Filling speaker Stands?

BB’s are too expensive.
I have also used sand blasting gravel.

geoffkait writes:

So did anyone actually AB the system with filled stands and without filled stands? No. How about a blind test? No.

Um, yes. I had some "bookshelf" speakers on undamped stands for several weeks and came to know playback's resonant peaks and quirks. Then I went to Home Depot and got enough sand to fill the upright columns of both stands.

I was astounded by the improvement. The speakers sounded more like panel speakers, where the sound was suspended in space and there was an absence of boxy resonances and resonant peaks.
Trying to figure the reason for the profound improvement, instead of an "A-ha!" moment, I had more of a "Well, DUH!" moment. I was a percussionist for several years including playing chimes. Chimes are usually hollow tubes of aluminum with an unusual complex array of overtones. Hollow tube uprights for speaker stands are *very* similar to the construction of chimes. The speakers sitting on the speaker stands excite the resonant modes of the metal upright tubes. By filling the tubes with sand, you completely quell these modes and resonances and you are left with just the musical signals coming from the recordings without additional resonances.
I prefer sand over any of the other substances. First of all, it's cheap, second, many speaker stands have tiny openings to their tubular uprights. Sand is the only thing that can always be poured in there. It won't pull humidity out of the air and cake up like kitty litter. It's not too heavy to move like lead shot. Best of all, it has superior damping because it makes full contact with the entire inner surfaces of the tubular uprights, unlike pebbles, kitty litter, lead shot (unless it's very tiny), etc.

So did anyone actually AB the system with filled stands and without filled stands? No.

Geoff,
Replacing your medically prescribed lithium regime with Albanian overproof Absinthe does not result in a particularly good look.

Can't say it's been happening all that infrequently here of late.

So did anyone actually AB the system with filled stands and without filled stands?

The question is a typical GK inanity.

Most probably everyone who filled stands listened to their system with unfilled stands, filled them and listened again. Unfilled A -> Filled B.

In some audiodom instances, a change is so obvious, there is no need to ABA.

How about a blind test?

@GK : does listening in the dark count? ~<;-P
 

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