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Reducing Resonance Between Speakers and Stands – Need Advice

My Joseph Audio Pulsar speakers are currently placed on some basic stands, which themselves sit on spikes. When playing bass-heavy material, I feel the sound doesn’t quite detach cleanly from the speakers — instead it seems to vibrate and spread sideways, as if too much resonance is being transferred into the stands.

 

I’m looking for something to place between the speakers and the stands that would help reduce these resonances and improve bass clarity.

 

Any recommendations would be greatly appreciated!

gabriel123
yoyoyaya's avatar
yoyoyaya
1,063 posts
 

@OP - Get better stands. If using the existing stands, try blu tack - the no cost option.

gabriel123 OP
91 posts
 

Thank you guys, as always, for all the advice and suggestions. I really appreciate it!

@soix 
There isn’t much more I can do with speaker placement at this point – they’re about 1 meter from the rear wall and well away from any sidewalls. My concern is that my cheap stands might not really meet high-end requirements. :) Probably a TV screen between speakers and an empty wall behind doesn't help as well.

@fastfreight 
Good question. The speakers definitely make the stands resonate — I can feel the vibration just by touching them with my hand. I’m not sure whether the stands themselves resonate through the floor. The floor is wooden parquet. Some people use IsoAcoustics ISO-PUCK Minis on top of their stands, and I’ve been considering that too since they’re only around $100 for an 8-pack, so pretty affordable.

@avanti1960 
My stands are inexpensive and hollow, so I could probably try filling them with sand. Do you think that would help? I just need to figure out how to seal the two openings someone made to route cables through. At the moment I’m using felt pads under the speakers, which aren’t doing anything useful. The stands sit on spikes with small metal plates on my wooden floor.

@mashif 
Could you share which exact IsoAcoustics isolation stands and additional damping materials you’re using? I’ve been thinking about putting IsoAcoustics ISO-PUCK Minis between my speakers and stands.

pjb255livecom
31 posts
 

I have BluTak between the speakers and stands (recommended by Robert Harley in his book) , and Herbies between the the stands' spikes and a hardwood floor.

 

Works beautifully in my case, noticeably tighter bass - FWIW

gabriel123 OP
91 posts
 

@pjb255livecom no idea what this BlueTak is, can you send any link to it?

 

zlone
1,342 posts
 

I don’t think you want to isolate them from the stands, better to connect them. BluTack is a start. Then definitely fill the stands with sand, though I recommend filling small ziplocks with sand and then filling them up with the bags, this will help. Third, try a set of IsoAcoustic Gaia feet, or the Stack Auva feet. I went through all of this with a set of KEF Reference One’s, a comparable speaker, on their stock stands, and each step made a difference, especially the Gaia’s. 

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