pmr@drutx.UUCP (Rastocny) (12/04/84)
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A few people have asked me to repost this article since there has been some
trouble with ihnp4. Phil R.
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With all of this discussion about tiptoes, I have a suggestion on how to
easily make suitable substitutes for this fine product. You will need a
hammer, six 2" to 2-1/2" masonry nails, a drill and drill bits, four
pieces of wood (like particle board) cut to the size of the base of your
speakers or speaker stands, wood glue, and a pile of bricks or some suitable
wood clamps.
First, drill three holes in a triangular pattern in one of the pieces of wood
as follows: two across the front about 2-3" in from the left/rights side and
about an inch back from the front. Then drill one hole at the center of the
rear about an inch in also. These pilot holes should be smaller than the nails;
they're used to keep the particle board from splintering/flaking. Next, drive
the nails into this board with enough force to make the heads just flush (not
recessed) with the surface. Now, glue another board over the nail heads and
clamp them together or pile bricks on top of them (nails up).
OPTIONAL BUT HIGHLY RECOMMENDED: Put three nylon 1" furniture glides in roughly
the same position as the nails but on the side that contacts the speaker/stand.
When finished, you should have something that looks like this from the front
edge:
left right
front rear front
nylon nylon nylon
skid skid skid
| | |
v v v
---------^-----------------^------------------^---------
| particle board top piece |
-------------------------------------------------------- glue these together
---------_------------------------------------_---------
| | particle board bottom piece | |
---------|------------------------------------|---------
| | |
left | | | right
nail-> | | | <-nail
| | |
^
|
rear nail
The purpose of the top board is to keep the nails from working their way out
of the bottom board and into your speakers or stands. The nylon skids
translate the advantages of the three point suspension to the speaker.
I've also made stands much like this by driving nails into the bottom of the
speaker stand, leaving about 2" of the nail exposed, and then cutting the
heads of the nails off.
One word of caution: this modification works best in carpeted rooms. The nails
should "reach through" the carpet and pad and rest on the room's subfloor. When
I turned my system on after the mod, it sounded TERRIBLE. (I thought to
myself, "Phil. You really #$%**!^ &^ this time!) The sound stage collapsed
totally and there was a lot of mud in the bass and a big dip in it's response
around 100 Hz or so. I then gently rocked and twisted these 120 lb. monsters
to better seat the nails into the subfloor and wow! What a difference. The
image focus has never been this tight and things just came to life as is some
great veil between the speakers and the listener had been lifted. I more easily
hear background details and things sound more life like.
Below is an illustration of the top view of the sound stage showing the original
stage (. . .), before seating (= = =), and after seating (* * *) effects.
.
. .
* * * * * * * * * *.* * *. * * * * * * * * * *
* . . *
* . . *
* . . *
* . . *
* . . *
* . . *
* . = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = . *
*. = = . *
. = = .
. = ------- ------- = .
. = | left| |right| = .
. = ------- ------- = .
. = = .
. = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = .
. .
.................................
Listening
Position
I'd like to hear other results people get when using tiptoes or making this
mod to your system.
Yours for higher fidelity,
Phil Rastocny
AT&T-ISL
ihnp4!drutx!pmrron@brl-tgr.ARPA (Ron Natalie <ron>) (12/07/84)
Of course, with floors like my old appartment, the last thing you wanted was good coupling with the floor for the turntable. What you needed was a floating Mass (the entire studios of WNCN is like this) to help isolate against building vibrations. -Ron