Fill 340 Stands with sand or no?

[merrymaid520]

Hey everyone,

I have had the 340's and now the 340SE's on the ascend stands for some time and thought I read some where recently that it may benefit the sound if I were to fill them with playsand?

I do have some from Home Depot leftover, any thoughts, pros/cons?


Thanks,

Brandon

[Sam1000]

If you read the 340 review at the following URL, Dave highly recommeneded to fill the stands with either sand or lead.

http://www.affordableaudio.org

[drewface]

http://www.affordableaudio.org/aa2007-04.pdf

this review mentions the sand vs no-sand scenarios, you should give it a read (starts on page 4, with the sand stuff starting at the bottom of page 5, first column)

EDIT: beat to the punch... doh!

[merrymaid520]

I just filled them with sand! I read thru that review and it sounds like filling them is a definite benefit sound wise. After filling I played a few Hotel California tracks in DVD-Audio (2 ch), and the bass was a bit tighter and everything sounded awesome. I did notice a slight difference in the lower frequencies but its tough to explain in words.

Was it night/day, no, but an improvment, yes!

Thanks for the tips guys & Dave F. (who emailed me with his thoughts).

Brandon

[audibleconnoisseur]

I know you have already filled it but anything that is heavy and solid substance and DRY will work well. Not so much that you can't lift it after but enough that it won't tip and so there is no acoustic reverb that comes from the stand itself.

[musicforme]

I haven't filled my 340 stands yet (daughter is only a month old), but plan to by the end of the year.

I plan to use lead as I think it would be easier to empty when my family moves to a bigger house in the next couple of year. I can't imagine the mess it would make if I tried to empty the stand if it had sand in it.

Any suggestions regarding the lead?

[GirgleMirt]

I just filled mine with sand, and thought I could hear a difference... :confused: Maybe I'm going crazy...! :D

Lead is fine, but you might want to take handling precautions since lead is rather toxic... Still, once filled, and maybe tape the stand hole with tape to make it airtight, it should be perfect, but my guess is that it will cost quite a bit more than sand, but will probably be more heavy.

I used two bags of 16kg of sand (not dry, had to let it dry...), which fills them maybe 3/4 or 4/5, and they're HEAVY... I really don't think weight will be any issue with sand.

I don't see why you would want to remove the sand from the stands... If you move, just move then with the sand... It's not like you're going to want to sell the 340SE's :p

[Kingrsl]

How dry does the sand have to be? I just purchased 3 bags of pavers sand. The sand isn't really wet but there is a little moisture in the bag from humidity.

[curtis]

How dry does the sand have to be? I just purchased 3 bags of pavers sand. The sand isn't really wet but there is a little moisture in the bag from humidity.
Where did you get it?

The type of sand you want is sandbox sand/play sand. On the bag it should say something about being "washed and dried", non-toxic....etc.

MDF, which is what the stands are made of, soaks up moisture very easily...which you do not want.

[Kingrsl]

The sand I have is paver's sand from Lowe's. I don't believe it says anything about washed/dryed/non-toxic. Is this bad to use?

[Mag_Neato]

I believe paver base has moisture in it. Does the material stick together at all? In other words, could you make a sand castle out of it? If so, get rid of it and use play sand.

[GirgleMirt]

nah, you don't have to get rid of it, just put it in some large buckets and let it dry for a few days... Should take like 3-4 days to get it completely dry if you got some good surface. But then sand is very cheap so if you find some dry just buy it and get rid of the other :D

[Kingrsl]

A friend of mine is about to get some for his yard so I'll just sell it to him instead. Whats a good place to find just plain dry sand?

[curtis]

Got my play sand from Home Depot.

[drewface]

i just got a couple bags of play sand from home depot for my stands. it says it is washed and screened, but not dried. it was the only play sand they had, so i guess i'll have to let it sit for a couple days.

[Abhi]

How about using a bunch of old telephone directories to fill it up?

[Kingrsl]

I picked up 3 bags from Walmart for less than $2/bag. I'm waiting to move my setup into the spare room before I fill them.

[GirgleMirt]

How about using a bunch of old telephone directories to fill it up?
How do you fit "a bunch of old telephone directories" thru a one inch hole? :confused:

[Quinn]

How do you fit "a bunch of old telephone directories" thru a one inch hole? :confused:

I cut the bottom off a 2 liter soda bottle for a funnel for the sand but have no idea how you'd get phone books in there.

[GirgleMirt]

yeah even if you got somehow got the phone books in there, it wouldn't really work.

The sand works by reducing the vibrations of the stand's side/front panels. As it basically fills the stands and contacts every panel, it effectively dampens vibrations. So even if you managed to fit phone books in the stands they would not have contact with every surface like sand does, so you wouldn't have the same dampening effect.

I made a paper funnel but soda bottle sounds like a good idea (I don't drink sodas though...), if you can, fill them outside, as it produces quite a bit of dust...

[curtis]

Thanks for the funnel ideas....I don't know where mine is and was going to pick one up.

I filled my custom stands three years ago or so, and I wonder how much the sand has settled. I am going to take a look and top them off.....was actually thinking of topping them off with kitty litter(new of course...I don't have a cat).