Speaker Deadening

[Chassis 33]

Folks, whats best to load speakers with, lead shot or sand?

And if its lead shot, any reccomended suppliers?

Regards
Iain

[Nuisance_Value]

They will give you different sounds. Also, the gauge of lead shot used will also give you a slightly different sound too. I would start with sand as it's cheaper and go from there.

[P700DEE]

Loading your speakers ?? Adding weight and damping to speakers will totally change their sound unless they are designed to be loaded. It was once the fashion to load your speaker stands, lead shot or special dry sand (builders stuff will rust them) A small number of manufacturers recommend some loading but most don't. Have to say most speakers sound better with some/all the damping removed, Deflex (sic) can be useful as a replacement. The theories regarding speaker mounting seems to swap around but loading has been superceded. The standard recomendation is to get a solid surface , marble, paving slab, similar under the speaker and spike the stands / floor mounters to it. Adding weight to speakers usually just leaves you with a dead lifeless sound.

[PJ S]

Not strictly true - depends on what the weight is, how heavy a mass it is, and what resonance frequencies it is curtailing.
Don't overlook a mass on the top of the speakers - can make more of a difference than what the speaker/stands are stood on, aside from their spikes and the carpeted flooring.
The more mass you can put into the speaker chassis, the closer to a rigid point source each driver becomes, reducing time smearing.

[CRACKIE]

If the speaker was designed with mass loading as an option ( usually floorstanders with a specific compartment in the base and a bung to allow access for filling ) then there's no harm in experimenting. If however the intention is to put the mass loading material in the same acoustic volume as the bass driver or bass/mid unit then the bass loading is going to change. The resonance frequency of the bass driver will move up because the cabinet's internal volume is being reduced by the sand or shot. This will certainly change the sound but it may not give the improvement you are looking for ; deep bass won't be as loud and you'll hear more upper bass.

Edited by CRACKIE on Tuesday 18th August 10:01

[Nuisance_Value]

Oh, he wants to load his speakers? I thought he meant the speaker stands, which as someone pointed out, was quite fashionable in the eighties.

As above, I really wouldn't go messing about with the speakers themselves unless you know what you're doing. Enclosures are designed with specific volumes in relation to the drive units and shouldn't really be altered. Without knowing what speakers/stands you have it's a bit of a guessing game.

You'll achieve plenty of difference by moving them around the room, i.e. a little further/nearer the back wall/side walls etc. and as noted placing them on a heavy mass will also improve the sound. Also room acoustics play a massive part so consider carpets and curtains etc, and cables and connectors.

[willyworm]

I bought a Torlyte stand from Russ Andrews last year, best thing I ever did. The whole music comes together more and gives a more analogue sound to the music, with a much tighter bass. Highly recommended.

http://www.russandrews.com/viewindex.asp?lookup=1&...

All his other gear works well too, folow his philosophy of upgrading your mains quality, then interconnects and speaker cables and finish off with the Torlyte stand. I followed this path over several years (as I could afford it) and the results are very, very good indeed.

[BicesterGriff]

Agreed Torlyte is excellent, but why pay that sort of money when you can get the same from Ikea?