[Alwayswantmore]

I have Compact Hemps on Skyland stands. Since I'm tall, I wanted to raise the drivers to a higher level. I just picked up two slabs of black granite cut exactly the same size as the Hemps. The granite adds mass (weight) to the set up and gives me about 1.25" additional height.

I used thin hard plastic discs above and below the granite to protect the speakers / stands. My initial impression is the granite improves the sound.

Questions

1.) What are the best methods to isolate (or connect) Hemps to stands?

2.) Any ideas for getting additional height? [I'm considering adding Mapleshade carpet piercing footers to the Skylands or possibly Mapleshade brass points between the granite and stand to add height (this would add at least 2.5")]. Also considering purchasing slabs of maple to sandwich between speaker and stands (in place of granite). Maple could accommodate a variety of thicknesses.

Anyone dealt with similar issues or have any solutions you've found that work??? Thanks, Kent

P.S. I'd love to hear Louis and Vinnie share their thoughts on this topic.

[rodge827]

Hi Kent,
I have a pair of Compact's on top of two Deep Hemps. Stock the cone center is 36" off the floor. I placed two slabs of cut to fit granite on top of the DH's and a set of Herbies Big Black Dots between the CH's and the granite. The cone is now 39" off the floor and much better for my listening space. On the rough unpolished side of the granite I put some self adhering drawer felt (purchased at Lowes) to protect the speaker finish.

Hope this helps,

Chris

[Alwayswantmore]

Hi Kent,
I have a pair of Compact's on top of two Deep Hemps. Stock the cone center is 36" off the floor. I placed two slabs of cut to fit granite on top of the DH's and a set of Herbies Big Black Dots between the CH's and the granite. The cone is now 39" off the floor and much better for my listening space. On the rough unpolished side of the granite I put some self adhering drawer felt (purchased at Lowes) to protect the speaker finish.

Hope this helps,

Chris

Thanks Chris. You have my dream speakers (especially if they're alnico drivers). Thanks to your post, I looked at Black Dots on the web. I had heard of them, but never paid much attention. I'll see if any more feeback comes in, then maybe order something like black dots to see how they sound.

I've reconsidered my need for additional height. If I'm in my recliner, the current height is about right. So the question them becomes what's the best way to couple or isolate Hemps from the granite / Skylands to get the best sound possible. I've always got blu-tac to fall back on, but just don't know enough about the physics of this sort of thing to know which direction to head. Additional input appreciated. Kent

[el dub]

The skylans come with 5 little clear dots to isolate the speaker from the stand.  With sand loaded skylan stands I feel no vibration from sound waves when my fingers are placed under the platform supporting the supers 6's. (Even when music is being played!  ) I'm guessing 5 little black dots for each speaker/slab would do the trick.

lw 

[rodge827]

Hi Kent,

I went with 6 Large black dots per speaker, one in each corner and two in the center. This is probably a little overkill, but with the CH's sitting right on top of the DH's I wanted all the decoupling I could get. If you go with the Von Schweikert (sp?) special you should be OK. Steve is a good guy, fire him off an email and he will recommend what he thinks is sufficient, and there is a 90 day refund to boot.

 As far as the physics of it all, my two meters left ear and right ear, tell me these things really work well. I was initially going to go with a couple of Symposium Svelte Shelves, but got turned off with the cost.

I haven't upgraded to the Alnico's as of yet. All of my gear has been on the looooong burn-in due to the mods done over the last couple of months. Too many things to mention, but think of Blake Gates for a start. When things calm down a bit I'll look into possably going with the Alnico's.

Chris

[timind]

I had a similar issue with my Silverline Audio SR-11s on 24 inch Sound Anchor stands. My ears were four inches higher than the tweeters and soundstage suffered terribly. Inch and a half thick maple blocks under the speakers wasn't satisfactory, nor was taller stands. The simple solution was a shorter chair.

[Flashman]

I've reconsidered my need for additional height. If I'm in my recliner, the current height is about right. So the question them becomes what's the best way to couple or isolate Hemps from the granite / Skylands to get the best sound possible. I've always got blu-tac to fall back on, but just don't know enough about the physics of this sort of thing to know which direction to head. Additional input appreciated. Kent


When I ordered two Super Hemps to comlement two Compact Hemps, Louis had a local artisan make some granite slabs for me and supplied me blue-tac to keep them in place.  If you take a look at this photo you'll see a close-up detail.  Works great.

[Flashman]

I've reconsidered my need for additional height. If I'm in my recliner, the current height is about right. So the question them becomes what's the best way to couple or isolate Hemps from the granite / Skylands to get the best sound possible. I've always got blu-tac to fall back on, but just don't know enough about the physics of this sort of thing to know which direction to head. Additional input appreciated. Kent

When I ordered two Super Hemps to comlement two Compact Hemps, Louis had a local artisan make some granite slabs for me and supplied me blue-tac to keep them in place.  If you take a look at this photo you'll see a close-up detail.  Works great.

[Alwayswantmore]

Thanks for the ideas everyone!

When I ordered two Super Hemps to comlement two Compact Hemps, Louis had a local artisan make some granite slabs for me and supplied me blue-tac to keep them in place.  If you take a look at this photo you'll see a close-up detail.  Works great.

I went to Blu-tac last night between the speaker and granite, thinking that tight coupling of the granite mass to the speaker box would likely be best for this combo. My next step will be to play with isolation between bottom of granite and stand. Currently using thin hard plastic discs to protect the standard Skyland bumpers. Sounds great, but I'd like to try Black Dots or another product to see if additional isolation helps.

[Alwayswantmore]

Here's a picture of my Compact Hemp granite sandwich...

Hemps with granite base & granite topper