Speaker spikes vs rubber feet

More isolation. It seems to me you’re using spikes, devices meant to concentrate the load and give it direct contact and then nullifying those effects by adding distribution and then isolation.
Maybe you're right, it sounds so good I should just dismantle the whole setup.

Just kidding of course, but it does sound sublime. You should come check it out. :D
The main thing is I didn't want to spike directly into the floor for fear of my wife's wrath, plus I also didn't want to damage newly sanded and varnished flooring when we bought our home. I tried using the metal coaster floor protectors like in post #31 but I found that setup to be somewhat unstable, someone would walk near the speaker and the slightest touch would start the speaker on a tilt.

So, I started to experiment. I tried no spikes, didn't like the sound (muddy and lost). So spikes were a necessity. The only solution I thought about was to create a wooden platform for the spikes, bought some solid wood used for stair steps and created what I show above. Initially, I didn't have any felts below the platforms, its sounded ok but it was a bit all over the place in terms of bass so I figured the vibrations from the music being played are having a negative effect on the the sound, maybe working their way back to the drivers.

I then thought to isolate these wooden platforms. I tried rubber, didn't like it. The sound just died, sounded like it was behind a curtain. I tried gel pads, cork pads, mehhh. Finally, I tried four small felt pads right below the spikes. The bass came back, everything became more defined, the speakers seemed to breathe again.

It works for me, given my setup and room acoustics. It sounds just great and I get to save my floor and have a happy wife. :thumbsup:

Maybe I discovered "coupling by isolation". :)

Cheers, sir.
 
The main thing is I didn't want to spike directly into the floor for fear of my wife's wrath, plus I also didn't want to damage newly sanded and varnished flooring when we bought our home. I tried using the metal coaster floor protectors like in post #31 but I found that setup to be somewhat unstable, someone would walk near the speaker and the slightest touch would start the speaker on a tilt.

So, I started to experiment. I tried no spikes, didn't like the sound (muddy and lost). So spikes were a necessity. The only solution I thought about was to create a wooden platform for the spikes, bought some solid wood used for stair steps and created what I show above. Initially, I didn't have any felts below the platforms, its sounded ok but it was a bit all over the place in terms of bass so I figured the vibrations from the music being played are having a negative effect on the the sound, maybe working their way back to the drivers.

I then thought to isolate these wooden platforms. I tried rubber, didn't like it. The sound just died, sounded like it was behind a curtain. I tried gel pads, cork pads, mehhh. Finally, I tried four small felt pads right below the spikes. The bass came back, everything became more defined, the speakers seemed to breathe again.

It works for me, given my setup and room acoustics. It sounds just great and I get to save my floor and have a happy wife. :thumbsup:

Maybe I discovered "coupling by isolation". :)

Cheers, sir.
Makes perfect sense. Your coupling with spikes into a surrogate board to save your floors. Also makes it easier to adjust speaker position.
 
They do make spike discs for this exact reason...i have a set under my SRS 1.2tl spikes to protect my hardwood floor.
 
I spike my stands (600mm) through the carpet and underlay into the timber beneath. Without spikes, they speakers would wobble around and likely tip over.

When I had tiles, I spiked the various heavy floorstanders but put a coin* under the tips of each spike to prevent damaging the glazing. Some speakers come with timber floor caps that go over the pointy spikes to prevent floor damage.

I've never heard a speck of difference between spiking a speaker or not- it comes down to overall stability/safety as far as I am concerned.

*Obviously the value of the coin and particularly the colour affects the sound. 5cent and 10cent coins should avoided as they are frankly too cheap. Use a nice gold coin, such as our $1 coin for the best results. ;)

1 dollar.JPG
 
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IF you have solid floors, like a concrete slab or wood or carpet over a slab I would use spike to couple the speaker to the floor to reduce spurious vibrations from the speaker. If the floor is suspended or floats I would try to isolate the speaker from the floor. Rubber kind of falls in the middle . I use to suspend speakers from rafters with vibration isolators in some cases to get the cleanest sound.
 
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