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Filling speaker stands: sand, lead, steel, rice. Full, half, etc?

With my proac tablettes, I am using 28 inch speaker stands which have two round steel tubes about two inches in diameter.  The stands have spikes into my wooden floor (through carpet) and rubber pads on top.  I have a rather small room 12x12, and I have played around with the speaker positions in the room, finding a pretty sweet spot optimizing the bass and soundstage.  I have done all this with the stands unfilled.

so I am looking for advice on filling the stands. What do I use: sand, steel shot, lead shot, rice?  Do I fill them half full, three quarters, or full? Do I fill all the tubes the same? Can overfill makes things worse?

like most things (i.e. speaker placement) I suspect there will be some trial and error, but as it will be a real pain in the rear to fill/empty/refill the various materials to really compare, I am hoping that there are some lessons learned that the rest of you can share with me to get me pretty close with my first trial.

Alos, what effect will the filling have- should I expect deeper bass, bigger soundstage, greater depth, more detail, or..... better yet what should I not expect to change? This will help me know what I should be listening for as I tweak things.

and finally, should I expect my current optimum speaker position to change with filled stands? Will I have to go through the whole positioning exercise again?

thanks, ( and happy new year)

Bill
meiatflask
dill
2,520 posts
 
I used small round pebbles, available at Home Depot in 50lb. bags. Be sure they are dry before using. They are a lot less messy than shot or sand. Filled stands will not effect the position of the stands and I fill them up all the way as long as the stands don't exceed 24" or so.
nonoise's avatar
nonoise
10,832 posts
 
The speaker stands I just got are filled with a limestone acrylic polymer injection to deaden the sound yet when I strike the metal, I get a single pitched ring no matter where I strike it. It's short in duration but I'm going to get some CLD Tiles and cut a narrow strip to attach to the inside of the upper brace to further deaden things.

It won't be visible with the speaker on the stand so that should be all that needs to be done.

All the best,
Nonoise
arafiq's avatar
arafiq
1,662 posts
 
I have a somewhat related question ... hope the OP won't mind the digression a little bit. If I want to raise the speaker stands by around 6 inches, what is the best route to get there? Should I just get concrete slabs (from Home Depot) and put the stands on top of them? Or is wood better for this purpose? Also, let's say if I do put the speakers on top of another platform (concrete or wood), what's the best way to make the speaker stands more stable? When placed directly on carpet, I can rely on the spikes to provide a good foothold, but how to get similar hold when placed on something other than the carpet?
bdp24's avatar
bdp24
9,788 posts
 
I bought a Solid Steel stand from the U.S. distributor at the Vegas CES in the late 90's. He had applied lead tape to all the metal tubes, in locations that weren't visible---the back of each leg, and the backs and bottoms of the cross-beams.
willemj
1,036 posts
 
Harbeth's designer Alan Shaw argues that the material does not make any sonic difference: Ikea stools will be fine if you like them or if the budget is tight. What matters are two things. First, height: the tweeters should be as close as possible to your ears' level in your normal listening position. Sonically, this is the only relevant variable. Second, stability. This is where loading stands with sand etc comes in if it stabilizes them. You do not want your expensive speakers to be knocked over.
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