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To Couple or Decouple Bookshelf Speakers to Stands?

Just bought my first pair of bookshelf speakers (Focal Aria 906) and stands - have filled the stands with sand. Should I use sorbothane pads to decouple the Focals OR Bluetack them to the top base of the stands?  I've asked 3 friends and received 3 different answers.......
dadgad4
cd318
2,636 posts
 
Decouple, if for no other reason that it measures much better. At least with most loudspeakers.

For example soft rubber pads/foam will decouple more than hard ones, but both will decouple hundreds of times better than wood on metal.

Just how far you need to decouple is best judged by listening. One good indication could be how well the bass is playing notes after some decoupling.

It's also quite possible that with some well designed loudspeakers that no decoupling is required. The designer may already have factored in baffle resonance control. Eg Harbeth, Linkwitz, Eclipse TD series, Magico, Wilson etc.

Hence the differing answers.
geoffkait's avatar
geoffkait
23,365 posts
 
Always decouple. Don’t listen to 4H clubbers. 🐄 🍀 Decoupling eliminates ringing of the speaker cabinets AND mechanical feedback to the front end electronics via the floor. See Max Townshend’s video showing ... measurements with and without decoupling. The knee bone’s connected to the leg bone, the leg bone’s connected to the ankle bone, etc.

https://youtu.be/7ew4dRUEm-k

twoleftears's avatar
twoleftears
5,320 posts
 

Instead of arguing about coupling/decoupling, let's talk about the speaker/stand interface, where the bottom of the speaker cabinet comes into some kind of contact with a plate or 3 or 4 leg-tops.

There are multiple options that I've read about.

Cones--of various materials--pointing up, pointing down.

Sorbothene pads, harder transparent plastic buffers, Herbies dots, etc.

Blu-tac.

Isoacoustics Oreas.

Little bits of exotic woods.

And the list goes on.

Some manufacturers even provided holes to screw the speaker to the stand.  This and Blu-tac may be more for safety reasons than acoustic reasons.  But perhaps not.

And while we're on the subject, consider mass-loading of floor-standers.  For a while there, there were a bunch of models that had a cavity in the bottom for you to fill with your favorite kitty litter or steel shot.  How much different is that than connecting speaker and (filled) stand as tightly as possible?

tablejockey
3,974 posts
 
Why not try all 3 and let your ears tell you what's "right"?
verdantaudio's avatar
verdantaudio
1,515 posts
 
When developing my speakers and introducing my stands, I had extensive conversations in this topic and did some testing.  I have tried high mass stands, low mass stands, bolting the speakers in place, adhesives, velcro, simply placing the speaker on the stand and IsoAcoustics pucks. 

Easy...the IsoAcoustic pucks decoupling the speaker from the stand was the best sounding.  The pucks go between the speaker and the stand.  I ultimately produced a low mass stand that is machined to ensure proper placement of the puck for my speakers.  

Second best option was having the speakers bolted to a high mass stand.  This does require using OEM stands or modding stands.  
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