[Ultralight]

OK, my question for today.  (Do appreciate all the responses on my other thread about listening at low level.  I'm limiting myself to at most one thread a day.  If any of you think I am becoming too 'posty' and are posting irrelevant questions, please let me know and I'll reform..... )

Anyways, some of the high performance for the cost speakers have taken to using cloth fabric as a sock to wrap around the speaker.  (i.e. Goldenear Tritons, Von Schweikert VR-33s etc.)

Good monitor speaker stands can cost in the three figures.

Anyone just use these super heavy cinder blocks from home building supply?   Just either tie them together or epoxy them. Then put a cloth sock over it and viola, super dense/heavy speakers stands.  And the fact is that one can stack these blocks to control the height.   And get some spike outriggers for them.  From a physics point of view, hard to beat right?

I assume some already does this?  Any drawbacks?  Cost is sure reasonable. 

Anyone want to go into the business of making cloth socks for budget setups? 

Thanks,
UL

[2gumby2]

I've used cinder blocks as speaker stands and found them to be quite satisfactory. However, my wife did not like them at all. Perhaps if I had painted them black she may have found them more acceptable.

[JLM]

Over bouncy floors (like old wooden floors, especially where the space below will resonate) the goal should be to de-couple the speaker from the floor.

On solid/high mass floors (like concrete slab, especially poured directly on the earth) the goal should be to couple the speaker with mass, spikes, and tacky materials.  Obviously this is the preferred scenario.

This applies to equipment stands/racks too, but ideally they could be moved to another room or at least enclosed.


That's the simple answer.  An exact answer involves lots of dynamic analysis.  I worked with a structural engineering genius decades ago that designed foundation pads for large motors/fans used in power plants (so they wouldn't resonate/shake themselves apart).  If you search audio equipment bases you'll find different materials used (and a lot of hogwash/black magic).  The best ones are designed for the particular gear otherwise it's a generic/stab in the dark solution.

[charmerci]

I've used cinder blocks as speaker stands and found them to be quite satisfactory. However, my wife did not like them at all. Perhaps if I had painted them black she may have found them more acceptable.

Simple. Go to a fabric store. They cut cloth by length. Chose black or whatever color, style or pattern the SO prefers. Cover said blocks, bricks, ugly subwoofers, etc.