A different tilt on things.

[VantheMan]

https://imgur.com/a/1vMX993

I was in need of thinking up a new plinth arrangement for my speakers, a bit taller and wishing to remove the rubber cone feet I had. I happened on a post elsewhere by someone who believed in ultralight speaker stands and I liked his reasoning about how lighter materials store fewer vibrations for less time than heavier things. So scratch marble, granite, chopping boards etc. etc which are the first things we usually think of. For whatever reason, I remembered the Ikea Lack tables and saw they now have a smalllamp table (35 x 35 ) which would suit my WD25T. 7 quid each. I bought them, got rid of the legs and placed them under my boxes. See photo. End of. They certainly solved my problem and I think give a bigger, out of the boxes sound. Suit me.

[A Stuart]

Ikea table -
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sPMokVlvs6w

You could say these airspaces were carefully tuned, and sell it on for £700, or £1700 if burnt-in and cryogenically treated.

[Really Aardvark]

Originally Posted by A Stuart

Ikea table -
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sPMokVlvs6w

You could say these airspaces were carefully tuned, and sell it on for £700, or £1700 if burnt-in and cryogenically treated.

And called the Torlack......

[VantheMan]

I don’t know what these 2 posts are trying to say. I have been fully aware of the construction of the Lack tables since the early 80s when Linn recommended their use under the LP12 due to their weight/rigidity relationship. I was merely pointing out their dimensions suited my WD25T speakers aesthetically IMO and their ease of purchase. I can vouch that, cardboard or whatever, they are easily sturdy enough for the weight of the WD25Tif that is the worry. I also suspect that precisely their lack of weight may well have a positive effect on the sound issuing from my speakers compared to when I used my much heavier Heybrook HBS1 outrigger base that I was using before but I’ll leave that to the more learned.
Anyway, nice to see a bit of action/reaction around these parts.

[A Stuart]

Apologies. I had no intention of appearing to attack your economical solution. I, myself, spent years with a record deck consisting of three large screws going through an irregularly shaped offcut of 25mm MDF left over from speaker-building.

I did think it amusing to see that these posh-looking tables were fancy cardboard boxes.
I take the other post to be a play on the name Torlyte, which are in the order of the price I plucked out of the air.

[Mark]

Vantheman

Interesting. Thanks.



I wasn't aware of the cardboard honeycomb core to make it light, stiff and a lot cheaper than solid wood. It looks a lot more sophisticated inside than I would have expected. As you say - worth a try at that price.

Mark

[VantheMan]

Still doddering about with my WD25TEx and not being at all handy with solder nor having crossover knowledge, I am limited to the more mechanical side of things and would like to describe a few reversible things which have turned out postively for me : First I drilled out 2 more holes (60mm tank cutter saw ) on the main brace, on either side of the woofer magnet seating hole, thinking that this would allow the reverse output from the driver more freedom to investigate the rear baffle wall instead of being bounced back immediately against the cone by the brace itself due to its relative proximity. Result Increased clarity and separation. Secondly I discovered that my aperiodic vent foam was doing bugger all, having crumbled away to a gungy, clammy mess. So I read up on the A25 which apparently used fibreglass for the vent and having read elsewhere. recommendations for using motor bike exhaust box fibre glass stuffing material (you better believe it) instead of rockwool to avoid itching and the like I finally settled on double thickness, retained inside a chicken wire wallet to cover the vents and bass service was immediately restored below say 100hz (my guess). By the way I found the Athena make of this stuffing on the Internet and then found it to buy here just down the road ata heavy bikers’ shop - apparently they tune the exhaustnote o n their bikeswith it. Thirdly, pay attention to the seating of the woofer magnet against the brace itself - Peter recommended using the Arboseal goo for this purpose and it worked in my boxes for say 15 years but now having taken out my woofers several times and Arboseal does go a bit hard, I have just found a flat rubber seal of the right size (used in espresso coffe percolators here in Spain, the type where you screw 2 halves together, of a perfect size to surround the breather hole and act as a gasket whixh compresses when you screw the woofer down.
Anyway, I am not recommending anyone copy my butchery but please do bear it in mind if ever you have to open up your WD25s

[A.N. Beal]

A few years ago I decided to try a different angle on speaker supports. The exciting forces and vibrations on a loudspeaker are are fore and aft, not vertical, so a loudspeaker cabinet is unlikely to move much vertically but it can rock back and forth. Instead of worrying about the vertical support, shouldn't we focus instead on trying to stop fore-and-aft movement of the cabinet?
My WD25s are supported on wall brackets which provide reasonably rigid support (vertical and horizontal) to the base of the cabinet but allow the upper part to move horizontally. I therefore fixed a horizontal strut between the back of each speaker and the wall behind, just below the top of the speaker cabinet (to keep it out of sight), fixed by small brackets screwed into the back of the speaker cabinet and and screwed and plugged into the wall. This rigid connection stops the cabinet rocking or vibrating fore-and-aft far more effectively than any fancy support stand or spikes.
Results? As might be expected, by preventing fore and aft vibration of the cabinets the struts produced a clear improvement in detail and precision of stereo image. Given that they were easy to install and cost next to nothing this counts as one of my best value upgrades.

[bob orbell]

Indeed, I posted on this some years ago and my solution is a VERY heavy steel base to speaker stand or floor standing speakers, the stands for my speakers, Monitor Audio PL100 Mk II, have a 25mm solid machined steel base and the column is filed with lead, I would now struggle to lift them. I also made some base's for Richard Maile to fit to his Castle speakers, these were about 30mm thick, there are pictures in a post on the forum. Bob

[TimN]

Also, if you use a plinth that is wider and deeper than the cabinet body you can spread the spikes out more which lowers the centre of gravity and makes it more stable.