November 1997
Blu-Tack: The Duct
Tape of High End Audio
In Canada, we have a TV show that is best described as the Canadian
version of ‘Home Improvement.’ The show is called ‘Red
Green’ and its star, a gentleman named Red Green, uses duct tape
to make just about everything. You know it’s a Canadian show
because, unlike Home Improvement, Red Green wears a plaid shirt. In
fact, I think everyone on the show wears a plaid shirt. Red Green’s
favorite sayings are:
‘if a woman doesn’t find you
handsome, she should at least find you handy’
and
‘duct tape, the handyman’s secret
weapon...’
You may be asking what exactly this has
to do with audio. I believe that Blu Tack is as useful in high end
audio as duct tape is around the house. I’m a little too thrifty
to actually drop the 15 or so dollars for the audio version of the
stuff, so I head out to the local office supply store for the nearest
equivalent. In whatever incarnation it comes, be it Blu Tack, Fun
Tack, Wall Tack, etc., that little blue gob of goo has got to be the
most useful audio accessory on the face of the planet. I call it the
‘duct tape’ of high end audio. For simplicity’s sake,
I will simply refer to it as Tack.
Why is this stuff so incredibly handy?
It has some very important qualities that are highly prized in this
crazy hobby: it sticks to things without leaving marks when it’s
removed (mostly!), it sticks things together even if they aren’t
smooth or flat, and it is low in resonance. These combinations make
it very useful to stick any combination of things together while reducing
vibrations.
Here are some uses, some common, some
a little different:
- Speakers to speaker stands
- for best results use four small pieces rolled into little balls
about the size of a pea - not those awful little soft British peas
- they should be about 3/8" in diameter. Put them on the four
corners of the stands and place the speakers where you want them
to sit, then put as much weight on the speakers as you can without
breaking anything. I have used this technique and the contact is
so strong I can pick up my speakers and the stands won’t fall
off - and the stands are filled with 40lbs of sand! The best way
to pull something off that is Tacked down is to twist first, then
pull.
- Audio cones to equipment,
speakers and racks - the same thing, less is more. With audio cones
it is especially important to make sure the pieces of Tack are the
same size or you’re equipment won’t level correctly. In
these cases it’s best to use a fresh piece as they are already
in uniform strips, cut the pieces from the same strip for best results.
You can also use them UNDER the cones (the pointy part) to protect
the finish on your equipment rack.
- I even used it to put my rack
on Tender Feet. I have a modified version of the ‘Rack and
Roll’ project and didn’t want to machine screw holes in
the bottom of my threaded steel rods so I just Tacked them in place.
- Along the edge of poorly made
speaker stands to keep the sand in - I have a friend with the four
post Atlantis stands and they leak sand out the top and bottom when
they are full. He makes ‘strings’ that are about an 8th
of an inch thick and pushes them into the edges of the posts. No
more leaks. It doesn’t look the best, but you could probably
paint it or even cover it with black electrical tape.
- Hold down cable duct to the
floor - it is dangerous to have long runs of cable or wiring run
across the floor when people are going to be stepping on or over
them. There is specially designed floor duct for this, but you have
to stick it to the floor. Double sided tape would probably do the
job, but I know someone who Tacked it to the floor.
- In cartridges to help hold
your cables in - some people put Tack on the cartridge where the
cables plug in. You plug the cables in first and put a small amount
around the cable to help hold it in. It supposedly helps with the
contact of the cables to cartridge and, again helps reduce vibration.
Be careful around that cartridge though, you don’t want to
turn an inexpensive tweak into a costly repair!
- Between your cartridge and
the mounting shell on your tonearm- This makes for better contact
between the two and apparently has limited use on the better tonearms
out there.
- To elevate speaker cable off
the floor - there are a number of people who are obsessed with how
all their cabling interacts with other cables and, eek!, the floor.
There are various theories such as making sure all cables don’t
touch or ensuring that they cross at right angles, elevating them
off the floor is another common practice. Tack can facilitate each
of these.
- Tack your nickels to the floor
- so when the cleaning ladies come in, you don’t have to put
your speakers back in alignment. I found that my speakers were too
easily moved by careless people and the nickels I use under my spikes
slide across the hardwood floor too easily. A little Tack under
each nickel solved that problem.
- Attach mdf to the floor -
to keep spikes from ruining your hardwood and not having to worry
about trying to keep those *&^%$#!! nickels under your spikes.
As a reviewer, I have often lamented the practice of having my spikes
sitting on nickels. Sure it works and saves the floor, but when
you are trying to swap and compare speaker stands or even speakers,
I really wish I had carpeting with plywood underflooring. One weekend,
when I was doing a fair bit of comparison between stands, I Tacked
a couple of large pieces of MDF to the floor so I could shuffle
those spiked beasts around without trying to line those bleeping
nickels up!
- On AIG Imagers – Andrew
Marshall’s Audio Ideas Guide magazine sells some foam rings
that fit around the edge of your tweeters to improve imaging by
reducing dispersion. They actually work quite well on most speakers
and they are an inexpensive tweak - 6 bucks. I have used Tack on
these to try them out on review speakers that I didn’t want
them permanently adhered to.
- Keep pictures from rattling
- if you have pictures that rattle when your subwoofer kicks in,
use a little Tack at the bottom of the frame. This goes for anything
that may rattle on a shelf or a bookcase as well.
- Reinforce your CD rack - a
fellow reviewer at SoundStage! can’t afford a decent CD rack,
so he uses Tack in the spots where the wood doesn’t fit together
particularly well, it also adds structural strength.
- Keep your subwoofer from jumping
around - Another reviewer has a Sunfire subwoofer, a particularly
small and powerful sub which has no accommodation for spikes. He
found that not only did it improve the sound, but it kept the sub
from moving.
- Tack Tube Hats - on the tip
top of most 9 pin tubes which are not running scalding hot, you
can make a cone shaped "hat" of Tack... do not let it
get too far down around the edge/lip of the top of the tube or it
will melt from the heat. This works on most 6DJ8/6922 and 12A_7
tube types. It is about as effective as any other tube damping.
The heat does something to the Tack over time, it gets less resilient
so it should be thrown away with the tube - or if the tube lasts
a long time, changing the Tack before the tube wears out might be
helpful.
- Hanging things on the wall
- at the Montreal show, I even noticed that one of the distributors
had put up a poster using Tack. Actually, this was it’s original
use. If you’re old enough (or young enough!) you may have actually
seen it first used by the teacher in grade school to hang up the
stuff he/she just wrote on the easel. Who knew you were learning
an important audio technique at the age of 7?
Most of what I have described are almost identical situations -
something needing a damped attachment that is easily removed. Here
are some uses that are a little more fun:
- Tack the cat - I know someone
who has a cat that’s quite intrigued with his turntable while
it’s playing. It’s hard to listen to music when you’re
worried about a ‘swat’ that could cost several thousand
dollars. He has often lamented that he has not yet found an effective
way to keep the cat at bay while listening to music. Tack your cat
to the ceiling - problem solved.
- In your spouse’s ears
- sometimes cotton just isn’t dense enough for a good listening
session.
- In your ears - when your spouse
finds out how much you spent on your new interconnects.
- Tack behind the ear to push
the ear out - increases the ratio of direct sound to reflected sound.
- Tack on the ear lobe and/or
inside pinnea - tunes the response of the ear, dampens unwanted
fleshy resonance’s.
- Tack Caps - A set to give
you beautiful teeth without an expensive trip to the dentist.
- Chewing Gum - add a little
mint... who knows?
Do you have a use for Tack? Let us know…
...John Stafford
stafford@soundstage.com
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