Speaker Stands - What you should look for

[jaudere]

Hi Magma,

What is Circa? I am unable to find any useful info using google.

 

[marsilians]

Hi Magma,

What is Circa? I am unable to find any useful info using google.

Its very similar to Silica playsand that you can find in complexes with kids sand box. This has the additional property that it will not absorb moisture like regular sand and comes dry to start with. The natural sand does not necessarily come dry when you purchase it and the crystal sizes are larger too leaving air inside what does not fully dry it. I have seen some keeners dry it in microwave owens!!


Someone else mentioned lead shots. This is a NO NO. Lead is banned pretty widely due to its harmful effects on nature and living things including us humans. Disposing that is a hazard as well. Also most people sell you steel calling it lead.

 

[magma]

its finely crushed stone type granules
looks like sugar
will try and post a pic if i can

 

[manoj.p]

use some rocks or glass marbles. Glass marbles will not absorb any moisture and are very heavy. Not sure how much these costs now. Been a long time since I played those. ;-) Oh, those days. all fun, no worries.

 

[jaudere]

use some rocks or glass marbles. Glass marbles will not absorb any moisture and are very heavy. Not sure how much these costs now. Been a long time since I played those. ;-) Oh, those days. all fun, no worries.

Are glass marble good, especially given its size and shape which will leave a lot of air inbetween them.Have you tried that or read that anywhere?

 

[marsilians]

Oh. Also fill the stands outside your house due to dust and risk of spilling. A very simple but expensive lesson I learnt many winters ago.

 

[manoj.p]

Are glass marble good, especially given its size and shape which will leave a lot of air inbetween them.Have you tried that or read that anywhere?

I haven't tried glass marble myself. But I have seen some links of that by Atacama.

I had speaker stands, filled with rocks. If the rocks can have the gaps, so can glass marbles. Plus, if you have smaller marbles, there will be less gap. But ultimately, the idea is to make the stand heavy and not easy to vibrate/topple.

 

[hydra]

use some rocks or glass marbles. Glass marbles will not absorb any moisture and are very heavy. Not sure how much these costs now. Been a long time since I played those. ;-) Oh, those days. all fun, no worries.

Glass marbles would be nice (they must be heavier than sand per cu.ft.), if the stand has an inlet that lets us put glass marbles in. After we fill the stand with glass marbles, we can just use fine sand to close the spaces between the marbles.

Oh. Also fill the stands outside your house due to dust and risk of spilling. A very simple but expensive lesson I learnt many winters ago.

Yup. After I got my stands, I filled them in the kitchen. After I was done, the place looked like a sandstorm had just attacked the place. Needless to say, I took a lot of heat for it

@magma, is Circa available in India?

When I was waiting for my stands, thinking about the material to be used for filling took up a lot of my time. I even considered the material used for sandblasting, on the assumption that it would be heavier than sand for the same volume. In the end, I just gave up, and used plain old river sand

 

[manoj.p]

found the link to the glass marble stands,

would look so nice in living rooms with glass stands and marbles. No worries for WAF.

 

[madbullram]

Wont marbles have negative effect on sound when compared to sand?

 

[jaudere]

That is what i was thinking about marbles. Somewhere i read that you should keep your hand on speaker and play bass heavy music. If you cannot feel vibrations, more weight is not needed. In such case need not fill the column.

Another option(again loud thinking here). If addition of weight is the only idea, can we thread gymnasium weight plates over the central column rather than filling the column. Now a days these plates are well covered with rubber. So they wont cause vibration sound. Add a single plate of 10kg . In addition, the plate will rest on base plate. So the centre of gravity will shift down giving more stability than a filled column.

However if the idea is not to have anything hollow below speakers, it will not work.

 

[madbullram]

I was thinking of getting sand from Aquarium dealers and using it. I think its called as Silica Sand or something...

 

[manoj.p]

Wont marbles have negative effect on sound when compared to sand?

if the weight is not sufficient, then it will definitely be worse, as the marbles can make rattle sound. At least sand won't make rattling sound.
but it does look cool if stand is transparent.

 

[magma]

i have a lot of queries regarding sturdiness and stability

i write the following to most clients

im posting it here for general reading

stability of a stand is not a function of the number of columns but of the centre of gravity of a stand when the speaker is loaded on the top

hence heavier speakers require stands with heavier bases/stands to keep the CG as low as possible
CG then is also a function of the footprint
a correctly designed footprint will help so a stand doesnt topple even if accidentely pushed

As for sturdiness
a well built single column stand ( having used correct thickness and manufactring process )can support upto 65 kgs with no problems
Therefore my higher end stands ( the cheapest being the SAL alif ) use cast pillars rather than regular tube construction for the columns

rgds
Ali

 

[manubalasree]

I have been looking for a good quality stand. Thanks for the info