[IronLion]

So I have a pair of Zu Tones on Skylan stands, mass-loaded with kitty litter.  I've read in various areas that it is a good idea to decouple your monitors from your stands, and as a fan of Herbie's Audio Lab products, I know they sell big black dots specifically for this purpose. 

What I'm wondering is, what would be the point of doing this?  Isn't the point of the stands to basically absorb the vibrations from the monitors and transfer them to the kitty litter, so wouldn't decoupling the monitors from the stands prevent this?  I mean, aren't the monitors basically supposed to be coupled essentially to the stands?    Maybe I'm missing something here, but if anybody with monitors knows some theories or answers to this question I'd appreciate it.  Thanks. 

[JLM]

Good question.

Like many things in audio, there are lots more opinions than facts out there.

Yes, in general coupling two masses will lower the resonant frequency and increase the energy needed to reach resonance.

But remember that (in most cases) you're only coupling the speaker to the stands by the force of gravity, which isn't all that effective.  The blu-tak (or whatever) does provide some resistance to horizontal movement.  So vertically the blu-tak doesn't help, but would help couple speak to stand horizontally (the primary direction of movement for horizontally aimed drivers).

The piece of blu-tak (or whatever) may also act as a filter at certain frequencies.  This is the principle behind composite construction in speaker cabinets or equipment bases.  But I'd guess that this effect would be quite minimal in the case of blu-tak.

OTOH, if you'd just turn the volume, you wouldn't any of those concerns.   

[TheChairGuy]

I'm a goodly sized fan of Steve Herbelin's Herbies products (I have and use his tube dampers, CD damper, Way Excellent TT Mat all to great effect).....but the Big Black Dot was a big black loser 

My 31 x 8 x 9.5" (small, 40 lb) floorstanders never sounded worse than with those black dots under them.  I don't know if using the dots as de-coupling from your stands with monitors may have a different effect, but mine was decidedly poor.  I bought 8 brass screws and nuts to install under my speakers (poor man's de-coupling) and it was leagues better.  I'm about to either get some heavy weight brass cones or install a 2-4" thick maple bass with brass footers to rigidly spike to the floor, under the speakers now.

You simply don't want a mechanical item (speakers and turntables) shaking at all it seems....while I have had good results with all matters of sorbothane and sticky-goo-ball-type things under electronics (Isonodes, LAT International Vibra-Killers, etc).

I think speakers benefit from rigid coupling....not spring-y or bouyant coupling and isolation like those offered by The Big Black Dots (which is made of a harder material than the other Herbie's stuff, but not hard enough).  You might be best off with a thick maple block buffer between your monitors and your stands, I'd think.

Mapleshade Records sells quite costly amp/speaker stands (or, interfaces)....Timbernation.com sells far less costly versions.

There's probably a lot of theories on why...I can only relate my experiences, however 

Ciao,

John / TheChairlessGuy 

[ooheadsoo]

I think decoupling is for when you have a floor that will resonate with the speakers.  Sometimes walls, too.  Then, in that case, you want to decouple.  If you have solid walls and floor, couple away.

[IronLion]

But remember that (in most cases) you're only coupling the speaker to the stands by the force of gravity, which isn't all that effective. 

Thanks for the replies.  One thing I've come up with and been interested in trying someday is really coupling my monitors to the stand with a couple of pistol-grip type c-clamps with something like Herbie's grungebuster or similar in between the clamp and the monitors itself so as not to scratch it.  My floors are very solid and do not resonate in a way that I can notice, so maybe this might be worth trying sometime...

[RobertB53]

For coupling, I use the elastic or rubber straps with hooks on the end that you find at Lowe's or Home Depot.  Hook one end to your stand, pull it up gently over your speaker and then hook again on the other side.  This is a good, cheap tweak to try and when you actively pull  speaker to stand like this--I don't know the actual pounds per square inch--a good stand is readily apparent.  But the best one is not necessarily the most massive.  I like to use barstools (hey, if it will hold my bottom) as I can place variable mass, those old copies of Stereophile, across the rungs.  I truly like this method and think it better than putting weight on top or your speakers.  Even better than a nail joint.  It can make a "bookshelf" speaker sound much bigger.  After all, every cycle counts down at the bottom.