. I think they have a slightly higher density than regular sand because there are less gaps between the grains. I'm not all that convinced if it would make much/any difference to the sound in real world listening but I'll like to give it a try anyway.

I wonder if anyone has ever gone so far as to fill their stands with something like moltern lead to get the maximum possible density in there? If you were an obsessive millionaire you could even use depleted uranium for extra density like they use in the keels of some racing boats.

:help:

The stands for these beauties were so heavy that a fairly fit, 6ft tall, 90 kilo ex loose forward (me) could only lift them by straddling them, lifting from the top plate using primarily my legs. I don't think I ever got them more than a couple of inches off the floor, two people would struggle to get them in and out of a car.

I have moved 1 cwt bags of sand and cement, these were heavier, by a fair margin.

 

[floyd droid]

I don't believe in using food for something like speaker stands.

With you there H. I tried a couple of bunches of grapes , waste of bloody time as they got squished in 2 seconds flat.

 

[steve_1979]

The stands for these beauties were so heavy that a fairly fit, 6ft tall, 90 kilo ex loose forward (me) could only lift them by straddling them, lifting from the top plate using primarily my legs. I don't think I ever got them more than a couple of inches off the floor, two people would struggle to get them in and out of a car.

I have moved 1 cwt bags of sand and cement, these were heavier, by a fair margin.

At least you wouldn't have to worry about anybody nicking them.

 

[davedotco]

The stands for these beauties were so heavy that a fairly fit, 6ft tall, 90 kilo ex loose forward (me) could only lift them by straddling them, lifting from the top plate using primarily my legs. I don't think I ever got them more than a couple of inches off the floor, two people would struggle to get them in and out of a car.

I have moved 1 cwt bags of sand and cement, these were heavier, by a fair margin.

At least you wouldn't have to worry about anybody nicking them.

Not sure about that......

Once had two guys trying to steal an Isobarik, from a dem room on the first floor!

The shop was open at the time, God knows how they expected us not to notice.

 

[CJSF]

FWIW. I think Atabites are still probably the best solution.

I wonder if anyone has ever gone so far as to fill their stands with something like moltern lead to get the maximum possible density in there?

Be there, done that, back in 1976 . . . I have masses of date on the affects of verious fillings for speaker stands and speakers . . . it was my business for 15 years.

8) CJSF

 

[CJSF]

The stands for these beauties were so heavy that a fairly fit, 6ft tall, 90 kilo ex loose forward (me) could only lift them by straddling them, lifting from the top plate using primarily my legs. I don't think I ever got them more than a couple of inches off the floor, two people would struggle to get them in and out of a car.

I have moved 1 cwt bags of sand and cement, these were heavier, by a fair margin.

Stands this heavy will almost certainly be killing the full musical potential of the speaker, probably very detailed in the mid and top end, but musicaly flowing, with a true extended base . . . ???

CJSF

 

[davedotco]

The stands for these beauties were so heavy that a fairly fit, 6ft tall, 90 kilo ex loose forward (me) could only lift them by straddling them, lifting from the top plate using primarily my legs. I don't think I ever got them more than a couple of inches off the floor, two people would struggle to get them in and out of a car.

I have moved 1 cwt bags of sand and cement, these were heavier, by a fair margin.

Stands this heavy will almost certainly be killing the full musical potential of the speaker, probably very detailed in the mid and top end, but musicaly flowing, with a true extended base . . . ???

CJSF

I know what you mean, I rarely found heavy stands to be of benefit, mostly rather plodding in the base and less than engaging. This setup though appeared to work well, the variable bass damping (on the speaker) was a help too.

We attempted to standardise stands in the shop so that we did not have to keep swapping stands with different speakers, using the fairly heavy but very elegant Slate stands from Peter Soper. Big mistake, completely ruined the performance of several of our best selling speakers, took us a while to work it out though.

 

[CJSF]

Currently, its taken a long time, but there appears to be this 'blind' and headlong move to wards 'mass for the sake of it'. I spent 20 years working on the affects of mass loading. Knowing where to stop is the key with sand, rarely should a stand be filled to the top! I've been doing it recently with my TT and its component parts. I went OTT and had to back track on some of the elements, sweet as a nut now. CJSF

 

[NJB]

Well today, my family have witnessed me going to a whole new level of barking.

I got some Soundstyle Z2 stands cheap and decided to fill them with sand. This meant a trip to Argos to get some "Play Sand". When I got it home it was too damp, so I started cooking it in the oven @ 200 deg C.

One hour later it was ready, and decanted into a cake bowl to cool, When hand hot, I then stirred well to break up the lumps and (to the amazement of my youngest), sieved it into another cake bowl.

For the big columns, with gardening trowel in hand, I filled two of the plastic bags (that it was packed in); weighed them to make sure they were of equal weight; made a sausage that would fit the tube/s, and with Mrs Cno's help (and more than a little scoffing), stuffed it into the waiting columns.

For the two back columns I had to construct a makeshift funnel from half a 7 Up bottle and sellotaped it to the top of each tube in turn tube.....and then troweled in the sand.

Half an hour later, I've two sand filled stands, a kitchen that looks like a beach, four bemused children and a wife who is now armed with enough gossip to sink me socially (locally and across all social media).

Job done!

I bought new speakers, bigger footprint than the old ones (upgraded to Dynaudio Focus 160s from Excite X12s); big success. Stuck on my modest Naim setup they are great. Much more bass, but I fear that the stands are not providing as much support as they should. Soundstyle Z2, main column filled with foam, back 2 are empty. Main column does not ring when tapped, but the whole stand lacks weight. Do you think I can improve them, or do I need to approach a local dealer for something beefier?

 

[CnoEvil]

I bought new speakers, bigger footprint than the old ones (upgraded to Dynaudio Focus 160s from Excite X12s); big success.  Stuck on my modest Naim setup they are great.  Much more bass, but I fear that the stands are not providing as much support as they should.  Soundstyle Z2, main column filled with foam, back 2 are empty.  Main column does not ring when tapped, but the whole stand lacks weight.  Do you think I can improve them, or do I need to approach a local dealer for something beefier?

I think you would get an improvement with better stands, but first, it is worth 3/4 filling all three columns with kiln dried sand, before committing....it might give you enough improvement and so save you £100.

 

[tino]

I'm sure you'e been funnelling lots of bags of sand into your hifi bits over the years! *mosking*