Speaker Stabilizer

[mandym]

Speakers specially the tall and narrower ones are not too stable due to their high center of gravity. A little nudge sets the unit vibrating.

I once had a Vandersteen 1C spiked upon a wooden floor and no matter what I did, could not ameliorate a wooly bass problem until I made a support that I either read about or invented (this happened 15 years ago in a far away land!). It worked.

The method is strikingly simple and a snap to build. I just braced the speaker cabinet against the wall of my living room using a wooden pole. This stops tendency for the front-to-back teeter-totter. Do a short test, grab a pole of the right length, sharply bump the top front of a speaker with and without a pole brace and you will know what I mean.

The brace will also tame the resonance of the back panel of speaker cabinets.

I am not presently using this method because my speakers are spiked upon a granite floor and the stand has a large footprint. Now that I remember the tweak, I will make a pair of wall braces for them. It is too easy a tweak to pass up.

Try it, you'll possibly like it


Mandym

[qguy]

how do you mate the pole to the loudspeaker ?

Speakers specially the tall and narrower ones are not too stable due to their high center of gravity. A little nudge sets the unit vibrating.

I once had a Vandersteen 1C spiked upon a wooden floor and no matter what I did, could not ameliorate a wooly bass problem until I made a support that I either read about or invented (this happened 15 years ago in a far away land!). It worked.

The method is strikingly simple and a snap to build. I just braced the speaker cabinet against the wall of my living room using a wooden pole. This stops tendency for the front-to-back teeter-totter. Do a short test, grab a pole of the right length, sharply bump the top front of a speaker with and without a pole brace and you will know what I mean.

The brace will also tame the resonance of the back panel of speaker cabinets.

I am not presently using this method because my speakers are spiked upon a granite floor and the stand has a large footprint. Now that I remember the tweak, I will make a pair of wall braces for them. It is too easy a tweak to pass up.

Try it, you'll possibly like it


Mandym

[mandym]

how do you mate the pole to the loudspeaker ?

Hi qguy,

The pole stays in place thru friction. Simply wedge it between the cabinet back and the room wall. Just don't overdo the wedging bit otherwise the speakers rear feet will lose contact with the floor.

I am in the process of testing my stabilizer which consist of 2 pcs of scrap 1"x1" sticks cut to length.

My first impression? An excellent tweak, on a cost/effectiveness basis sure to clinch the Tweak-of-the-Year (or even the Decade) Award! You can call me the Pinoyphile's Peter Belt but I swear the improvement on my system is significant.

So go grab a couple of sticks and brace your speakers with them. If you like what you hear, follow me onwards to optimizing the stabilizer. It will use a steel tubing for firmer support, spikes and an adjustment screw for setting the exact length.

Mandym

[fishyguy]

wow! simple but effective tweak! we need simple cheap and effective tweaks such as this on this forum. Thanks mandym! Do you suppose adding
blue tack on both ends would help?

[mandym]

wow! simple but effective tweak! we need simple cheap and effective tweaks such as this on this forum. Thanks mandym! Do you suppose adding
blue tack on both ends would help?

Hi fishyguy,

Glad to hear you like the tweak.

The stabilizer is ideally a wall anchor against fore-and-aft movement of the speaker cabinet; it also serves to tame the resonance of its back panel. Thus blue tack might hinder it's effectiveness but try it anyway. Tweakdom is rife with surprises!

My "final" version is a 3/4inch dia. stainless steel tubing (curtain rod variety), both ends fitted with screws ground to a point for intimate contact (nails should be OK too but screws allow for minute adjustments). I noticed that the rods would vibrate whenever I thumped the front of the speaker. Filling them with ordinary sand damped out the vibrations.

I find that this tweak is good for solid bass and realistic percussion. Depth and soundstage were also improved. This is one tweak that I will keep.

Mandym

[Audio_Tyro]

Congrats Mandym! Makes great sense. I always consider speakers to be like canons or fire arms (like long sniper rifles). For such to hit its target more accurately, it has to be braced fully well. In the same manner, for a speaker to dish out high-efficiency sonic output, it has to be braced well -either by its sheer weight planted firmly on the floor, or its back braced well against the backwall - which is what Mandym did.

But one has to agree that not all has the guts or "will" to try this tweak (me included). I can't endure the thought of nailing a wooden pole unto the back of my beautifully finished walnut-clad Sonus fabers.

[KD]

If the speakers are toed in, are the poles suggested to be mounted perpendicular to the wall (Figure A) pr perpendicular to the cabinet back (Figure B)?



Sorry for the crude drawing.

[mandym]

Congrats Mandym! Makes great sense. I always consider speakers to be like canons or fire arms (like long sniper rifles). For such to hit its target more accurately, it has to be braced fully well. In the same manner, for a speaker to dish out high-efficiency sonic output, it has to be braced well -either by its sheer weight planted firmly on the floor, or its back braced well against the backwall - which is what Mandym did.

But one has to agree that not all has the guts or "will" to try this tweak (me included). I can't endure the thought of nailing a wooden pole unto the back of my beautifully finished walnut-clad Sonus fabers.

A nice thought-provoking analogy Sir Audio-Tyro! Now you've got me thinking "RECOIL". When the speaker cone moves forward the cabinet will recoil backward. This happens not in a one-shot manner but in rapid-fire sequence. There's got to be some effect (Doppler distortion?) audibly perceptible or not

Anyway, for those on the verge of trying here are a few options:
A. The best way to go is a rod "spiked" at both ends. This will put a tiny ding on the woodwork but hardly noticeable. The spike will leave a small mark less than 1/4 mm in diameter, invisible at 1 meter. If this is unacceptable go to the next option.
B. Same as A but the end on the cabinet side is a piece of smooth wood. This will leave the woodwork unmarked. Or
C. If the speaker is on a stand, use the tweak on the stand rather than on the cabinet.

If you try option C and notice some improvement, I am guessing that you will move on to option B and eventually perhaps to option A

Mandym

[mandym]

Hi KD,

I agree that your drawing is a bit crude but it illustrates your question perfectly

I use method B on my toed-in speakers. This is because the stabilizer is in direct opposition to the force generated by the cone movement. I do not like Method A because it produces a torque which tends to rotate the cabinet.

The rod is prevented from slipping off the wall by drilling a tiny hole on the wall where the spike will rest. My back wall is concrete, I used a small concrete drill bit to make the hole.

Mandym

[JackD201]

How about a wall mounted telescoping speaker stand?

Look Ma, they're floating!!!!