[SteveFord]

I'd been thinking about this for a while and seeing how today is the hottest day of the year (so far), what better time to spend working in the driveway where there's no shade than today? 
I needed to sweat out a few pounds, anyway.  Mad Dogs, Englishmen and me with the power tools.
At any rate, I find the 3.7s to be too short and the 20.7s to be too tall. 
Yes, I'm really hard to please.
Being too cheap to buy a set of Sound Anchors, I found an old beat to hell dining room table which weighs around 90 pounds out in the garage.  Perfect!
I managed to get the top off which was a project right there, cut one of the sections in two, sanded it down, slapped some stain and clear on it, added some boards and synthetic felt pads to the bottom and now the speakers sit 2 3/4" higher up than they did previously.
Did it change the sound?  I'd say yes and for the better.  I don't think that I'm imagining things but I'm hearing a bit deeper into the mix, so to speak.  Pink Floyd did a lot of multi tracking and little bits of noodling around are clear where before it was all part of the background murk.
I also had to turn the sub down for whatever reason.  That was totally unexpected.
Dynamics are also greatly improved - Jim Gordon's drums on Apostrophe' (on right now) have some real snap to them.
That was my one complaint about the deHavilland preamp - soggy dynamics.  Not any more, how great is that?
Here's some of my patented crummy pictures:



Now I feel rather foolish for not having done this years ago.
I know what's in store for the 1.7s...

Wendell is always going on about how bracing their speakers and adding mass is not the answer but he has mentioned that hanging them from the ceiling (like Davey does) does not change the sound.  I think the trick is to get them raised up off of the floor.

[Maritan]

Oooh... You're giving me ideas.

I never was thrilled with how the stock stands on the 1.7s cause them to lean back ever so slightly. I want to get them straight up and down if I can first. I have a bunch of landscaper's business cards stuck under the legs to try and get them totally upright.

I've heard that the listener's ear height should be about midway on the panel. With this raise, is that what you've accomplished?

[NIGHTFALL1970]

I use blocks of granite under my 1.7s.

[SteveFord]

Granite, Manley Man's Stands!
They're about mid ear, maybe a little above when I'm sitting but it did something to the sound a lot more than just sitting higher or lower in a chair would accomplish.  I'm not sure why raising them such a puny amount would make such a difference.
These are pretty much level where I have them right now.

[Chuckdog2005]

I've experimented with my 1.7's tilt and elevation.

Long story short, other than a moderate increase in the toe in they're right back where they started.

There's only one way to know for sure. 

[emailtim]

Steve,

Are your speakers in the same place?  If not, that may account for some of the change in sound.

Also, would they sound better being equally spaced between the floor and ceiling?

Thanks,
Tim

[SteveFord]

Yes, they're in the same place (give or take an inch).
The floor must have been doing something weird in this room but I'm not quite sure what.
If I had them equidistant between floor and ceiling the sound would be going over my head which is what the 20.7s were doing unless I sat on two cushions and tilted them downwards a bit. 

Gotta run and get about five pounds of hair cut off, pick up some clear for these stands and go to a motorcycle shop and get the bike hooked up to the computer so I can get the fuel injection squared away (I hope).

Good news is the wife is taking a weekend trip so I can blast the tunes!

[rollo]

Hey Steve good idea. Granite is good as well just needs to be damped so no ringing. The most affective tweak for our 3As was to attach wood dowels to the sides of the speakers and connect to ceiling holding them firmly in place. The plinth was granite and no spikes. have fun.


charles

[Don_S]

Reflection points changed for the floor and ceiling. I am wondering if the change in sound is not primarily a result of the speaker/floor interaction instead of just the change in altitude.

Steve, did you do anything different with spikes or other footers?

Granite, Manley Man's Stands!
They're about mid ear, maybe a little above when I'm sitting but it did something to the sound a lot more than just sitting higher or lower in a chair would accomplish.  I'm not sure why raising them such a puny amount would make such a difference.
These are pretty much level where I have them right now.

[PMAT]

We know that our ears are very sensitive to locational input. I would build some blocks of different sizes 2"-1" etc and continue to raise and lower until nirvana goosebumps kick in. Hey Steve, a friend sent me every Pink Floyd track ever recorded and I put it on my apple with thousands of other songs. I play with random selection a lot and I get surprised and delighted with Floyd stuff all the time. So much of it is much tastier than I thought. Tracks that I would normally skip with a remote in my hand get real attention this way.

[rooze]

It's also possible that after all that exercise in the heat, your blood has thinned and is circulating more efficiently in and around your brain. Thus, your auditory processing systems are performing more acutely, hence your system sounds 'better'.

I'd go lay down for a while, try again later, and report back...

[Maritan]

Alcohol might help too, yes? 

[SteveFord]

It could just be too much sun, that is a distinct possibility.
It can't be booze as I'm a coffee drinker.
I'm sure Don_S put it in terms that I was struggling to find: the speaker/floor interaction is what it must be and THAT'S what has been driving me crazy for the past 7 years in this house but I wasn't clever enough to think of it until recently and then was too lazy to do anything about it until yesterday. 
Heat wave?  Perfect - I'll go work out in the driveway in the sun for a couple of hours!
No fancy spikes or anything, I just made an open wood platform out of some junk in the garage and then added some Home Depot self stick felt pieces so I can slide it around easily and then I put the speakers up on there.
It might have something to do with the ceiling, too.  Nearer my God to Thee, so to speak.

Kind of off topic, has anyone heard that recent Pink Floyd BBC album?  I really like Syd Barrett-era Floyd so a review would be appreciated.  It's such a shame he came unhinged just as they were getting going. 

[Chuckdog2005]

Sorry to meander a bit away from the elevation topic, but I believe the Maggies are worth the effort of finding their most rewarding position. When I'm in the right spot my 1.7's sound stage and imaging is nothing short of incredible.

I can close my eyes and it's as if there's a huge stage in front of me. That said, when outside these wonderful transducer's happy zone the sound isn't nearly as remarkable.

I can honestly say that going back to a more forgiving placement and listener wise speaker platform does cross my mind, but once my ears are in the loving sounds of my sweet Maggies voice the thoughts of bringing boxes back in fade right away.

I know there's likely many box designs that better the 1.7's sound stage and near life like presentation, but for my ears I've not auditioned any in my price range.

[SteveFord]

Well put!
The 1.7s will keep you planted in your chair, won't they?

[Chuckdog2005]

Well put!
The 1.7s will keep you planted in your chair, won't they?

That they do. Outstanding description of my relationship with them!

[MGbert]

Steve:

Gotta ask... how did you settle on 2-3/4" height given how much work you put into it?  Imagine if 3" is the magic bullet, and you had to put shims under your new platforms...   

OTOH, congrats on your next successful step toward sonic bliss!

MGbert

[SteveFord]

Easy - table top plus two boards = 2 3/4".
I only took a measurement because someone would ask how high off the ground they are now.
That might be something to play around with over the Winter but right now there's too many other things taking up my spare time.
Motorcycles and hungry reptiles take up a lot of time when it's warm out.

[pelliott321]

Just wondering if the better sound is from just a more stable base, and if you could spike your maggy to the wooden base it might be better.  I am trying to get my head around that just raising a 6 foot speaker 2 inches would make any difference.  I know you have good ears and a very revealing system, I am just curious of the real reason for the positive change in sound.  I have my maggys spiked to a concrete floor which some say the concrete could ring back to the speaker so this solid wood base might be an interesting exercise for me.  Thanks for keeping the journey moving forward 

[SteveFord]

It's something to do with the floor but what, I'm not quite sure.
What you did with my old IIIAs shows that you've raised the panel quite a bit (more than I have).
Wendell is real good at dropping hints and he has said numerous times that trying to anchor them to the center of the Earth and adding mass isn't the way to go.
He also said that you can hang them from the ceiling and it will make no difference in the sound and that's been kind of in my thoughts for a while.
You know that they've tried everything under the sun at the factory over the years. 
They also have a 20.7 base coming out sooner or later for the 3.series which I would have bought but got too impatient for them to put it into production and I was too cheap to buy Sound Anchors.
Maybe later on this week I'll screw around with raising them up a bit more, it won't take but a few minutes to raise them up a bit.
Ah, what the hell, I'll do it now!