Speaker stands

[Daniel Quinn]

[Daniel Quinn]

Made the stands myself. There on castors not spikes for ease of movement now im a 1 handed hobbyist.

[karatestu]

If this site is anything to go by

http://decoaudio.com/deco_audio_speaker ... gidity.

they seem to agree with Paul about rigid, light weight open frame stands using solid materials. Apparently too much mass causes as many problems as it solves. Top and bottom "plates" are to be avoided because they add resonance.

Quote "As you’d expect with a low mass design the sound is wonderfully open, lucid and fast (high mass tends to slow the sound, skewing timing and shutting the mid range down)."

And about the something solid XF stands Quote "Its foolish to say that any speaker stand is the best for every system but I have yet to find a speaker that doesn’t work on them. Loudspeakers that sounded congested and ill defined before will come to life, sounding quicker and much less coloured. Even though this stand is a relatively low mass design it seems to rewrite the rules as it even works under speakers that were intended to be used on lead filled behemoths!"

I always thought for speaker stands that heavy was better. If the site linked to is not telling porkies then it would seem the way to go.

[karatestu]

A trawl of the internet later with not much inspiration.

I did like these however(won't be buying any of course)

https://www.richersounds.com/hi-fi/hi- ... ack.html

[savvypaul]

Hollow steel pillars ring. Fill them but with something low mass - foam or sawdust.

[karatestu]

This should really go in my diy thread but I will put it here because people are more likely to look here.

Yes, hollow metal tube rings. Solid metal bar (round, square whatever) rings as well and it is higher mass.

Wood doesn't seem to ring and can be quite heavy depending on what species.

Going round the farm and tapping various things to see how they react (ring, frequency) I have it down to two or things which seem to be the best.

Wood - solid, rigid and doesn't seem to ring but can be heavy
Plastic water pipes - hollow, no ring at all, extremely light .

So, black plastic water pipes of about 20 - 30 mm diameter seem to be the best that I can come up with and are dirt cheap. Maybe they can be polished to look attractive or may require a finish adding. They are vanishingly light (super light), easier lighter than similar lengths of solid wood or solid metal. Solid metal still rings

For the lengths I need (40 cm / 16") they don't get any chance to bend. I can insert some very small inserts in the ends that can take a bolt for fixing at the top and bottom. Instead of a square 30cm top plate, I can use a + (plus) shape to link all the four uprights and keep it stable. That will keep it light and less material to ring (depending on what I use). The support at the top will have to be slightly different as a + (plus) shape will interfere with the down firing mid bass.

[Fretless]

With the mechanical vertical energy of upward-firing drivers, are plastic supports rigid enough?

[karatestu]

With the mechanical vertical energy of upward-firing drivers, are plastic supports rigid enough?

In my case there is one up firing as usual and another identical driver down firing remember. The force is mostly cancelled out

[Geoff.R.G]

Yes, hollow metal tube rings. Solid metal bar (round, square whatever) rings as well and it is higher mass.

Wood doesn't seem to ring and can be quite heavy depending on what species.

Going round the farm and tapping various things to see how they react (ring, frequency) I have it down to two or things which seem to be the best.

Wood - solid, rigid and doesn't seem to ring but can be heavy
Plastic water pipes - hollow, no ring at all, extremely light .

Sorry to disappoint you Stu but suspend a length of drain pipe from one end and hit it, it will ring.
Hang a length of hard wood in the same way and it will ring.

A look on Amazon will reveal plastic tube "bells" and of course a xylophone's bars are made of wood.

You can stop a material from ringing by damping its oscillations, a fence post concerted into the ground might ring but nail a fence to it and it probably won't. Soft wood will behave differently from hard wood. A speaker stand made of an open frame of 1" x 1" softwood might be better than a similar one made of hard wood, give it a try.

[karatestu]

Yes, hollow metal tube rings. Solid metal bar (round, square whatever) rings as well and it is higher mass.

Wood doesn't seem to ring and can be quite heavy depending on what species.

Going round the farm and tapping various things to see how they react (ring, frequency) I have it down to two or things which seem to be the best.

Wood - solid, rigid and doesn't seem to ring but can be heavy
Plastic water pipes - hollow, no ring at all, extremely light .

Sorry to disappoint you Stu but suspend a length of drain pipe from one end and hit it, it will ring.
Hang a length of hard wood in the same way and it will ring.

A look on Amazon will reveal plastic tube "bells" and of course a xylophone's bars are made of wood.

You can stop a material from ringing by damping its oscillations, a fence post concerted into the ground might ring but nail a fence to it and it probably won't. Soft wood will behave differently from hard wood. A speaker stand made of an open frame of 1" x 1" softwood might be better than a similar one made of hard wood, give it a try.

I will do what you suggest Geoff and suspend the articles in question on string. You are quite correct, everything has a resonance frequency. It was just holding the plastic pipe, wood, metal bar, metal tube up between two fingers and tapping them produced a marked difference between the materials. The metal rang like a bell compared to the others which were more like a thud.

More thinking required but at least the plastic pipe is extremely light and costs peanuts to try.