Speaker stand help

[Bull]

Last week I bought a pair of really nice sounding KRK RP8 speakers with the Atacama Nexus 10 speaker stands.

I got two queries:

I don't want to use top spikes as it might scratch the nice piano shiny black finish on my speakers.
So would blue/white tack be fine without leaving any permanent marks in the speaker paint finish?

Also I want to mass load the stands. The special bought triangle shaped metal fillings is very expensive.6kg tub of them is like £35.
So I think I'll go for the sand filling approach.
But they said builders sand can rust the stands though.So I guess it would have to be dry play sand then?
Also I hope the sand doesn't leak out over time.

Last but not least, what difference would foam isolation pads between the stands and the speakers do? Would they sound even better or just dampen the vibrations more?

[lousymusician]

I've used BluTack for coupling speakers to stands without problem. Opinions seem to vary, but I think foam would allow the speaker to move too much in reaction to the woofer, which would be undesireable.

For fillling, how about clay cat litter?

[Graeme Hancock]

Cat litter. Interesting idea but might lack mass.

Sand ? yes, you need washed sand. Lead shot is another favourite.

You can prevent scratches from spikes by putting a small coin between the spike end and the other surface.

And you dont have to have the spike at the speaker end. Try them the other way round.

As well as blutak because it 'bonds' the 2 surfaces, I found 2 sorts of gel are good. There are pads in auto shops to sit your mobile phone on, on the dashboard. Then there's a shoe repair goo which sets after 12 hours or so, but is softish.

As you're in GB, try making your own nylon spikes from screw in football boot studs.

What you have to do is try all the tricks and see what sounds best to you.

Graeme Hancock