Isolate speakers from desk

Ayrton

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I've just set up my new home office, which includes a stereo hifi. I've got Mordaunt Short M20 speakers either side of my monitor, and my stereo amp switches between laptop input when I'm on a call and a Sonos streamer when I'm not. All good.

Except the speakers sound too boomy. This is an achievement really, because the M20s are not particularly beefy at the low end. I think I've solved this, temporarily, by standing the speakers on paperback books - I'm suggesting that the boom is from the desk being used as a soundbox. On the books it's sounds much better, tighter.

Has anyone got a recommendation for something more permanent (hopefully inexpensive) that I can stand these speakers on? I've seen some foam on Amazon, that would probably work, but even cut foam is going to look a bit scruffy; and some feet, some of which were expensive and others which turn to fruit pastilles in the medium term, according to the reviews

Any ideas?
 
For your situation, i would go for foam Isolation Pads

Which foam did you see on Amazon? The ones advertised may not be the best but look decent enough to try from what i can see

There are others with a slight different design



I had looked in the Isopads a while back but Fortunately the Wife keeps hold of packaging for a while and i was blessed enough she had some foam from one of her bits which was the right type foam and worked a treat. A Sharp blade to cut into shape and good to go
 
Maybe you're right, if I cut it slightly smaller than the footprint I need never see it. I'm probably being silly given that it's just my office, but I'm trying to avoid the home made look hence my preference for feet, if possible.
 
How about a set of these:

Raise It Isolation Feet for Speaker Vibration/Ventilation and Cooling for Consoles PS4, PS5, Xbox, PC, DVD Player, Internet Router/Universal Fit/Non-Slip / 12 Pack Amazon product ASIN B08NDVPH7N
You get 12, so could use 4 on each of the speakers, then the other 4 on the amp itself.

I use them under my big centre speaker. They isolate it from the birch ply cabinet it sits on. You could even by 2 sets and stack them double.
 
Suits my meagre budget, thank you!
You're welcome. I too liked the price. My centre speaker cost me over £500 alone. The amp i use them on cost near £600. They might be cheap and cheerful, but they do the job (of isolation) very well imo.

One bit of advice. When new out of the box, they do have quite a pungent/unpleasant smell. This does completely disappear over time, but I simply left mine outside in the open box overnight in my shed to resolve this! 😂
 
I'm in a very similar position so will be following the thread.

Unfortunately, one of my speakers sits on top of a thick plank of wood which forms the top of a cabinet. Even more annoyingly, the turntable sits on this same surface.

I've been looking into buying some squash balls to cut in half and sstick under the speakers.
 
You're welcome. I too liked the price. My centre speaker cost me over £500 alone. The amp i use them on cost near £600. They might be cheap and cheerful, but they do the job (of isolation) **

What exactly do you mean by isolate? If this successfully stops the vibrations from the speaker travelling down to the cabinet, I'll be buying some and you should collect a commission 😆
 
What exactly do you mean by isolate? If this successfully stops the vibrations from the speaker travelling down to the cabinet, I'll be buying some and you should collect a commission 😆
Yep that's exactly what they do! What's more as said they do it very well and at a price that's hard to beat imo. They also have the additional advantage of stopping the speaker/amp they're under from slipping on said surface! My big heavy centre speaker doesn't slide now - unless you really push it. Nice safeguard against little hands too 🤣🤣👍🏼

Edit: I missed this bit: and you should collect a commission 😆

Maybe I should 😂😂😂
 
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Further @darrenhaken uses the same "Raise-it" pads under his heavy, large MA Silver 100 bookshelf speakers....

I'm sure he'll happily recommend them & echo my thoughts etc 👍🏼😉
 
How about a set of these:

Raise It Isolation Feet for Speaker Vibration/Ventilation and Cooling for Consoles PS4, PS5, Xbox, PC, DVD Player, Internet Router/Universal Fit/Non-Slip / 12 Pack Amazon product ASIN B08NDVPH7N
You get 12, so could use 4 on each of the speakers, then the other 4 on the amp itself.

I use them under my big centre speaker. They isolate it from the birch ply cabinet it sits on. You could even by 2 sets and stack them double.
Tempted by some of these myself for my centre speaker which is sat on an ikea kallax. Ta
 
Tempted by some of these myself for my centre speaker which is sat on an ikea kallax. Ta
I'm sure won't me disappointed. For further context. The large centre I refer to is a MA Silver C350: H=235 x w=560 x D=240 mm, weighing a tad under 15Kg...

4 of these little gems sit in each corner and the big boy doesn't move an inch and there's zero vibration on the cabinet beneath it. They're also black so look just like little "feet" for the speaker Almost as if they came with them infact.

Edit: i also use 4 under my Panasonic UB820 Bluray which sits on top of my Audiolab 6000A. Again this has eliminated vibration from the UB820 itself, allows an airflow gap between the Audiolab and UB820 and stop the kids pushing it off.
 
I'm sure won't me disappointed. For further context. The large centre I refer to is a MA Silver C350: H=235 x w=560 x D=240 mm, weighing a tad under 15Kg...

4 of these little gems sit in each corner and the big boy doesn't move an inch and there's zero vibration on the cabinet beneath it. They're also black so look just like little "feet" for the speaker Almost as if they came with them infact.

Edit: i also use 4 under my Panasonic UB820 Bluray which sits on top of my Audiolab 6000A. Again this has eliminated vibration from the UB820 itself, allows an airflow gap between the Audiolab and UB820 and stop the kids pushing it off.
Mines a kef r2c, so not that small either, plus it'll increase the height (even if it is only 8mm 🤣)
 
We'll I've bought some, just need a granite slab under the TT now and that should be sorted.
 
We'll I've bought some, just need a granite slab under the TT now and that should be sorted.
Instead of the granite slab, try 4 of these (you get 12, so should have 4 left). Might save you a bit of dosh and these are easier to lift vs a granite slab 😂😂
 
Mines a kef r2c, so not that small either, plus it'll increase the height (even if it is only 8mm 🤣)
Yep that Kef's certainly big. 8mm is nothing and positioned correctly, it'll look like the R2C has little feet! 🤣
 
I use this under my B&W 606s - works so well
 

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You're welcome. I too liked the price. My centre speaker cost me over £500 alone. The amp i use them on cost near £600. They might be cheap and cheerful, but they do the job (of isolation) very well imo.

One bit of advice. When new out of the box, they do have quite a pungent/unpleasant smell. This does completely disappear over time, but I simply left mine outside in the open box overnight in my shed to resolve this! 😂
Took them out of the box today, and I quite like the smell. Does that make me weird? :D
 
Took them out of the box today, and I quite like the smell. Does that make me weird? :D
I'll be polite and alter as follows:

Took them out of the box today, and I quite like the smell. Does that make me unique? :D

🤣🤣🤣
 
Similar comments to others, I use deflex foculpods …they do polipods and super pods depending on weight you need to support and they come in all sorts of sizes.

i don’t recall where I got mine from but I think they are still available on eBay and relatively inexpensive.

I have a pair of edirol (Roland) active speakers on my desk either side of a 34” monitor, and I raised it all to be at ear and eye level by getting a simple furniture board from b&q and adding kitchen cabinet adjustable legs. this also had the advantage of creating more desk space

I only have this older pic immediately available which is with a little smaller monitor… but gives you the idea. Yes sure I know someone will point out not great having stuff on top of speakers, but for my working from home it’s fine and they are easily moveable. I tend now to have a laptop closed under the shelf and hooked up to the monitor with external keyboard

to the side I have a mini 10,channel mixing desk that has a FireWire interface and can act as external DAC for my PC sat underneath and I’ve got various instruments plugged in. Mainly use headphones for mixing though.probably there are better speaker options for me but these are convenient for multiple uses.

0AD88372-7EF0-49CE-83AF-874A6EF769B1.jpeg
 

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