Upgrade your Bluetack.

Posted by: Mike1951 on 25 November 2018

There was a recommendation in a previous thread that I tried, because although my Quad speaker stands are supplied with upward-facing spikes, I didn’t fancy having them dig into the underside of my new ATC SM19’s.

This was to separate them with four blobs of Bluetack. It worked fine, up to a point, then I thought of trying something a bit less ‘do-it-yourself’ and bought some ‘Audio Serenity ISO-9H’ gel pads.

Cheap as chips for a set of eight. Upshot - noticeable improvement in detail and soundstaging.

 It won’t make your system sound like you’ve just replaced all your boxes with DR, but the result is an improvement way beyond the modest outlay...

Thoroughly recommended.

Other brands of gel pad are, no doubt, available. And probably more expensive... ????

Posted on: 25 November 2018 by ChrisSU

Maybe you could ask Richard to rewrite your thread title, as I have absolutely no idea what it means!!

Posted on: 25 November 2018 by Richard Dane
ChrisSU posted:

Naybe you could ask Richard to rewrite your thread title, as I have absolutely no idea what it means!!

Done. I think that makes a bit more sense...

Posted on: 25 November 2018 by raym55

For what they are they are very good and less than 15 squids for a set, its a no brainer.

I have them under my Harbeth P3s and they do make a noticable difference. My only concern was that they might 'leech' into the veneer like some of the sorbothane pods do. To avoid this I just placed a small piece of 1mm silicone rubber between it and the speaker.  Happy chappie.

Posted on: 25 November 2018 by hifi-dog

I use atacama gel pads under my scm11 to the same effect..recommend 

Posted on: 25 November 2018 by Mike1951
ChrisSU posted:

Maybe you could ask Richard to rewrite your thread title, as I have absolutely no idea what it means!!

Why, what did it say?

Posted on: 25 November 2018 by Japtimscarlet

Can the gel pads be reused... As in can the speakers be taken off the stands and repositioned at a later date?

Posted on: 25 November 2018 by Richard Dane

The original thread title was...

"Upgrade your are supplied with upward- Bluetack"

Posted on: 25 November 2018 by Mike1951

I prefer the original...

Posted on: 25 November 2018 by raym55
Japtimscarlet posted:

Can the gel pads be reused... As in can the speakers be taken off the stands and repositioned at a later date?

Absolutely. No problem at all.

Posted on: 25 November 2018 by Geoff C

Hi Richard

It is actually 'Blu Tack' - 2 words, no 'e'.

You'll be getting your naim wrong next!

Geoff

Posted on: 25 November 2018 by G. Warminger

Why is Blu Tack now white?

Posted on: 25 November 2018 by GregWPGibbs

The “white” version does not mark light coloured walls as badly as the “blue”

Posted on: 25 November 2018 by Richard Dane
Geoff C posted:

Hi Richard

It is actually 'Blu Tack' - 2 words, no 'e'.

You'll be getting your naim wrong next!

Geoff

Geoff, I thought it best to leave it as-is - Mike I guess is trying to avoid the obvious branding here (like the BBC - other brands are available etc..)

Posted on: 26 November 2018 by Granthar

So we can be seen as fully inclusive can I throw Black tack into the mix? 

Posted on: 26 November 2018 by Japtimscarlet

For about £14 for eight of the big River... I thought why not ... Will report back when they arrive tomorrow and I have a listen.

Posted on: 27 November 2018 by Japtimscarlet

Ok so the rubber blobs are in position ...I went for the audio serenity ones by the way

And do they work?

Well yes first impressions suggest there is an improvement with them in place over blu tac

What do they bring to the party? .. well nothing night and day but..

The speakers ( Russell K red 100s) seem to be "lifted" from the constraints of the ( Linn accurate 212 stands) and now seem to "float" in the air with the soundstage all around  them 

There is also a touch more finesse to the music...with a more textured bass ( not more bass ..just more disernabled notes in it)

For a few pounds these seem well worth investigating further and I will keep them in place for a couple of weeks then go back to blu tac and see if I miss them

Posted on: 27 November 2018 by SamClaus
G. Warminger posted:

Why is Blu Tack now white?

Tastes better.

Posted on: 28 November 2018 by keith waring
Japtimscarlet posted:

Ok so the rubber blobs are in position ...I went for the audio serenity ones by the way

And do they work?

Well yes first impressions suggest there is an improvement with them in place over blu tac

What do they bring to the party? .. well nothing night and day but..

The speakers ( Russell K red 100s) seem to be "lifted" from the constraints of the ( Linn accurate 212 stands) and now seem to "float" in the air with the soundstage all around  them 

There is also a touch more finesse to the music...with a more textured bass ( not more bass ..just more disernabled notes in it)

For a few pounds these seem well worth investigating further and I will keep them in place for a couple of weeks then go back to blu tac and see if I miss them

Be interested to know if the pads could stain or mark your rk 100s piano black finish .I have steered clear of the blue tac for that reason ,did the blu tac leave any mark on your speakers ?.

Posted on: 28 November 2018 by Japtimscarlet

No...the blu tac has not left any marks on what is a high gloss paint finish ..in nearly two years

I don't believe the A.S. pads will mark either 

Posted on: 28 November 2018 by Japtimscarlet

No...the blu tac has not left any marks on what is a high gloss paint finish ..in nearly two years

I don't believe the A.S. pads will mark either 

Posted on: 01 December 2018 by Naim_that_tune

One advantage of blu tac is that is sticks very effectively and prevents the speaker being knocked off its stand if it were to be accidentally knocked. 

Do these gel pads have any stickiness to them?

Posted on: 01 December 2018 by raym55
Naim_that_tune posted:

One advantage of blu tac is that is sticks very effectively and prevents the speaker being knocked off its stand if it were to be accidentally knocked. 

Do these gel pads have any stickiness to them?

They have 3M sticky pads on one side only. The other side is what can best be described as castellated. I think the normal method of usage is to stick them to the stands and have the speaker on the castellated side but I dont suppose it matters if you use them the other way round. They are quite grippy in that the speaker wont easily slide on them. HTH.

Posted on: 01 December 2018 by Naim_that_tune

I actually have a set of these gel pads that have been in a drawer of hifi bits for over a year, about time I gave them a go!

Also had the thought that I could also try both the pads and some blu tac together for more stick / knock prevention. 

Posted on: 01 December 2018 by Jonners

My experience with BluTac really wasn't good. The weight of my speakers inevitably meant that contact with the stands was unavoidable. I tried bigger lumps but that wasn't suitable aesthetically. My solution was to buy sorbothane feet from Amazon. Dirt cheap and discreet. I bought small ones which provide perfect isolation without deadening the sound which can happen with BluTac IMHO.

Posted on: 01 December 2018 by lambos

Thanks for the tip

ordrered a set of 8 today will be interested to see what they bring to my system !

cheers 

tony