Spikes and speakers

[Polarbear]

Being the sad person I am, I was contemplating the use of spikes under speakers. Now most of us use spikes under our speakers but why?



Presumably because in most cases we have never considered anything else and just gone with the flow.



So, the question is are the spikes there to stabalise the speakers or isolate them from the floor?



Discuss,





PB

[meninblack]

I'm sure this has been said many, many times but spikes don't isolate! They couple, which is pretty much the opposite.

[Polarbear]

Ok so what are the advantages of coupling the speakers to the floor?

[meninblack]

By coupling the speakers to the floor you increase their effective mass and push the resonant frequency down. It can solve some resonance issues, if you had any in the first place of course.

Contrary to popular belief, spikes won't solve problems you don't have!

[kennyk]

hmmm...

so what difference would having the speakers on granite blocks (a la Asda ;) ) with no spikes against having the spikes fitted? I'm not using my spikes at the moment. was thinking about using blu-tak between the granite and the floor, any thoughts?

[Polarbear]

So if you don't have any resonant problems they are of no real benefit?

[Polarbear]

kennyk wrote:

hmmm...

so what difference would having the speakers on granite blocks (a la Asda ;) ) with no spikes against having the spikes fitted? I'm not using my spikes at the moment. was thinking about using blu-tak between the granite and the floor, any thoughts?

Strange you should ask that Kenny!

[kennyk]

how so? great minds thinking alike?

[Polarbear]

I am thinking of marble slabs with cones atop instead of spikes into the floor!

[meninblack]

Marble slabs also increase the mass. The idea of spikes/cones is to provide a low contact area and hence a high contact pressure. The worst case is two large, not-quite-flat surfaces in contact, which can lead to rattling.

Blu-tack is funny stuff: it has interesting rheology which means it transmits high frequencies (like a spike) but isolates low ones (like a rubber or foam mat.)

[JJCharles]

Hi,

I have many pairs of speakers and some come with spikes, for instance a big pair of Eltax Symphony 8.2's have spikes and small metal sauces that the spikes rest in.

Oddly enugh some speakers come with odd shaped spikes, more like brass feet such as those found on the Eltax Monitor III. Trying to keep these speakers still on the round bottomed feet is impossible. I removed the ones from my speakers and replaced them with standard spikes. These sit on felt pads on the stands and keep the speakers couple to the stands perfectly. Not sure of the audiable difference though. Perhaps my ears need a cotton bud!

Regards,

Jane.

[icehockeyboy]

JJCharles wrote:

Hi,

I have many pairs of speakers and some come with spikes, for instance a big pair of Eltax Symphony 8.2's have spikes and small metal sauces

Hmm..sauces eh....................what sort, curry, tomatoe, hp, brown ???

Hey, where did all these stripes come from?

Ok, in all seriousness, is there an advantage, or disadvantage if spikes and their little "saucers" are used on a laminate floor?

[Emma Royd]

Polarbear wrote:

Being the sad person I am, I was contemplating the use of spikes under speakers. Now most of us use spikes under our speakers but why?



Presumably because in most cases we have never considered anything else and just gone with the flow.



So, the question is are the spikes there to stabalise the speakers or isolate them from the floor?



Discuss,





PB

Adjustable spikes,correctly adjusted will firstly give you a stable speaker.You also can adjust the spikes,so the speaker sits square.

Secondly IME, having the speakersittingdirectly ona carpetedfloor with no spikes makes the bass plummy,loses treble and overall dulls the sound and quite frankly makes a decent speakersound shyte,IMO.

[Dik Dolan]

Ivan Leslie of IPL speaker kits recommends using rubber tap washers between his floorstanders and their sand filled and spiked plinths. When I first built mine I just used blutack and thought they sounded great....then I tried the tap washers. The result was much better bass texture and speed, and better focussed imaging, with sweeter mids and treble. No Idea why or how, but definately better. Btw my speakers are stood on paving slabs, cuts down on noise transmission to downstairs and tightens up the sound.

[supercapman]

I was always under the impression that coupling the cabinets stopped the 'rocking' caused by the drive units' movement in turn causing a smearing to the sound. But after hearing what Townshend stands can do that has turned that idea on it's head.

[icehockeyboy]

supercapman wrote:

I was always under the impression that coupling the cabinets stopped the 'rocking' caused by the drive units' movement in turn causing a smearing to the sound. But after hearing what Townshend stands can do that has turned that idea on it's head.

Ive had at least two "experts" tell me this too!" So what about spiked speakers into their "saucers" on laminate floor? does anyone know? Or rephrased......whats the best way to "sit" speakers on such a floor?

[darrell]

icehockeyboy wrote:

supercapman wrote:

I was always under the impression that coupling the cabinets stopped the 'rocking' caused by the drive units' movement in turn causing a smearing to the sound. But after hearing what Townshend stands can do that has turned that idea on it's head.

Ive had at least two "experts" tell me this too!" So what about spiked speakers into their "saucers" on laminate floor? does anyone know? Or rephrased......whats the best way to "sit" speakers on such a floor?

Pictured side up of course - the portcullis engraving makes a handy locator for the spikes.

[Polarbear]

So what about spiked speakers into their "saucers" on laminate floor? does anyone know? Or rephrased......whats the best way to "sit" speakers on such a floor?

I used Naim chips under my Neat Ultimatums. Theses stopped the spikes sinking into the wooden flooring and as I thought stopped the speaker coupling with the floor. This gave a much more focused sound with greater detail.



Naim Chips are Naims version of the saucers you mention,



Regards



PB

[Polarbear]

supercapman wrote:

I was always under the impression that coupling the cabinets stopped the 'rocking' caused by the drive units' movement in turn causing a smearing to the sound. But after hearing what Townshend stands can do that has turned that idea on it's head.

SCM, I was under that impression but having also heard what the Townsend stands to and seeing how much the speakers wobble on top of them, I am starting to think about alternatives to spikes,

Regards



PB

[Duvet]

Just an alternative PB