Granite chopping boards

[admin_exported]

After way too much web browsing various hifi site recently, I rushed to Argos to buy a three, yes three, granite chopping boards. You see I am unlucky enough to have a suspended floor, not concrete, and foolish enough to cover it in laminate flooring. I've read much about how mounting the speakers on afore mentioned granite chopping blocks will reduce bass boom. Well, I fitted the spikes to the feet and plopped them on the granite boards, not really expecting anything to happen. But it has. It's got rid of the bass boom. And it seems to have got rid of all the bass too. Loads of detail and treble, not sure if there;s more, or just less bass. Also, I used the 3rd board with 3 halves of squash balls to make a cheap isolation platform. Before, walking by the turntable would have the cones on an excursion to Great Yarmouth. It was most distressing. But with new diy platform, you can jump on the flor and barely a twitch! Fantastic! So, anyway, back to the bass. I'm shallow and like my bass, but want it to be tight so it can be followed rather than a bassy cloud covering everything up. Any thoughts or suggestions as to whether the chopping board thing is a silly idea and has screwed it it all up, or it's a shock after the overly boomy bass previously? Or something?

 

[Anonymous]

Give the "new sound" a week or two and see how it pans out would be my suggestion.

Oh and I'll see the rest of you in Argos...

Any body any idea how hard granite is to drill - I still need everything fairly solid because of combination of cats and kids. All mad.

 

[Anonymous]

[quote user="jimwall"]Any body any idea how hard granite is to drill[/quote]
hard but not too hard you have to do it with the apropiate drilling equipment or it will shatter like glass

 

[Anonymous]

yeah, I was quite impressed with the weight of them. I don't know if there's different 'grades' but seems pretty solid.

Are you thinking of using them for rack shelves, Jimwall?

Have you used these Sex? Or do you use them as part of your job?!

 

[Anonymous]

im from sardinia in italy wich is one of the best exporters of granite we have black ( very rare) granite ,white and gray even purple expensive but the one u get in argos is sh*t my uncle owns a granite mine and his hause is full of .... you guessed it !

 

[Anonymous]

Cool! Next time you're over there, chuck a couple of 1ft cubes in your hand luggate for me! White would be cool, I think, but I won't be too fussy!

For a tener, I'm quite surpised at the Argos ones, but after the first impression of the speaker on them, I suspect I few relatives of ours will be getting a nice granite chopping board for xmas! (With four strange marks on them..!)

Thinking about it, I presume the weight of the plynth should be enough for the speaker energy (or force? a function of it's weight too? I dunno) to be insignificant. An Argos chopping board isn't much to the RS6's.

Also, I wonder if the surface is too hard/flat/shiny for the spikes to 'grip' and I'm worse off than before?

Will try it out when I can be arsed tomorrow. I might turn in now.

 

[Anonymous]

i really dont know wat effect granite woutd have on the sound of speakers or even cd players or ams but im sure it looks cool might be good for turntables i suppose

 

[Anton90125]

[quote user="bloney"]Well, I fitted the spikes to the feet and plopped them on the granite boards, not really expecting anything to happen.

But it has. It's got rid of the bass boom. And it seems to have got rid of all the bass too. Loads of detail and treble, not sure if there;s more, or just less bass.

[/quote]

I am not sure how heavy your speakers are but maybe you could remove the spikes and use the other half of the squash balls.So you would have the floor/half a squash ball/granite board/half a squash ball/speaker. I would be interested in your results.

 

[Anonymous]

[quote user="sex"]i really dont know wat effect granite woutd have on the sound of speakers or even cd players or ams but im sure it looks cool might be good for turntables i suppose[/quote]

The whole thing has had quite a dramatic bad effect! I suspect it's down to mounting the speakers rather than the granite itself. The effect I wanted to achieve is for the granite block to 'soak' up the vibrations to stop my wooden floor vibrating (tingly feet!) and booming. But the sound is now unbearably thin and harsh (tried it this morning in an empty house and no neighbors with Arctic Monkeys - sounded like an medium wave radio on steriods)

 

[Anonymous]

[quote user="Anton90125"][quote user="bloney"]Well, I fitted the spikes to the feet and plopped them on the granite boards, not really expecting anything to happen.

But it has. It's got rid of the bass boom. And it seems to have got rid of all the bass too. Loads of detail and treble, not sure if there;s more, or just less bass.

[/quote]

I am not sure how heavy your speakers are but maybe you could remove the spikes and use the other half of the squash balls.So you would have the floor/half a squash ball/granite board/half a squash ball/speaker. I would be interested in your results.
[/quote]

The RS6's are pretty heavy - I think once they get moving, it'll take a lot of weight to stop it! They come with Gel things especially for hard floors, instead of the spikes - it seems they do a pretty good job. I'll use these again, between the chopping board and speaker and see how it goes.

I might tentativley try the squash balls under the speakers, but 3 small children mean it'll probably end in tears (mine when the speakers fall over!!). Would be interesting to see though.

 

[Anton90125]

You could also try small bits of blue tack. This might give you a compliant coupling with the granite. just an Idea. Blue tack works well with small speakers.

 

[hifikrazy]

May I suggest this:

- Stick some small hard rubber feet (like half spheres that you can get from hardware shops) to the bottom of the granite slabs. I don't think having the whole surface area of the granite touching the floor is a good idea, so the above should reduce the contact points.

- Couple your speakers to the granite using blu-tack. I believe spikes are better for carpet or wooden flooring where it can dig in. Alternatively, you could also try spike shoes underneath the spikes.