Big speakers on suspended wooden floors... a solution.
Posted by: Ron Toolsie on 20 October 2002
There have been a few posts lately regarding the dilemma of trying to mate a heavy and nominally rigid speaker to flexible flooring with an airspace (aka basstrap) beneath it.
I have been somewhat aware since moving my DBLs from a downstairs room with braced (via floor jacks.. did it myself)flooring with only a couple feet of space between them and the poured concrete foundation to an upstairs room that resides over a 3 car garage that has 15 foot ceilings and has proven to be a very effective bass sump. One remedy already tried with considerable success was to have insulation blown between the floor boards of the room and the sheetrock ceiling of the garage beneath. This alone restored a goodly bit of the thump that had been missing and was rendering the DBLs almost as bass light as the SBLs- no mean feat.
Still... I was plagued with a vague sense of imprecision and lack of control within the lower registers that seemed not to be cured by any amount of tweaking with the Snaxo settins, the mains supply or even 'uprating' the chassis fuses (that offered improvements though in all other areas). If indeed this was a problem with the DBL/floor interface I could either replace the DBLs (not feasible), replace the flooring (not feasible) or modify the interface. I considered going the route of granite slabs, but at $300 a piece and weighing 150 lbs a side, the idea of lugging them upstairs only to have them wobble around on the carpeted surface was hardly enticing. Also having them cut-to-measure meant that if I didn't like them and could carry them back.. there would be no returns, and I would end up with a couple useless grave markers (they were to be sourced from a headstone making company).
Enter the Mana stands... Soundbase 3s I think, that are MUCH lighter than granite and far less likely to sway around. Although I ordered them some time back and have had them around for two weeks, until today I could not install them as there was no way I could physically lift the DBLs onto the stands without either breaking my back or their gasket seals. But with the help of local naim devotee Lee we had this task accomplished within 30 minutes.
Impressions.... the Mana effect really DOES exist with speakers. They are much deeper in the bass now that has also increased in speed to an equal magnitude. The top end is also cleaner, the speakers now cast some semblance of an image and the timing is MUCH better. To me a very similar type of improvement that I got when I upgraded all the gray Snaics to black ones.
I acknowledge that every speaker/floor/room interface is unique and the results not entirely reproducible from system to system. But with the relatively modest price (in terms of the gains offered) and a money-back guarantee there is little to be lost in at least trying out a pair of these stands. What I can say is that they work for ME... Lee also was very impressed by the change- I know this is not wishful thinking on my behalf.
Maybe I should be posting this on the Mana forum, but I am far less likely to change anyones minds there, for that would only be preaching to the converted.
Ron
Dum spiro audio
Dum audio vivo
I have been somewhat aware since moving my DBLs from a downstairs room with braced (via floor jacks.. did it myself)flooring with only a couple feet of space between them and the poured concrete foundation to an upstairs room that resides over a 3 car garage that has 15 foot ceilings and has proven to be a very effective bass sump. One remedy already tried with considerable success was to have insulation blown between the floor boards of the room and the sheetrock ceiling of the garage beneath. This alone restored a goodly bit of the thump that had been missing and was rendering the DBLs almost as bass light as the SBLs- no mean feat.
Still... I was plagued with a vague sense of imprecision and lack of control within the lower registers that seemed not to be cured by any amount of tweaking with the Snaxo settins, the mains supply or even 'uprating' the chassis fuses (that offered improvements though in all other areas). If indeed this was a problem with the DBL/floor interface I could either replace the DBLs (not feasible), replace the flooring (not feasible) or modify the interface. I considered going the route of granite slabs, but at $300 a piece and weighing 150 lbs a side, the idea of lugging them upstairs only to have them wobble around on the carpeted surface was hardly enticing. Also having them cut-to-measure meant that if I didn't like them and could carry them back.. there would be no returns, and I would end up with a couple useless grave markers (they were to be sourced from a headstone making company).
Enter the Mana stands... Soundbase 3s I think, that are MUCH lighter than granite and far less likely to sway around. Although I ordered them some time back and have had them around for two weeks, until today I could not install them as there was no way I could physically lift the DBLs onto the stands without either breaking my back or their gasket seals. But with the help of local naim devotee Lee we had this task accomplished within 30 minutes.
Impressions.... the Mana effect really DOES exist with speakers. They are much deeper in the bass now that has also increased in speed to an equal magnitude. The top end is also cleaner, the speakers now cast some semblance of an image and the timing is MUCH better. To me a very similar type of improvement that I got when I upgraded all the gray Snaics to black ones.
I acknowledge that every speaker/floor/room interface is unique and the results not entirely reproducible from system to system. But with the relatively modest price (in terms of the gains offered) and a money-back guarantee there is little to be lost in at least trying out a pair of these stands. What I can say is that they work for ME... Lee also was very impressed by the change- I know this is not wishful thinking on my behalf.
Maybe I should be posting this on the Mana forum, but I am far less likely to change anyones minds there, for that would only be preaching to the converted.
Ron
Dum spiro audio
Dum audio vivo