Perhaps the single most cost effective tweak ...

drummerman

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Get a couple of these;

$(KGrHqR,!l!FBKQZs79tBQU3MeciPQ~~60_35.JPG


or similar. They are heavy duty doorstoppers with rubber base and inserts. They weigh between 500g and 1kg each. Placed on top of speaker cabinets, stand mount or floor standing, they markedly reduce cabinet resonance and consequent 'booming', allowing the drive units to do their job more effective.

It's a smarter and more effective version of the brick on top and it works wonders. You could use a couple on top of very large cabinets.

regards
 

DocG

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drummerman said:
Get a couple of these;

$(KGrHqR,!l!FBKQZs79tBQU3MeciPQ~~60_35.JPG


or similar. They are heavy duty doorstoppers with rubber base and inserts. They weigh between 500g and 1kg each. Placed on top of speaker cabinets, stand mount or floor standing, they markedly reduce cabinet resonance and consequent 'booming', allowing the drive units to do their job more effective.

It's a smarter and more effective version of the brick on top and it works wonders. You could use a couple on top of very large cabinets.

regards

Must be the second most cost-effective tweak (after shifting the speakers around). :)

They look domestically acceptable indeed.
 

davedotco

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BigH said:
Looks quite expensive and I doubt they work, but you can get 2 kg ones as well. Think Blutac for £1 is better value.

I think a large cat or two would be a good idea..... :?

Back in the day I had a cat who used to curl up on the top of my LP12 whilst it was playing, lid closed obviously.

It was an interesting 'spanner' to be able to throw into the works when the debate got on to whether a player sounded better with the lid open or closed...... ;)
 

drummerman

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BigH said:
Looks quite expensive and I doubt they work, but you can get 2 kg ones as well. Think Blutac for £1 is better value.

£5.00/piece.

They work. The difference with both a pair on Ushers and Missions is profound. Smallish cabinets yet bass snaps more into focus and soundstage clarity improves. Both things I would expect by taking the cabinets more out of the equation. Even more should be had by using them on larger cabinets/floor standers.

I listen to a lot of jazz which really shows up any deficiencies in those areas.

Add to this my listening room which never really had any acoustic problems plus amplifiers which imo excel in bass grip and staging.

BlueTack on its own will never achieve the same.

I wouldn't do without them unless I had some overdamped speakers lacking bass.

regards
 

BigH

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drummerman said:
BigH said:
Looks quite expensive and I doubt they work, but you can get 2 kg ones as well. Think Blutac for £1 is better value.

£5.00/piece.

Well £5 is not bad, when I looked online they were about £20 each and thats the same image as your one, so where can you get them for that price?

I may try a few heavyweight books later see that makes any difference. I play jazz as well.
 

bretty

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I had weights on top of my speakers and there was a noticeable improvement, especially in the bass which tightened up. So, as long as the doorstops are heavy enough to stop the resonancies, they'd be a great idea.
 

BigH

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OK I have just tried it with about 3 kgs of books on each speaker, I played Oscar Peterson's Days of Wine and Roses, and People which has quite a bit of double bass and as far as I could tell it made no difference, so maybe its your speakers, DM?
 

Tear Drop

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If you need to put anything on your speaker cabinet to change the sound in any way, your speaker hasn't been designed or built properly. Same goes for electronics.
 

Xanderzdad

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Except that a weight will cause the speaker to make better contact with the ground and reduce any instability - which has nothing to do with the speaker design but could still improve the sound.

Surely if it works for somebody that is OK and there is no need for any attempts to prove them wrong!
 

BigH

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Xanderzdad said:
Except that a weight will cause the speaker to make better contact with the ground and reduce any instability - which has nothing to do with the speaker design but could still improve the sound.

Surely if it works for somebody that is OK and there is no need for any attempts to prove them wrong!

Well if it does not work then its not very cost effective is it?

I doubt 1 kg will make much difference if your speakers and stands weight over 10 kgs.
 

Native_bon

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Xanderzdad said:
Except that a weight will cause the speaker to make better contact with the ground and reduce any instability - which has nothing to do with the speaker design but could still improve the sound.

Surely if it works for somebody that is OK and there is no need for any attempts to prove them wrong!
Saying that the hifi item was not properly designed does not mean the tweak was not effective.
 

Tear Drop

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Xanderzdad said:
Surely if it works for somebody that is OK and there is no need for any attempts to prove them wrong!

Er, I was talking about the cabinet design and build, not what people have heard or not.
 

drummerman

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BigH said:
Xanderzdad said:
Except that a weight will cause the speaker to make better contact with the ground and reduce any instability - which has nothing to do with the speaker design but could still improve the sound.

Surely if it works for somebody that is OK and there is no need for any attempts to prove them wrong!

Well if it does not work then its not very cost effective is it?

I doubt 1 kg will make much difference if your speakers and stands weight over 10 kgs.

Try.

Its where the weight is placed, on top, excerting downward pressure not just on the top but the side panels too.

I don't claim miracles. After all I have extensively braced, damped, re-wired etc speakers so have an idea where the usual short comings are (internally, where you can't see just in case anyone wondered) but this is a simple thing anyone can do without knowledge or a lot of money.

I would have expected no less. Just thought I'd share in case anyone suffers the panel boom but hey ... each to their own :)

regards
 

BigH

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As I have already said it did not make any difference and I had about 3 kgs on mine, maybe you have some flimpsy cabinets and wooden stands? I don't get booming anyway.
 

alienmango

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If it doesn't make a difference your speakers are well made....it's not complex. If they are badly made this may stop you reaching for an unnecessary upgrade.

I was bored one day and rebuilt my valdus 500's from 18mm mdf left by builders ... sounded a lot better but you can only polish a turd so much. Putting a sandbag on top of them helped even though they were overbuild/braced
 

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