Surprising DIY Tweak.

[RoyY51]

In a previous post, I asked about the advisability of cutting down my 33" speaker stands to 24". The general consensus was that it was probably a good idea, but I still had doubts: what if I cut them down and they sounded worse? So I decide to try it first on some surrogate stands. I trotted down to Home Depot and bought two 8x8x16 cinder blocks and two 8x8x8's I stacked an 8" on top of each 16" and I was ready to go. What I was not ready for was the amazing change in the speaker sound.

It now sounds like I am listening to completely different speakers! Everything has tightened up; the highs, the lows (and I have two subs hooked up...I would think a change in speaker stands wouldn't affect them at all) and everything in between. A snare drum sounds more like a snare drum. A piano sounds more like a piano. In short, everything just sounds more realistic.

My problem is this: I suspect that this across-the-board improvement in sound might have more to do with the change to the rock-solid cinder blocks than it does with the height of the stands. If that is the case I'm in a real quandary: how do I justify using these butt-ugly chunks of concrete instead of my beautiful hand-crafted stands? I know, I know: good sound trumps everything, but please! I guess I could try to disguise them somehow (wrap them in cloth, paint them) but they'll still be cinder blocks.

Any ideas?