Loading speaker stands with?


Rehashing a common question, with a uncommon choice: I will be getting stand mounted speakers soon for a new listening room in my next house. I have always had floor standing speakers, but this room is small so smaller monitors just make sense. Obviously I will have them on stands. The question is do people load their speaker stands with dry sand or shot (or similar heavy dense materials) to stop resonance or to create weight for stability? I know the answer may be for both, but has anyone tried using foam packing peanuts jammed into the legs of the stand, and what were the results? I would guess it would soften any resonance from the metal legs, without creating a heavy, immovable tsand. Thanks for any feedback.

cooperdude6

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CM4532P4? 

I have excellent experience with this steel shot to fill speaker stands. It's simply available on Amazon, will be delivered at your front door, and easily fills 2 decent size hollow stands with one bag. No futzing with the dust of sand or cat litter, and perfect size kernels. If you put a little cut of a plastic bag (or some other material/cloth) around the holes in your stand where you're leading your speaker cables through, nothing will fall out, yet the kernels are small enough to pour through smaller holes in the top of your stand using a simple kitchen funnel. It's heavy, non-toxic, and not dusty/messy. I've used it several times for many years on many stands and my stands are heavy, and "dead" sounding and no mess whatsoever. And it's pretty affordable and even reusable.

Note: I also decouple my standmount speakers from the (weighted) stands using IsoAcoustic or StackAudio pucks for the best results. The pucks should be between the bottom of the speakers and the top of the stands, not underneath the stands.

 

@glennewdick 

"I use cleaned and dried sand from a pet store, usually used in fish tanks. if you prefer crushed rock, they have that too. lead is dead as they say, if it’s not encapsulated don't use it."

To elaborate on this, I would go with epoxy coated #2-3 aquarium gravel any color you want. It's clean, dust free, can be purchased in a number of pre-packaged quantities, is probably more economical and as good as anything anyone else has mentioned in this thread.

Actually, the most economical way to go depending on where you live is 1/4 inch pea stone. I pay $40 a ton for that stuff. Hmm, maybe I should be washing it and bagging it up...