This is a great fountain for the price.  I am particular about the "water" sound.  I don't want to hear the motor and I want the water sound to be natural sounding.  I did not like how the water "plops" once it rolls off the sphere and returns back into the base.  It is not relaxing.  So, I used plastic material and I bunched it up under the sphere base and above the pump so that the water does not plop....it gently falls back into the base.  I can now here the actual water trickling.