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Q: My studio monitors tend to want to vibrate off of my metal speaker stands.

So, I installed a rubber mouse pad under each one.

The other day an engineer was in my studio and suggested this isn’t a good idea because it covers up the hole in the top of my speaker stands that runs down the length of them into the base.

Is that correct?

A: No, no, no!

Where does stuff like this come from?!!

Maybe there is some speaker stand somewhere in which the sound created by the hollow tube is actually a good thing, but none I’ve ever seen.

Stands configured this way (with one or more hollow tubes making the leg(s)) have inherent problems with the resonances created by the hollow tube.

Even covering it up with the mouse pad as you did probably doesn’t fix it, but it also isn’t going to make it worse, so just keep using your mouse pads.

However, you should fill up the hollow tubes. Sand is great for this. You can go to your nearest hardware store and buy a bag of sandbox sand. Seal of the bottom of the tube; fill it up with sand, then seal off the top.

The sand accomplishes a couple of things:
1) It eliminates the resonant cavity created by the tube.
2) It gives the stand a lot more mass while absorbing vibrations.

Mass is good. Mass helps to keep things from vibrating and transmitting vibrations to other things.

Using sand to add mass is effective because the loose nature of the sand grains will actually dampen vibrations further.

This actually works better than if the tube were solid metal or wood.

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