Magic of a ply board

[firearm12]

Try a layer of yoga mat on the top of the plywood. I am speculating some improvement. Since I dont have a speaker stand i cannot test it myself. I sold them recently. ;( If you are testing that , please do let know the results By the way, what brand are your stands? Sometimes if the stands are not heavy enough, you are kind of preventing the vibration to pass to the stands there by providing more isolation.

Stands are soundfoundations, heavy in my opinion. I am suspecting that maybe due to poorly layed wooden floor, there is resonance in the room and can be improved, I am getting hold of some foam to try new things. Let's see.

 

[mpw]

Try sand filling them.. If possible in your speaker stand.

I find it to give greater definition to music.

 

[yakherder]

Have anyone used IsoAcoustics? It would be great if they can share experience, thanks in adavance.

https://www.amazon.com/IsoAcoustics-ISO-L8R155-Medium-Acoustic-Isolation/dp/B008GOP79G

I've been using Isoacoustics for my Wharfedale 220's and am quite happy with them. Bought them primarily because of space constraints. Had tried foam etc, but overall I would say they are an improvement over using books, foam, ply etc. Member Tuff has a pair too and is one of the reasons I bought them.

What do they do ? They will raise your speakers to two adjustable heights with a minor tilt adjustment. Primary benefit as per my understanding is decoupling. My personal experience is that they did help clear up mids and tighten bass.They also allowed me to place speakers as per my whims. But please note that speaker placement, accessories while important usually bring only small improvements in sound. Best solution is better speakers.
On a side note, on the Wharfes the bass port fires down into a plinth which results in dispersion on all sides. So the port is already pretty close to whatever surface you place it on, unlike most speakers which have bass ports higher at around mid-level. Don't know if that's the reason for my perceived improvement. Also I removed the plinth(easy screw removal) and which converts into a true down firing port. But could'nt hear a difference.

Bottom line. If you have enough space, dedicated speaker stands might be a better choice. Especially since price differential might not be much. But if you have space constraints or have made your mind up then these should make an audible difference. You can check out the amazon us review too.
Hope this helps.

 

[hifitoaster]

Stands are soundfoundations, heavy in my opinion. I am suspecting that maybe due to poorly layed wooden floor, there is resonance in the room and can be improved, I am getting hold of some foam to try new things. Let's see.

Try EPDM and neoprene, and let us know if there is an improvement, if you are experimenting. I had positive results with both in the past with vibration control inside speaker cabins. Sound foundations are great. My brother has the the second model from the entry level, which costed around 12k, however with speakers with huge cabin vibrations like the spendor mini monitors, the stands are rattling. I think sand filling would improve in that case. however not tried yet.[/QUOTE]

 

[firearm12]

But please note that speaker placement, accessories while important usually bring only small improvements in sound. Best solution is better speakers.

Sorry but I disagree for this point. It's been my experience that my speakers which I have been listening for more than 4 yrs don't sound anything like 'my speakers' by just tucking in a ply board. The improvement has been more than substantial. I am now of the view that room acoustics and speaker isolation is of paramount importance, worth trying before buying a new dac, speakers or amplifier.

 

[mpw]

your observations are correct firearm 12.

and if you are in a position to treat your room - suitably - without overkill then that will be surely worth it.

Normally this is possible if the listening room is a personal room

 

[heliumflight]

I've been using Isoacoustics for my Wharfedale 220's and am quite happy with them. Bought them primarily because of space constraints. Had tried foam etc, but overall I would say they are an improvement over using books, foam, ply etc. Member Tuff has a pair too and is one of the reasons I bought them.

What do they do ? They will raise your speakers to two adjustable heights with a minor tilt adjustment. Primary benefit as per my understanding is decoupling. My personal experience is that they did help clear up mids and tighten bass.They also allowed me to place speakers as per my whims. But please note that speaker placement, accessories while important usually bring only small improvements in sound. Best solution is better speakers.
On a side note, on the Wharfes the bass port fires down into a plinth which results in dispersion on all sides. So the port is already pretty close to whatever surface you place it on, unlike most speakers which have bass ports higher at around mid-level. Don't know if that's the reason for my perceived improvement. Also I removed the plinth(easy screw removal) and which converts into a true down firing port. But could'nt hear a difference.

Bottom line. If you have enough space, dedicated speaker stands might be a better choice. Especially since price differential might not be much. But if you have space constraints or have made your mind up then these should make an audible difference. You can check out the amazon us review too.
Hope this helps.

So, your telling me that you don't need stands. Just place the speakers on the isolator on ground?

 

[firearm12]

your observations are correct firearm 12.

and if you are in a position to treat your room - suitably - without overkill then that will be surely worth it.

Normally this is possible if the listening room is a personal room

Thanks for the suggestion, but it's not practically possible to do so. For start, I just installed a vibrometer app( used to measure vibrations) on my phone and placed it on floor near the speaker stand. Then tapped the speaker on top and the vibrometer showed signs of movement everytime I tapped depending on the force. So first step shall be to isolate the speakers from floor. I have a wooden floor so that can be a reason to worry due to which I am getting the vibrattions. Anyone did this kind of experiment here? Vibrometer clearly shows vibrations happening for me without any isolation.

 

[tuff]

Isoacoustics make a big difference whilst tightening up the bass, and making the speakers sound open.

 

[firearm12]

Can isoacouatics be kept on speaker stands, or can speaker stands be kept on isoacouatics, is it that strong enough

 

[tuff]

Can isoacouatics be kept on speaker stands, or can speaker stands be kept on isoacouatics, is it that strong enough

I used them on top of sound foundation stand's. They have rubber feet so it stays put. Don't think you can put the stands on top. They have different models for different speakers weight including one for subwoofers.

 

[hifitoaster]

Sorry but I disagree for this point. It's been my experience that my speakers which I have been listening for more than 4 yrs don't sound anything like 'my speakers' by just tucking in a ply board. The improvement has been more than substantial. I am now of the view that room acoustics and speaker isolation is of paramount importance, worth trying before buying a new dac, speakers or amplifier.

..

 

[hifitoaster]

From my experience there is no one stop solution which works for all speakers. For instance, my older spendor s3 had huge vibrations on the cabin, despite sounding good. Infact Spendor utilized the vibrations to sound big from that small box in a controlled way. On the other hand I had another German made Sony ES series speakers which was 10 Kg each for a 6 inch woofer and a 1 inch tweeter box. The cabin was so rigid, that the difference between stands was relatively less noticeable on this speaker. But, the spendor was changing quite a bit, with different stands. Also, I tried the same with Genelec 1030 monitors and there was quite a bit of change with stands, however this speaker was quite less vibrating. Like I mentioned earlier, if a material worked for one speaker, its cannot still be concluded.

One funny example : While I built a bookshelf speaker I used damping pads out of EPDM to controll the resonance, and it worked in that case. There was an unused old dumb subwoofer at home which was damn booming,. I was sold too much on EPDM and got a large lot of it to fix in the subwoofer expecting similar results. Surprisingly the booming became more unbearable after my " damping "

 

[heliumflight]

I used them on top of sound foundation stand's. They have rubber feet so it stays put. Don't think you can put the stands on top. They have different models for different speakers weight including one for subwoofers.

Can you click a pic to give us a better clarity?

 

[tuff]

Can you click a pic to give us a better clarity?

I don't have the bookshelves anymore. These pics were posted 2 years ago in this thread.

 

[firearm12]

update. Got some foam sheets, ply board and bamboo board. Starting from the floor it's 25mm foam, then 20mm ply, then speaker stands with spike feet, then 35mm foam, then bamboo chopping board and then speaker. Not very neat but improved sound tremendously. Mid range got cleared up, speakers sound more open and soundstage wide, bass wise a little soft not that punchy because of foam base but bass is well defined now and not blurry, interestingly bass from Subwoofer also improved, clarity of sound improved a lot.

My wood floor is the real culprit, anyone with wooden floor should try to isolate stands from floor, it's really worth trying.

 

[tuff]

Have you tried putting a marble slab under the speaker stands?

 

[sunder]

Isoacoustics make a big difference whilst tightening up the bass, and making the speakers sound open.

Yes tuff, I saw the demo video for that model of Isoacoustics, the sound is clear & open. But the overall sound become thin, IMHO. Thanks.

 

[firearm12]

Have you tried putting a marble slab under the speaker stands?

Don't have a marble slabs handy, I think marble will make it more brighter and thin, isn't it.

 

[tuff]

I meant sticking the marble or granite under the stands.