Is there a Difference between Speaker Spikes?

My Cabasse Murano speaker are placed on stands, with small dots of BluTac between the speakers and the stands. As floor connectors, I'm currently using the $2 spikes that came with the speaker stands. The spikes are resting on the small plastic discs they came with.
Opposed to no spikes, the sound has improved considerably and overall, I am quite happy with my setup.

Yet, a tiny bit of audiophile doubt remains, so my question is: Can a significant (as in 'clearly audible') improvement of sound quality be gained by replacing my $2 spikes with a significantly more expensive, refined model?

I would VERY MUCH prefer to hear back from people who have actually TESTED this themselves.

 

I have a pair of the Acoustic Avalon Eidolon floor standing speakers that come with their own steel spikes for floor coupling. I replaced those steel spikes with heavier, denser solid brass spikes from Walker Audio (their "Valid Points"). There was an improvement in the sound quality with the Valid Points. It was subtle, but observable: leading edge transients were better defined, bass timbre was more resolved. After trying them just "loose" under the speakers, I then drilled and tapped the speaker base to screw them into the speaker base for a small further improvement.

 

I have no doubt that better spikes make an improvement when they are applied directly to the speaker. I heard people going crazy about the IsoAcoustic GAIA feet.

My question is: Can different spikes make an audible difference when they are applied under speaker stands?

 

So is brass a better option than steel?

 

Yes, price!

 

So that is the only difference? Have you actually heard different spikes in direct comparison or do your just KNOW?

 

No, I have no idea, I'm just full of.......

 

You haven't truly heard yr spkrs until you've heard them with cryrogenically treated spikes! Gotta be careful when yr going down the tweak slope, gets awful slippery out there!

 

Ok, I should have known better. Let's just forget about it, then.

Over and out.

 

[QUOTE="There was an improvement in the sound quality [ ]. It was subtle, but observable: leading edge transients were better defined, bass timbre was more resolved.
[/QUOTE]

I think what you meant to say is that you perceived an improvement. The only way to know if your perception correlated with a change ('improvement' is subjective) is to measure the speaker's performance under identical conditions save the variable of the spikes. I would assume that 'leading edge transients' would be fairly easy to assess in a spectrogram, but I am not sure how the 'resolution of bass timbre' could be measured.

 

[QUOTE="I would VERY MUCH prefer to hear back from people who have actually TESTED this themselves.[/QUOTE]

You would thereby limit yourself to a subsample of people who have spent serious cash on pointy bits of metal and might therefore feel the need to justify their expenditure. Unless you meant 'TESTED' literally, in which case please do share any results you receive with the forum at large!

 

Where as I honestly doubt you'd be able to come to any type of group 'consensus/understanding', I would wholeheartedly suggest that YOU pursue this and maybe let us know how it turns out. Maybe chk availability from sites like Sound Anchors, Audio Advisor, Shun Mook and even go the home-grown route thru Home Depot! Good luck and remember, this is supposed to be fun!

 

No, that is FAR from the only difference. Some rip holes in your carpet or punch divets in your wood flooring. Others skip across smooth tile surfaces or make cats screech and dogs howl.

Anybody who says they are all the same is mistaken

 

at the risk of being lambasted, I bought 16 hockey pucks ($2 each) got some double stick tape and put my Vapor Joules (which weigh around 110 lbs.) on 4 double pair of pucks each. total cost $32 plus tape.

 

I remember seeing a thing on 'home-made' tiptoes that involved nails, bottle caps, and construction resin! And the article was in either a digest-sized Stereophile or TAS! Ah, the good ol' days!

 

I think this is actually a really good option. But, I am kicking myself now for ridiculing my cousin for being an absolute one-track-mind hockey fan years ago and not just asking him for a case of used pucks.

But instead of double-stick tape I probably would have just ponied up a little extra for the Nitrogen-Helium filled, Lanthanum-impregnated shims I saw on aliexpress for like $1.20 for a 10,000 pack (includes free shipping). Because people who know audio say the NHL shims are a natural with hockey pucks

 

Postercowboy, I'm sorry you're not finding the specific answer that will help you out. But to be clear, your question that I attempted to answer based on a specific comparison was the FIRST question above, not your second revised question. So, I accept that the second question is what you really want to know and I regret that I can't help you on that one.

 

I did the same with my lanai beer fridge. Works great and the beer is ice cold.

 

I've posted this paper here a couple times, mainly as an introduction to principles, not as a complete answer to your situation: http://www.genesisloudspeakers.com/...2/Genesis_Loudspeaker_Coupling_Decoupling.pdf
Gary addresses coupling, decoupling and mass.
I think the best way to see what happens is to experiment. You can do that without necessarily buying audiophile approved pricey products.
For what it is worth, I have heard differences in materials in the footers I use on certain equipment racks: sort of a cup and ball affair, where you can change the ball. The silicon nitride balls are denser than steel, and made a noticeable difference in sound compared to the steel ball bearing. How does that apply to your situation? The theory, I guess, is that it does a better job of coupling and transferring energy. The difficulty of predicting outcomes is partly due to the "one step removed" coupling of the stand as opposed to the speaker itself. And, in the paper linked to above, Gary addresses not just the contact point of the stand to the floor, but the relationship between the stand and the speaker. So you have a couple of variables. I'm not sure how the Blutak is performing-- it has some elasticity, but not as much as the more common sorbothane (which I find can rob equipment of its sound). So, it may be both a coupler and a decoupler. I'd look there, as well as at the spikes as well as mass and rigidity of the stand.
I hope that helps advance your thinking. Ultimately, all the descriptions and science in the world cannot tell you what listening will.
I went through an experiment several years ago involving footers under a tube power supply to my phono stage. An old set of Goldmund cones (they cost something like $199 for three back in the late '80s, early '90s) didn't do as good a job as a cheap set of Vibrapods- cone+puck. Different application, different needs, but the price wasn't a guiding factor. At all.
good luck and have fun.

 

I remember reading Roy Gregory's review

The Audio Beat - Track Audio Spike Kits

I thought the product made some sense - if spikes are what you want.

 

Thank you, that was the kind of information I was hoping for. I don’t care what the Experts for Everything have to say, but reading this review, it apparently makes sense to at least try quality spikes under speaker stands.

Obviously, the full set is out of the question, but if the spikes alone are still around $129 for the entire setup, that‘s not too bad. And they do look good, too, which is worth something.

I have already settled for the spike feet I want to use: Linn Skeets are pretty heavy and provide a solid foundation for my speaker stands. They are definitely a lot better than the plastic discs that came with the $2 spikes I‘m using now. And if nothing else, they will provide some extra stability to my freestanding speakers. For my purpose, they are the best I have seen. And at a reasonable cost as well.