Speaker Stands - What material should I use to fill?

[texasbwfan]

All,

I'm considering the purchase of some material to fill my 805s speaker stands with. Does anyone have an opinion (stupid question) on what material would be best? Lead pellet or Sand? Or, is filling the speaker stands even necessary? Thank you all in advance,

[perato]

Definitely do NOT use sand from a beach. The water in beach sand might corrode the metal stand. Personally, I use lead shot. Lead is more dense than sand. If you use lead, just make sure you take appropriate precautions when you fill it. (You ought to take the same precautions even if you use sand.) BTW, you post is not B&W specific. You might get more responses if you post in another forum.

[greggz]

I used lead shot. My goal was to add a lot of mass. Lead is 5 to 7 times as dense as sand.

Lead shot is sold in 25 lb bags, cost about $20 to $25 per bag, and it will take 3 or 4 bags to fill the 805 stands.

Lead is a known carcinogen and should be handled with care.

If you choose to use sand, use the pure white playground sand. It will take less than one 25 lb bag to fill both stands. Some people bake the sand first to ensure that is is completely dry.

[texasbwfan]

thanks for the response...my post makes reference to my 805's...sorry I didn't include 'b&w' in my my initial post. take it easy,

[texasbwfan]

Where did you pick up your lead shot? Definitley sounds like the better way to go. Thanks for the help,

[greggz]

I had to go to 3 different gun stores. Each store had a couple bags (I also had a center channel stand to fill so ultimately I needed 7 bags).

[SRT-10 Viper]

Greggz What size is your HT room?... I am thinking about doing my basement and like your design.

[mtodde]

I used play sand from Home Depot...only a few bucks for a 25 lb bag which filled 3 pairs of stands.

[greggz]

Roughly the room is 12' 5" wide by 29' long. The lower part of the ceiling is 7' 9" and the high part is 8' 3".

The screen is 110" diagonal and the primary seating spot is 15 feet back from the front wall. The wet bar area takes up the back 10 feet of the room.

If I had it all to do again, I would budget for someone like Dennis Erskine to do a design that gives room acoustics their proper due.

My room is a little too narrow for the size screen I chose. It forces the front left and right speakers too close to the side walls. Unfortunately I really had no control over the room width. One wall is concrete and the other is the primary load bearing wall for the house.

Knowing what I know now, I would not have put the primary seating position in the worst spot for room mode cancellations.

And lastly, I would not do the U-shaped seating arrangement I have. I had no choice on that one either. My wife didn't want theater-style seating. She wanted people be able to see each other and talk. She has since changed her mind, but unless I can sell that sofa for close to what we paid for it, she's not going to green-light new furniture.

[Kirium]

If you do go for sand, I'd look for "kiln dried" sand. Sand dried in a kiln, like pottery. I wouldn't put anything else in my stands, except lead shot, which is really hard to find here. then fill the small gaps between the lead with kiln dried sand.

[audioqueso]

I ended up with sand cause I couldn't find any lead shot for the life of me. Hearing that it's 5-7 times heavier, I'm thinking I'll change it out now.

[scottielee]

i use Apollo sound bytes, carbon steel cut into tiny round and flat pieces which interlock, prevent "ringing", and are highly dampened. 1.5 containers ($85 each) are needed to fill 2 FSN805 stands. really overpriced.

i was told by a dealer that standard steel shot consists of small balls which have high ringing delays, and they are entirely undampend. not sure whether this is true.

[PewterTA]

Here's an idea that works perfectly fine for sand.

Take it, get yourself some baking pans (glass), put the sand in the oven at 400 degrees for about an hour and let it cool down (takes about an hour to two)... the sand will be completely dusty and all moisture in the sand will be removed.

My friend's stands have been filled with sand for 6 years that way and not a speck of corrosion on the stands when he sold them and removed the sand...