Experience Loading Speakers w/ sand or shot

Just purchased some used Von Schweikert VR-4jr's that had the added lead shot. Was a struggle to move them with the added weight, close to 200 lbs of speaker and box.
You need to consider how you'll remove the lead, if you ever sell or move em.
The VS manual sez sand is a poor choice since it attracts and retains moisture. A bad thing for speaker insides.

Saw one 'Goner mentioning stuffing a trash compacter bag into the hole before adding the shot. Sounds like a good idea to me. Elsewise you'll have to turn the speaker upside down and shake it out.

I would be concerned about putting this in a speaker as you have just created an internal acoustically reflective interface in the speaker box and changed the compressability by replacing compressable air with much less compressable sand (air volume modified). This will change the back pressure on the woofer cone and will alter the resonance frequency of the woofer.

I am surprised any speaker manufacturer would actually recommend this (unless the box was designed with space for the sand).

It is also well known that sandy or unconsolidated top soil can turn to liquid during earthquakes (low frequency vibrations).

If you think that having a liquid inside your speaker is good then by all means use sand...perhaps the sound will be more "liquid".

See these two URL's for more info

http://stilton.tnw.utwente.nl/people/rene/animations/3-big03m.mpg

http://stilton.tnw.utwente.nl/people/rene/Granular.html

many countries have outlawed lead shot for the vapors alone.

By selecting appropriate sand grain size then you might be able to tune the sand to sing along with your favorite tracks....

http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn8014

LOL

In my Vienna Mozarts, I used #9 shot that I got in 25-Lb bags from a sporting goods store. It is coated with bismuth (or something) so it's a little safer to handle, but use gloves and/or wash hands afterwards - and you only do it once.