Spike cups - follow-up

[earl of sodbury]

Follow-up to the fred I started over on HFCF:

Well I picked-up the bespoke spike-holder/protectors from Andi in Basingstoke yesterday evening - and first-up I have to say what aStand-Up bloke:dude:: not only can he read my mind with regard to making what I was looking for, but he brews a wicked cup of tea And spins a mean disc - destroyed my anti-Quad 11/12/21/22L speaker predjudice in the process! And then there's that carbon-fibre/ally/MDF stand he's made - trust me, the photos do it NO justice - gorgeous!

It was pretty late when I got back home, but I had time to do a quick side-by-side comparison with the rubber feet I got from Maplins:

and Andi's beautifully turned aluminium discs - complete with dense foam pads on the underside:



...well - the Maplins feet certainly do the job of protecting the stone slab, but even compared to standing on the bouncy floorboards, they still reduce the imaging focus. I wasn't sure if it was them, or the fact that the whole construct is stood on a flexible base...

So I tried Andi's disks - SNAP! back came the imaging... and then some, this is actually the cleanest sound I've yet had from these far-from-murky speakers, and into the bargain, bass boom - only very rarely a problem - has been tamed to nothing - landlord pleaser!

A Right Result - my very sincere gratitude to Andi for taking the initiative to make these - from my experience I'd say you have a marketable commodity (I even got a couple of spares!), though admittedly it's a specialised market!

churz, eofs

[hifiwigwam]

They look stonking too Earl.

What a result. I think a trip to Argos may be in order.

[earl of sodbury]

hifiwigwam wrote:

They look stonking too Earl.

What a result. I think a trip to Argos may be in order.

Well pleased!

For anyone "thinking of trying this at home" - if you have stone/concrete floors: fergeddit - this whole construct was designed to reduce transmission of boom from the speakers to the floorboards of my room and thence to the rest of the house. The improvement in imaging is I think a consequence of having the speakers on a more rigid base that prevents feedback from the floor itself (I guess...). If your floor's solid, you almost certainly don't need it...

Betimes, I plan to add another slab to each, with some sorbothane strips between the two, and have just taken delivery of a couple of lengths of Auralex Platfoam from Studio Spares to replace the squash balls... Ah! The Joy of Tinkering!

churz, eofs

[Duvet]

Cirtical data base messages on other favourite site at moment

[hifiwigwam]

Duvet wrote:

Cirtical data base messages on other favourite site at moment

I know, It's great!

Earl what may help further, is silcone sealnt and another argos slab, really stops the ringing inherent in these, get some wood and cover the edges (and paint purple to match yer carpet )

[earl of sodbury]

analoguekid wrote:

Earl what may help further, is silcone sealnt and another argos slab, really stops the ringing inherent in these, get some wood and cover the edges (and paint purple to match yer carpet )

Just been to Argos...

Desist dissing the floorcovering, that's authentic 1970s polypropylene I'll have you know - bit likeWiggie's syrup come to think of it... A collector's item, mate!

[Dannish]

Duvet wrote:

Cirtical data base messages on other favourite site at moment

I seemed to get round this by deleting temporary internet files or perhaps it was a coincidence. give a try and see

[Dannish]

earl of sodbury wrote:

Follow-up to the fred I started over on HFCF:

Well I picked-up the bespoke spike-holder/protectors from Andi in Basingstoke yesterday evening - and first-up I have to say what aStand-Up bloke:dude:: not only can he read my mind with regard to making what I was looking for, but he brews a wicked cup of tea And spins a mean disc - destroyed my anti-Quad 11/12/21/22L speaker predjudice in the process! And then there's that carbon-fibre/ally/MDF stand he's made - trust me, the photos do it NO justice - gorgeous!

It was pretty late when I got back home, but I had time to do a quick side-by-side comparison with the rubber feet I got from Maplins:

and Andi's beautifully turned aluminium discs - complete with dense foam pads on the underside:



...well - the Maplins feet certainly do the job of protecting the stone slab, but even compared to standing on the bouncy floorboards, they still reduce the imaging focus. I wasn't sure if it was them, or the fact that the whole construct is stood on a flexible base...

So I tried Andi's disks -
SNAP!
back came the imaging... and then some, this is actually the cleanest sound I've yet had from these far-from-murky speakers, and into the bargain, bass boom - only very rarely a problem - has been tamed to nothing - landlord pleaser!

A Right Result - my very sincere gratitude to Andi for taking the initiative to make these - from my experience I'd say you have a marketable commodity (I even got a couple of spares!), though admittedly it's a specialised market!

churz, eofs

Pleased they were a success. When are you going to get a TT

[earl of sodbury]

andi wrote:

Pleased they were a success. When are you going to get a TT

Tart!

Actually . . . just bought a new tuner . . .

[Kiang]

what is the thickness of those granite slabs earl ?

[earl of sodbury]

Kiang wrote:

what is the thickness of those granite slabs earl ?

Hi Kiang, excuse the slow reply - been away.

They're 12mm (x300mm x400mm), from Argos

Asda do the the same sized slabs in thicker (14mm) material polished both sides.

Both currently cost £12.99

The setup now looks like this:



The 2 slabs are separated by sorbothane strips, and stand on Auralex "Platfoam", the speakers are coupled by the bespoke aluminum/high-density foam discs made by Andi.

My intention was to relieve my landlord of the directly-conducted bass-booming that the speakers transmit into the floorboards and thence to the rest of the house, whichthis has done, but it has also had the bonus effect of lightening and clearing the overall bass output, presumably because the bouncy floor is no longer making a contribution.

regards, eofs

[muzique man]

Earl see the foam bung is that there to help with the bass

Or is it there to stop mice camping in the speakers

Looks quite cool though:dude:

Paul Have you tried moving the speakers more to the front of the slab, as the transmission port is putting it's bass out and reflecting on the slab, it may be different further forward?

[earl of sodbury]

muzique man wrote:

Earl see the foam bung is that there to help with the bass

Or is it there to stop mice camping in the speakers

Looks quite cool though:dude:

MM that's how they arrive - the whole transmission-line is basically stuffed with varying shapes and densities of foam.

The mice seem to prefer me dirty-washing compost heap...

churz, eofs

[earl of sodbury]

analoguekid wrote:

Paul Have you tried moving the speakers more to the front of the slab, as the transmission port is putting it's bass out and reflecting on the slab, it may be different further forward?

Fair point my Scots namesake - It does indeed vary the sound a little,which becomes a little drier and lighter in the bass, but I prefer it as it is, it's cleared-up the bass nicely - and I must admit I was quite happy with it as it was -but now it's lost some of the slightly sloppy over-emphasis it could have on bass-heavy music. Nice!

Churz, eofs

[mosfet]

earl of sodbury wrote

My intention was to relieve my landlord of the directly-conducted bass-booming that the speakers transmit into the floorboards and thence to the rest of the house, whichthis has done, but it has also had the bonus effect of lightening and clearing the overall bass output, presumably because the bouncy floor is no longer making a contribution.

Nice. I'm pleased to see this arrangement works as intended earl.

The postive effect of de-coupling loudspeakers, other than to specifically reduce sound transmission, I think has to do with preventing energy that leaves the loudspeaker enclosure being reflected back from the floor (at some time interval later) resulting in smearing colouration. This makes more sense to me than the conventional approach of rigidly coupling loudspeakers to the floor, either floorstanders or standmounts.

[earl of sodbury]

mosfet wrote:

Nice. I'm pleased to see this arrangement works as intended earl.

The postive effect of de-coupling loudspeakers, other than to specifically reduce sound transmission, I think has to do with preventing energy that leaves the loudspeaker enclosure being reflected back from the floor (at some time interval later) resulting in smearing colouration. This makes more sense to me than the conventional approach of rigidly coupling loudspeakers to the floor, either floorstanders or standmounts.

Yeah, kudos Mozzie - that "Platfoam" you suggested is excellent stuff - decouples, but allows the whole ensemble to remain rigid avoiding any image smearing, indeed I'd swear imaging is better.

I don't have your knowledge, but my guess is your reasoning is right - a similar approach with my previous stand-mounts yielded similarly good results.

churz indeed, eofs

[Jasper]

earl of sodbury wrote:

Kiang wrote:

what is the thickness of those granite slabs earl ?

Hi Kiang, excuse the slow reply - been away.

They're 12mm (x300mm x400mm), from Argos

Asda do the the same sized slabs in thicker (14mm) material polished both sides.

Both currently cost £12.99

The setup now looks like this:



The 2 slabs are separated by sorbothane strips, and stand on Auralex "Platfoam", the speakers are coupled by the bespoke aluminum/high-density foam discs made by Andi.

My intention was to relieve my landlord of the directly-conducted bass-booming that the speakers transmit into the floorboards and thence to the rest of the house, whichthis has done, but it has also had the bonus effect of lightening and clearing the overall bass output, presumably because the bouncy floor is no longer making a contribution.

regards, eofs

This looks like the answer to my prayers. Earl please ignore my post in Bits and Bobs - I have GB1s on a suspended wooden floor and am having all sorts of distortion problems when the volume goes up.

• Can you give me Andi's email address or contact details?
• what is sorbothane and where can I get it andlikewise Auralex?

Sorry for all the questions....

[Dannish]

Jasper wrote:

• Can you give me Andi's email address or contact details?

H i Jasper. You can E mail ifyou want or do a private message

Cheers Andi