Sand, lead shot, rice?

RuSsMaN · July 2003

What are you guys using in your fillable racks and stands?

I have a Lovan rack that is fillable, just never did anything with it. Should I just head down to Home Depot, get the bag of 'play sand' and be done with it?

Where can I find lead shot? Can't say I've ever come across it.

Cheers,
Russ

tryrrthg · July 2003

I've never found lead shot either, but everything I've read says it ain't cheap! Not safe either if you've got kids or animals around...

I thought about maybe trying a BB and sand mixture but I never got around to testing whether an amount of BB's weighed as much as the same amount of sand...

I just used sand in my DIY speaker stands. I've also heard you can use kitty litter, but I never checked into that.

burdette · July 2003

I can't imagine kitty litter being more dense than sand.

You would want to do a check on bag size to confirm this, but from my home-ownership experience, QuickCrete is a heckofalot more dense than sand. If I'm remembering correctly (haven't bought sand since last spring, bought QC last month) an 80lb bag of QC is smaller than a 50lb bag of sand. And an 80lb bag of QC is only like $2.50.

The QC is more dusty.. might be a little dirty trying to fill a stand inside the house... but a funnel would help. I do believe you'd have a heavier stand using QC than if you used an equal amount of sand. And, obviously, I'm assuming you'd use the QC dry.

Lead shot is close to a buck a pound in bulk (like 25lbs), and close to $2 a pound in smaller quantities.. and that doesn't include shipping if you don't have a store locally. You'd have to track down a firearms/shotgun/ballistics store catering to enthusiasts who make their own loads.

RuSsMaN · July 2003

Interesting call on the quick crete. I can easily see myself turning the black finish grey, in a huge cloud of dust. You are correct though, that 80lb bag of crete is the same size or smaller than the 40-50lb bag of sand.

I wonder if a mixture of sand and crete together would settle the dust down a bit? Maybe a dash of cayanne pepper to kick it up a notch?

Cheers,
Russ

tryrrthg · July 2003

I think the kitty litter suggestion is an alternative to "messy" sand. god forbid the snooty rich audiophiles would have to mess up their multi-million dollar homes!

I saw those quick-crete bags when I was getting my bags of sand I thought of doing the same thing.

Is quick-crete fine enough to fill in all the gaps? or would a mixture of sand and QC be a better option?

hoosier21 · July 2003

THE quick-crete IS A FINE POWDER, FINER THAN SAND, THAT IS WHY IT IS HEAVIER IN THE SAME SIZE BAG.

SORRY FOR THE CAPS

now a concern might be, if you have a lot of humidity in the room, could the QC set up? I know it all would not, but a little would be harmful.

HBombToo · July 2003

I can't even move my equipment rack as is... can't imagine putting more weight inside the posts???

How much can it help? I can understand speaker stands but a rack with all that equipment is effin heavy.

HBomb

dorokusai · July 2003

Quick-Crete dust is toxic to your innards also, wear a mask when filling the tubes for safety.

VR3 · July 2003

Hehe, I hope it rains while yall put QC in your ERs! lol!

faster100 · July 2003

I agree, 3-5 componets weighing at 30-100 lbs each, depending on if its a amp or what.. that seems heavy enough.. we are talking minimum 150 lbs up to 2-3 hundred depending on how many pieces and what they are.. so what ? add another 25lbs per leg or what ever.. Do you have concrete floors? if not watch the floor boe.. LOL

VR3 · July 2003

Dude My Entertainment center is solid wood. It Weighs in at a whopping 400 pounds. (Not counting electronics)

gidrah · July 2003

I use play sand in my speakers. It works fine for me. My usage is mainly for stability.

I've heard that sand has certain properties that make it great for absorbtion. A mixture might be able to give you more mass, but may not be as effective at absorbtion. I've also read that some sand works better than others (silica vs play vs river, etc), but I forget which one is supposed to work better or why.

tryrrthg · July 2003

Silica is the one that is "supposed" to be used because it is very fine. So fine that you're supposed to wear a mask when working with it so that you don't inhale it into your lungs.

pjdami · July 2003

I actually filled my speaker stands last week for my LSi 9's.

I wanted to use sand, but the sand was outside at Walmart and wet.

I then was walking down the aisles inside the store and saw the Kitty Litter and remembered reading that someone had used Kitty litter on another forum. $1.80 for like a 20 lb bag...what the heck I said .. nothing to lose. Its got a good bulk density not as heavy as sand but better than empty stands.

It was a little dusty but not bad. Its supposed to be 99% dust free and that 1% does come out but can be done inside the house. Its actually crushed clay.

I noticed decreased resonances that I was getting in my stands and I also use the little rubber feet that came with the nines.

Sounds like a audio shootout...kitty litter vs. sand... ha ha..

By the way use fresh kitty litter by all means or it will sound like $hit.

Paul

HBombToo · July 2003

Originally posted by pjdami

By the way use fresh kitty litter by all means or it will sound like $hit.

Paul

WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!1

I'm dying over here!!!!!!

Twin

ezc · July 2003

I filled my speaker stands with sand. I bought my son sand for his sand & water table from toys r us. I think 50 lbs was about $5. So I bought 2 bags & filled my stands & dumped the extra in the sand box! I looked for lead shot & found some at a gun shop that reloaded shot gun shells. I cant remember what the cost was but it was way way way more than the 50 lbs of sand!

faster100 · July 2003

Come on now, Ok sanded stands for stability i go for, better sound i can't believe.. Sorry

I swear some people will hear a difference if they do anything.LOL

I took a shower before listening to my new wire and wow i swear it sounds cleaner,

pjdami · July 2003

faster,

Come on now, Ok sanded stands for stability i go for, better sound i can't believe.. Sorry

It's true. By filling my speaker stands I eliminated some audible resonances / vibrations because the stands are now heavier. I don't have any isolators between my stands and the ceramic floor but I plan on getting some based on another thread I just read. I do use the rubber feet isolators between the speakers and the speaker stands which do make a difference as well. Now I can hear something else in the room vibrating maybe a picture or something very subtle but before it was kind of drowned out by the vibration coming from the speaker stands. This wasn't a constant vibration only on some bass notes / frequency. By filling the stands one changes the natural harmonic of the stand...maybe lowers it to below human hearing (below 20 hz)..I don't know if I can get this technical with this but I can tell a difference.

Or...I've totally lost it...but I don't think so.. Anyways it only cost me $2.00 so I decided to do it. Now as far as the soundstage getting bigger or imaging and all that well I didn't hear any improvements there. Just with the resonances..

P.

mantis · July 2003

Play sand(totally dry free of moisture) is what we use.I never tried kitty litter or anything else.As long as it's dense and free of moisture,It should work,better????I have no Idea.

Play sand is cheap and works......

pjdami · July 2003

Dry sand has the highest bulk density of common materials that I found here:

http://www.smico.com/pdf/SMICO%20MATERIAL%20BULK%20DENSITY%20REFERENCE%20CHART.pdf

Sand = 110 lbs/ft3

Rice = 45 lbs/ft3

cat litter not on the list but I know is less than sand. I'm going to try the sand next since I saw favorable results with adding something to the stands. I have heard the sand can work its way out the bottom though so I will silicone the bottom plate of my stand to the pillar and then screw down.

Tour2ma · July 2003

The fill is not only for weight, but also to fill the void in the legs thus dampening the transmission of vibration to the shelves and the equipment. The fill both eliminates vibration carrying air and "stiffens" the legs against absorbing external vibrations, i.e., sound.

While lead shot is popular, sand is favored by many as it packs with less void volume due to its smaller partical size.

Sand, lead shot, rice?

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