At Expressive Audio we always recommend using Atacama's Atabite inert mass filler with any newly purchased speaker stands, or indeed as an easy DIY upgrade for your existing stands. In the following article and video we show you firstly how to put together a pair of new Atacama NeXXus 600 Essential speaker stands, and secondly how to reach that next level of sonic perfection by filling the legs with Atacama Atabite inert filler.
The Atabites themselves are uniformly sized discs of zinc coated steel which, when poured into the legs of your speaker stands, reduce the natural resonance of the metal legs and therefore eliminate any ringing caused by sound waves travelling from the speaker to the stands. The zinc coating also prevents any corrosion due to oxidisation, so you won't have to worry about changing your filler later down the line.
While ringing from the speaker stands may sound like an inconsequential problem to solve, everyone who has done a side by side comparison between filled and empty stands has been astonished at the difference it can make. And at £35 a tub, with two tubs usually being enough for most stands, it's an absurdly easy and worthwhile upgrade for your HiFi system!
Building the stands is simple. There are four main components; the legs, top plates, bottom plates, and bolts/spikes. Start by placing the bottom plates on the legs and attaching them with the round head screws. Then turn the stands the right way up and attach the top plates with the countersunk screws. Flip it back upside down and screw the spikes into the bottom side of the bottom plates, followed by the locking nuts on the top side of the bottom plates. This is better demonstrated in the video!
Filling the stands is equally simple. With the stands the right way up, remove the top plates with the two countersunk screws, and use a funnel and scoop to fill each leg of each stand with the required amount of Atabites.
At the end of this article is a rough guide to the amount of filler you will need for different sizes of Atacama stands. Each tub contains 7kg, so divide the recommended weight of filler by 7 to calculate the number of tubs to buy. Obviously if it says 1.3 tubs, buy 2! To achieve the best sonic performance, we recommend only filling each leg about half to two thirds of the way up, or you risk deadening the stands too much.
Maximum approximate weight of Atabites that can be used for each pair of Atacama speaker stands
Nexus 5, Moseco 5, =7KG,
Nexus 6, Moseco 6, Duo 6, =10.4KG
Nexus 7, Moseco 7, Duo 7, =12.2KG
Nexus10, Moseco 10, =21KG
Moseco CC series, as above with corresponding leg height.
SLX200=7.2KG
SLX300=15.2KG
SLX400=24KG
SLX500=32.8KG
SLX600=41.6KG
SLX700=48.8KG
SLX1000=68KG
(SL series, as SLX)
HMS1.1 & Moseco XL 500mm=34KG
HMS1.1 & Moseco XL 600mm=41.8KG
HMS1.1 700mm=55.4KG
HMS2.1 & HMS2X-600=84KG
Apollo Cyclone 5= 7KG
Apollo Cyclone 6= 10.4KG
Apollo Cyclone 7= 12.2KG
Moseco 5=7KG
Moseco 6, Duo 6=10.4KG
Moseco 7, Duo 7=12.2KG
Moseco 10=21KG
Nexus 6i=8.2KG
Nexus7i=12.2KG
Nexus10i=21KG
Audition Series (approximate number of tubs needed per pair of stands)
Audition 300 = 2 Tubs
Audition 400 = 3 Tubs
Audition 500 = 4 Tubs
Audition 600 = 5 Tubs
Audition 700 = 6 Tubs
