NestDesk Update ~ Corktop And Flying Blandas 11Jan25

The current NestDesk system sounds great IMO, and in the opinions of others who've heard it. It's my nearfield system with Blanda108NS salad bowl speakers, Blanda sub, Black Ice FX10H tube amp and Denafrips Enyo 15th DAC. Though, an audio nut is rarely done and the speakers are directly sitting on the desk with a plane (the desk) in front, which can bugger high frequency reflections. Too, when presented to DIYAudio, comments yielded an idea to try a desk pad to absorb some reflections. I got a pretty cheap, but large, cork and pleather 2-sided mat which covered the monitor & speaker width well. I bought a real leather one too but it would not unwrinkle so I returned it.

I remeasured the kit at my listening position before and after the new pad to check the notion. The mat did make the SPL sweep seem smother than the naked bamboo desktop, and it didn't matter much which side of the pad was "up," but I could not hear a great difference. I'll keep the grey pleather side pad in place ~ heck it protects the desk too.

I also had a wild notion to "fly" the Blanda108s abreast of the monitor, up in the air by a foot or so. I knew suspending the speakers would be a challenge but I fabricated a brace from 1/2" x 1/8" aluminum bar and attached it to the Vesa monitor adapter on the back of my monitor... I simply put the ends of the bar into the bass ports on the back of the speakers. It worked but was too wobbly and orienting the speakers was unwieldy. I abandoned the idea.