Hey all,
I was wondering if an object (plants, books, etc.) will influence the sound quality of the speakers if they are placed on them. I have seen photos in this sub, where people are doing it, and I was also wondering if I could place plants on my speakers for aesthetic reasons.
It’ll probably affect the speaker itself more - more vibrations of a plant pot will probably scratch the speaker a lot over time. And if it’s unstable enough it’ll possibly fall off too…
I’d suggest keeping things off the speaker is a good idea.
You can use doilies to prevent the scratching lol
I just barfed a little
For about half the year my speakers have some sort of seasonal decoration on them. My q950s aren’t the highest of quality, and my room treatment is lacking, but I can’t hear a difference. It does make my wife happy to have more surfaces to decorate, and it gives me one more selling point when I bring home even more gear. I’ve never had anything vibrate off of the speakers. The subwoofer has dumped a few things though.
no need to ask, just do it and listen.
Yea I decided to put presonus eris 3.5s on top of my adam a7xs with eris sub… i run line outs from my apollo twin to the erisis and main LR to the Adam’s… this has been alot of fun seeing what kind of crazy good sounds I can get from my new wall of sound… so far it only seems like a good idea, everything is in phase and I’m having fun… does anyone have insight as to why that would be a bad idea?
I have a few little frog figures sitting on my speakers and I can’t tell the difference with or without frog. YMMV
If they are ceramic frogs they are supposed to lift your speaker cables.
Crystal frogs open up your sound stage.
Himalayan salt frogs clear up the mid-range.
Everybody knows that /s
Well one of the frogs is made of glass, the other is actually a little metal container and i keep my wisdom teeth in there. What do tooth frogs do to the sound?
Makes the sound “bite” more, duh…
This was specifically mentioned in the instructions for my speakers:
Never stand objects on your loudspeakers. In particular do not stand flowers, etc. on them – they are not jardinieres!
(Doesn’t really say why, but I’ll do what I’m told)
It also looks bad.
Pretty sure plants in particular are due to the increased risk of spilling water on speakers. Plenty of old 70s cabinets with water rings on top
A soft foam pad 1/4" between the speaker and the plant for sound isolation, a dish under the plant pot (to catch any runoff) and I can’t see the harm in this to the speaker or sound quality.
😂 what about Funko Pops? 😂
Think it said something about them not being in the same room as them…
Speakers vibrate.
Divers vibrate. Good speaker cabinets do not. So, it depends on the speaker. You have to go fairly high-end before the cabinet design is inert enough not to vibrate though.
I broke an expensive lamp off my 1st stereo. Just a bad idea
First it’s a plant, next it’s a glass of wine. If you’re like my household, any flat surface is fair game so start as you intend to go on!!
If my wife tries to place things on the speaker, the sound quality in the room experiences a sudden amplitude peak.
I now have speakers with tweeters on top. Winning.
It totally up to you. I’d do a tone sweep to make sure there aren’t resonances created by the object. The risk with plants is water that could either spill onto the speaker when watering or leak out of the bottom of the pot onto the speaker. If you can afford to replace your speaker when needed, or don’t mind peeling veneer, that risk is up to you. There are things on my speakers seasonally, or an iPad stand with an album cover displayed on it, etc… it’s never bothered me.
There are no hard and fast rules to be part of the audiophile club. Everybody does stuff that will make others cringe, but ultimately, it’s up to you, your ears, your needs. What makes ME cringe is people treating their stuff like mini-dieties, babied to protect resale value, and don’t USE them to their fullest.
Never. Ever
Almost every vintage speaker I’ve restored has a “plant ring” on the top, from water damage. Sometimes the damage goes all the way through the veneer. Do with that information what you will.
I’ve got aluminium foil on mine, because we have a rowdy kitten that thinks she’s Spiderman.
I haven’t noticed any difference at all with some plants on or off of my speakers. I just put some thicker felt pads under the pots so they don’t scratch the speakers and won’t vibrate or rattle.