The Two Channel Advice Thread

you may ask Mr. Sorbothane for help

 

Putting a Theta Dreadnought in there will probably keep it from vibrating pretty good.

 

https://www.jamesloudspeaker.com/products/111

 

Anyone here getting a set of E50 Buchardts?

I've been slowly looking around to explore, since I realize that the average Dutch house/living room just isnt big enough for bigger speakers. As much as I might regret it, it may make sense to do bookshelves and maybe a sub over the LS6f set i have

 

The E50 look pretty cool. If you want a high end furniture grade enclosure, they definitely fit the bill. I’m sure they’ll sound awesome too.

If the LS6f are too big though but you like them, did you also consider the LS6 + sub? Or just looking for something different?

 

That reminds me a great deal of the Leon A10, technology-wise.
Is it convergent evolution or rebadging?

My A10 didn't have a nice finish so I sold it for something else. It did sound good and was very powerful.

Both James and Leon are top-priced manufacturers.

 

I install a ton of James stuff, their landscape line is slick. All there stuff is pretty good really.

 

I do not think the are sister companies or anything, but with the way audio companies are sold and bought it wouldn't surprise me if they were owned by some mega corp!

 

I remembered I do have some subwoofers hidden in Ikea storage tables. Would that be at all helpful?

 

So I'm having a deck built right now, and I grabbed a couple scrap pieces of 2x8's and stacked them to raise my speakers approximately 3". Just enough to get the coaxial driver away from the corner of the cabinet (since right now the front baffle sits a couple inches behind the front edge of the cabinet; a necessity because if I pull the speaker out my low end drops off a cliff due to the weird config of my alcove). Again, small incremental improvement in clarity now that sound isn't diffracting off the cabinet corners. I just need to find something that's the right size that isn't an eyesore.

I don't have a mic set up, but just playing a frequency sweep I get a surprising amount of bass right now up to approx 75Hz, then it kinda weirdly shelves down and feels relatively flat the rest of the way up. I think the shelf is more DSP witchery rather than room acoustics though.

Notes to self: alcove width is approx 9 ft
75 Hz wavelength = 15 ft

No room for additional furniture at the moment. I was thinking maybe stashing a wireless sub under the couch, but I only have 5.5" of clearance under that so it's not any better than the cabinet.

That James DF10 posted above certainly looks interesting and it'll fit... but damn $1k USD on the used market plus shipping to Canada is a bit much, plus then I'd have to find a slim amp blah blah.

 

What about 4" thick? In old-world measurements, these are 4x8x16":

https://www.rona.ca/en/product/reve...cm-h-x-1016-cm-w-x-4064-cm-l-33010051-5503024

They're a shade narrower than the Kefs' plinths but the plinth feet look to be more narrowly spaced so they wouldn't fall off the edges. And you could always glue a couple of nicely-finished bits of wood on either side to make up the diff and cover the holes. Or not, if you want to retain the industrial aesthetic.

 

Lol, I would definitely need to glue wood trim to make it acceptable. Those 2x8's already got me an exasperated eyeroll, I think a concrete block will convert the eye roll to slant eye disapproval, and we all know where that leads.

I was also eyeing this... almost perfect size, though I'm concerned with how strong the "legs" are. Any lateral force with 70 lbs on top might crack crack it.
https://www.ikea.com/ca/en/p/stolthet-chopping-board-bamboo-30512810/

 

Oho, the expensive furniture-grade solution! The individual sections of those Ikea glued-bamboo things are pretty solid, but you'd want to add a couple of big wood screws through the tops into each leg to reinforce the butt joints. They're a bit shorter than the plinths, so I guess you'd sit the speakers straight on them?

And what for floor coupling? Do you have spikes to go through the carpet?

 

I measured the little feet spacing as best I could and my absolute minimum is 7.5" x 12"
while the plinth is 8.3"X15.5"
ikea raised cutting board 8.75" x 13.75"

So yup, the speakers will just barely fit widthwise and have a slight overhand on the length but not terribly so. I didn't plan on any floor coupling. It's floating on carpet at the moment. Heck, I wonder if I could flip the cutting board over and rest the speakers on the legs instead. Hmm, or buy two cutting boards for each side and flip two together like a sandwich so I have a flat top and bottom, but that seems silly (but would at least be stronger laterally).

 

Regarding the sandwich idea, I'd be worried about wobbles. Having a flat bottom on what looks like highly textured (& squishy?) carpet might lead to some flapping around, whereas the two narrow legs might 'bite' down into the carpet better and keep the speakers more stable.

 

You could just put a brace between the 2 legs - a piece of wood the length between the legs, run 2 screws from the outside of the legs into the brace. Wouldn't even have to be the same height as the legs, could be a bit shorter but butt it up against the bottom of the cutting board & you'd be fine. Place it close to the back of the legs & you probably wouldn't even see it.

 

@Armaegis , have you considered something like the IsoAcoustics Aperta?
https://isoacoustics.com/home-audio-isolation-products/aperta-series/

I tried the subwoofer version of it but it didn't meet the need I had. That one is less than $70.

 

That's a good point. Yes it is a relatively squishy carpet, and is 20+ years old so it compacts quite a bit.

Oh that is a great suggestion. This definitely moves the cutting board idea up a notch, though my partner is already losing patience with my tweaking... this project may potentially be abandoned (for now).

Are the Aperta much better than the ISO series? I had a set of those ages ago but they felt so flimsy and the speakers were wobbly on them.

 

Yeah, those ISOs just seemed like flimsy plastic.

I ended up just using 1" thick rubber/cork vibration pads. Those, for $0.50/each, are a bargain.

 

The Aperta has a tilt adjustment, but it is low height only and doesn't have a way to raise the speaker higher.