Best dry sand for filling speaker cabs?

[wolf_teeth]

I like Kitty Litter as a ballast/mass load...

I wonder where you saw that....

I liked what it did in my Attitudes after I added it. Seems to make the cabinet stop dead, and I don't hear any influence from it. For those who wonder- I filled the semicircular columns with it, on the OUTSIDE of the speaker volume, and also in the stands underneath them.

I will be doing it again at some point, as I have a half bag left!
Later,
Wolf

 

[turbogti]

update

All i could find was "metal sand", which i believe it is used for road construction.

The enclosure is made of 1.8cm thick acrylic. Each block (with sand) weights around 19lbs.

And I'm happy to say the improvement is significant! The bass now sounds much tighter and cleaner than my solid wooden stand.

I will add some heavy-duty padding tomorrow and see if it will make any differences. I don't have time to remove the spikes and do further testing yet.

Hopefully, I will get to try out some marble enclosure and different type of sand soon. Again, thanks for all of the comments/suggestions. I am really happy with the result!

Here are some photos, enjoy!

 

[mrfeedback]

I have read in the past that pure white silica sand is best.

Eric.

 

[Pano]

I wonder where you saw that....

Yep! I remember those. Very nice. Also saw some kitty litter filled stands at the Puget Sound! (Seattle) speaker contest back in 2008. Heavy things, they were. Seems to work really well. Is clay litter heaver than sand?


The Mark & Daniels speakers are no lightweights, themselves. Very solidly built. BTW, I think that sand is going to be very pretty in those acrylic stands.

 

[benb]

Indeed shaking the container of sand will help it settle and increase the density a little.
If you don't have a shaker - and the size/shape of your speaker boxes permit - you could just load them into (or onto) your car and take them for a drive. The road vibration should be enough to give a gentle shake.

Doug

I was looking on youtube for industrial vibration test equipment and found this "home-made" shaker that should be more than enough to do the job:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GWImU7CCU8g

I'm also thinking running the woofer with a slowish frequency sweep could be enough. At some point it's going to generate the exact frequencies that move the sand around and pack it together.

 

[turbogti]

i think play sand will look best the acrylic enclosure (im sure girls will love it )

yep, the mini+ is 14.5lbs each, and the omni-harmonizer is 5.5lbs each. not bad for such a small and powerful speaker.

 

[Pano]

You could get fancy and do one of those multicolor sand layer things.

 

[jerryo]

Has anyone ever tried Iron filings instead of sand? Could be expensive of course!

 

[turbogti]

PS the metal sand i bought cost me USD 1.30/lbs in Hong Kong, I bought 24lbs.

A supplier gave me a a quote of the Chromite, USD 52/KG (= USD23.60/lbs).

In order to fill up the acrylic enclosure, I guess I need ~500USD for the Chromite sand alone.

 

[wolf_teeth]

Seems to work really well. Is clay litter heavier than sand?

I'm not certain. I know what I added to the cylinders made them gain ~10 pounds. I just used the cheapest clay litter from Walmart, I think it's 'Special Kitty' in the yellow bag. I like what it did, and it does not resonate afterwards, so it must do the trick.

Later,
Wolf

 

[Soldermizer]

Wonder if clear glass or plastic boxes with colorful sand like artsy bottles are filled with? Now that would look cool.

 

[bear]

Old thread.. but I'd not use kitty litter. It absorbs water and turns to mud. It will absorb water sitting around inside two wood pieces too...

_-_-bear

 

[ScottG]

Again..

URN SAND:

http://www.zorotools.com/g/Smoking Urn Sand/00008223/


Also, generally use it with a thin compliant layer for the sand to "push up" against.

I prefer rolled-on soft glue + cheap flannel sheets (as a fabric layer) glued to the cabinet walls where the sand will be poured.

 

[Soldermizer]

Old thread but new to me. If you haven't had the misfortune to know this yet, I am active in the subwoofer forums. I've actually built some that well, "make sounds" would be charitable I make no bones about my vanishingly small skill set. Constrained layer damping sounds a good idea, I had not thought to use sand before today. I'm still sure there must be a way to build a subwoofer out of onionskin paper braced with monofilament fishing line ok maybe not that unconventional, but ... who knows.