It suggests to me that the woofer is acting directly on the baffle and that the rubber suspension is not absorbing the movement - the speaker is clearly not seized or it would simply not produce bass. I take it that taking them off the stands makes little difference?

A bit more information.

This grotesque harmonic distortion appears to have something to do with the interaction between the Beogram 8000 tonearm and the speaker on the stand.

I tried my trusty 8-Track, the violent shaking disappears. So I tired placing an enormous bath towel under the Beogram, which improved things, but did not eliminate the problem. Then tried placing a large towel over the Beolab and placing the 8000 on top, still the shaking persists.

What baffles me is for weeks I played this setup at decent volume with the M100 speakers sitting directly on the table, in the exact same position on a towel to protect the veneer. The only difference is I added the stands.

This is an odd situation (that goes without saying) but with our extremely tight living space, the table is the only available space for these speakers, the Beogram 8000 and the Beolab 5000.

What further confuses me is way back when; when I was "thinking" of purchasing my first Beogram 4002 the B&O dealer brought one to my house and deliberately placed it on top of my McIntosh ML-2 speaker, to SHOW how well the Beogram was dampened with its amazing suspension. The gimmick worked and I bought the 4002 on the spot.

So I am wondering WHY the speaker sitting squarely on the common table is NOT a problem, but on its stand IS? Then is there anything I can do about this other than removing the stands?

Jeff

Hi Jeff,

I am not sure I fully understand the scenario.

When your M100 speakers were not on the stands do I understand that they were sitting on the same table that your Beogram is sitting?  

Now you have the M100 speakers on the stands, are the stands on the floor near the table or are the stands sitting on the table?

John

Hi John,

Always so nice to hear from you.

The set-up is unreasonable for reasons of no concern to anyone here at Beoworld. However, the left speaker, AKAI 8-Track, Beogram 8000, and Beolab 5000/Beomaster 5000 are all located on a large black table. The right speaker is located atop a console TV and is not part of this problem.

Yes, it is rather strange to have speakers on stands on top of furniture, but there is no other space available. It looks a bit odd as well, but the right speaker sure sounds great at ear level.(With the left speakers turned off)

I realize I have some kind of harmonic distortion going on, what I don't understand is why the stands "appear" to be the issue.

Further the violence of the shaking can NOT be over stated, it causes the Beolab to pulsate and the tonearm to just fly over the entire LP. I have experienced harmonic distortion before where it was loud and annoying, this is beyond that and into frightening.

I would have thought that the stands would be far better than the speakers sitting directly on the same table as the Beogram, but that is not the case.

The obvious solution all things considered is to take the speakers off their stands, but before I do that I wanted to see if there might be a solution which would allow me to continue to use these handsome stands. The speakers are so much more impressive on their custom stands.

Jeff

Hi Jeff,

Due to your room environment I would recommend not using the stands for now. Not just due to the problem but because those stands are really for floor placement and adjusting the speakers at that level. In your case you already have the M100's off the floor.  So with that being the case I would experiment with arranging the M100's on your tables for the best possible sound under those requirements. Save the speaker stands of course for some future time where you may need them.

Regards,
John

Have you tried to swap the 2 speakers?

Hi John,

The stands are rather impressive, and the speakers look MUCH more imposing than merely sitting atop a nondescript black table.... although at the same time, a bit odd.

In any case the M100's played beautifully for weeks until I put them on their stands. I very much doubt anything "failed" in the speaker due to being moved about, so the culprit almost certainly is the stand transmitting some sort of unacceptable vibration and being picked up by the MMC 6000 cartridge.

It was quite an experience, the Beogram had the stylus both bouncing and skating across one of my favourite records, the Beolab vibrating like a especially nasty four cylinder motor with a bad timing issue, and the M100 literally swaying on its stand. With no exaggeration I can honestly say I have never seen anything like this before.

Really scared the (you know what) out of me and  I can't imagine it did the M100 any good either.

My own theory is the massive vibrations were picked up by the MMC 6000 and relayed back to the speakers and it multiplied. My very own personal mini earthquake.

One day I will laugh about this one, but right now it was too much like a Marx Brothers movie for my taste. I pushed the volume slider to 3.5 and the speaker started rocking around so badly that I grabbed it, I then HAD to let one arm free to turn down the volume.

Had I had any idea this could possibly happen, I am sure I would have used great caution, but I didn't. I just turned the volume up to enjoy the speakers on their stands and all the above "happened."

If anyone doesn't really believe this story, that's perfectly OK, I don't know that I would have believed it had I not seen it for myself.

Later this evening, when I have some help, the speakers will come off their stands.

Jeff

Beold wrote:

Have you tried to swap the 2 speakers?

Thought of that, but I think I will first try removing the stand. Thanks for the suggestion.

Jeff

Certainly an interesting set up! Are the transit screws on the Beogram completely free - must be feedback but the suspension on the 8000 is very good usually! A video clip could be quite something to watch! Never had this with my M100s and have played them very loud using a Beogram 8000 amongst others.Admittedly, never with a large speaker on the same table!