Blu Tack

I know that most people recommend blu-tacking your speakers to your stands, but I have a pair of quad 12L speakers. The blu-tack keeps marking the piano gloss which is a PITA . More importantly, I had actually upgraded from a pair of Quad 11L's (which I had for about 4 hours before deciding I needed the 12L's instead) and I did blutack these to the stand but, when taking the speakers back and removing them from the stands, it ripped to foam feet from the speaker base away from the cabinets themselves (each cabinet has four tiny foam "feet" you see).
I think blu-tack is too strong and I don't want a repeat of this with the 12L's, so was wondering what I could use instead / alternative way of fixing the speakers.
Currently, they are just sitting on the target stands, but not stuck to it if you see what i mean.
thanx for any ideas.
Gaffer

 

Hi,
I had 11L's and as the top plate of my stands was smaller than the area between the feet I used 4 small rubber feet designed to stop stuff slipping and availible from Homebase etc.
I stuck them to the stand so the speakers rested on the domed bit. They seemed to work for me anyway.
Might be worth a try.

Andrew

 

Use bluetac but do not put the bluetac under the existing feet. If you need to clean the bluetac marks off later, rub a little lamp oil into the mark with a piece of kitchen roll and it will be clean in about 10 seconds. sorry, gave some incorrect advice there; get your girlfriend to rub the oil in; DOH!

 

Use yellowtac instead, does not mark like bluetac.

Ken

 

I found that putting a bead of BluTac around the edges of squash balls cut in half, work well as isolation feet under CDPs and other components.

Combined use of different materials make it difficult for different frequencies of vibrations to pass through, apparently.

 

Thanx for the advice. I've got blu-tack as that's pretty ubiquitous.

I've also now heard of black-tack, and now yellow-tack.

Where do I get these from?

 

There is also the WhiteTac
http://www.ryman.co.uk/Blu-tack-White-tack-108.asp

Then there is the


Have not heard about BlackTac and YellowTac before but have heard about TicTac
Not sure if this one provide any sonic benefits

 

Blue tack is not always the best option some spk/amp combo's prefer spikes to tighten up the bass.

 

They might roll off tick-tack (which flavour btw?)

I don't want to use spikes as I don't want to mark the cabinet you see.

er...so now we have blu/white/black/yellow/colour..../tic .

silly q, but is there any specifically designed for hi-fi use?

 

I heard somewhere that Mr Russ Andrews is developing a 'hi-fi flavored' version of these. It designed for high-end hi-fi use and copious amount of snake oil will be added as usual. A 'hi-fi price tag' will be incorporated free of charge.
:JPS:

 

I have tried many ways of holding my speakers on the stands, spikes, blue tack.racing cones etc. This is what I settled, three small squares of birch plywood with at least 5lbs of weight on the speaker, but now I am using clamps to hold them on tight,for me this works really,bit ugly so I am thinking of band clamps a liitle more wife friendly. For me it seems the tighter the speaker and stand the better. Give it a try you may like it too.

Happy listening

 

Dont use black tack, its stickier than a really sticky thing, mate of mine ripped the veneer off the base of his castle's after using it.

Tip: if you use anything like bluetack to secure your speakers on stands, twist the speaker first to break the bluetacks hold before lifting.

I've also seen people use the small ratchet straps that you get from halfords for strapping luggage to roof racks, a bit extreme maybe but I guess the speaks wont move.

 

If you wish to couple your speaker to your stands so firmly why not use some small #6 woodscrews and screw these through the bottom of the speaker platform into the speaker bases, they will only make very small holes that should not go all the way through the cabinet base. They will also be very easy to fill in with wood filler at re-sale time.

I know some folk will say that this will affect the re-sale value of the speakers but when all said and done you nedd to gain the most advantage for your use of the speaker not the next owners.
It's a bit like having really nice seats in your car but then fitting shitty, ill-fitting seat covers ( they never fit properly however much you pay !), just so that the next owner can enjoy the originals - whats the point ?

Pay your money and maximise your own ownership not the next guys....

 

I had thought seriously of screwing the stand to the speaker, but keeping the blocks in place, and I agree with your thoughts with regard to not spoiling ones pleasure by worrying about resale. However I can't seem to bring myself to do it

 

So if black tack and blue tack are too sticky (blue tack ripped off the veneer on my old pair of cerwin vega speakers as well ----- I haven't had much luck have I?), I suppose yellow tack is the way to go (?less sticky)