Speaker stand spikes - necessary?

Discussion in 'Audio Hardware' started by Porkpie, Nov 8, 2018.

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  1. F1nut

    F1nut Forum Resident

    Location:
    The Mars Hotel
    In my personal experience every speaker I've owned sounded much better spiked regardless of the type of floor. The bass tighten up and the mids became clearer.

    The worse performance I've experienced is when the speakers sit directly on padded carpet. I'm left wondering how the SD damping feet are much different than padded carpet?
     
    Last edited: Nov 9, 2018
    George P likes this.
  2. wolfram

    wolfram Slave to the rhythm

    Location:
    Berlin, Germany
    I've been using these "Antispikes" on wooden floors for many years now and I'm very happy with this solution.

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]
     
    SandAndGlass likes this.
  3. Thomas_A

    Thomas_A Forum Resident

    Location:
    Uppsala, Sweden
    Whether the sound is ”better or not” is subjective so there is no point arguing about that. The physics of spikes vs soft feet are known since many years now, but misinformation still circulates. It is long accepted that the resonance of a arm/catridge should not be in the audible spectrum and the same principle applies to loudspeakers. If you want to avoid resonance and speaker movement you should keep the resonance outside the audible spectrum. Spiking the speakers does not help in that regard.
     
    bever70, Riotvan and missan like this.
  4. SandAndGlass

    SandAndGlass Twilight Forum Resident

    I had tried those little discs under the bottom spikes of a pair of Zu, Omen Definition's which weigh 75-lbs. each.

    I did not like the lack of stability and moving the was very difficult.

    I personally do do care for spikes. With Zu speakers there are ports on the bottom of the cabinets that requite the space the width of a CD case, in order for them to function within their full range properly.

    I removed the spikes and placed acorn nuts on the bottom of the cabinets.

    I do believe that, in general, speakers should be raised off the floor, but not all speakers require doing that.

    Even though, I have never noticed any mysterious difference in sound using different materials to raise the speakers off of the floor.
     
  5. paulieb00

    paulieb00 Senior Member

    Location:
    Wisconsin
  6. timind

    timind phorum rezident

    Variations can be found at just about any store with a hardware section. And of course there's always Amazon.

    edit: I've also used these:

    [​IMG]

    Yeah, I'm cheap.
     
  7. Larry I

    Larry I Senior Member

    Location:
    Washington, D.C.
    The spikes generally serve two functions--to couple the speaker to the floor and, because most of them are threaded, to adjust the rake (tilt) of the speaker. If you remove the spikes, you will need some other means of adjusting the rake.

    As to whether coupling to the floor is desirable, that is a matter of particular tuning to the room and your taste. In some cases, particularly with a suspended wooden floor, couple may not be desirable--the vibrations from the speaker being transmitted to a suspended wood floor would make that floor act like a large sounding board. Whether that is good or bad would depend on what kind of sound you want. The only way to know is to experiment.

    I find that the opposite of using spikes is often better sounding. By "opposite" I mean decoupling the speaker from the floor and dissipating the energy of the shaking speaker by coupling the speaker to an energy absorbing platform. I use a Symposium Svelte Shelf; the entire bottom of the speaker sits on the top of the shelf and the shelf itself has a soft foam core that dissipates the transferred energy). I use a wedges under the shelf to adjust rake angle.

    Good luck on your experiments.
     
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  8. missan

    missan Forum Resident

    Location:
    Stockholm
    The question is if there is one solution that will give the least vibrations at speakers/floor. That would be the one solution to choose. This solution is most likely not spikes.
     
  9. ayrehead

    ayrehead Forum Resident

    Location:
    Mid South
    Cheapskate. I use gold bullion bars under my speakers.
     
  10. TheVinylAddict

    TheVinylAddict Look what I found

    Location:
    AZ
    LOL. Guess I could try to one up that... but truth be told, I don't use coins under my speakers, it was just the opportunity was there to make a dig. I have my floorstanders on stands on carpet in my main room.

    BUT, I am reading with interest, as I have a couple of old Def Tech floorstanders in my woodshop, and they sit on concrete...
     
    SandAndGlass likes this.
  11. masterbucket

    masterbucket Senior Member

    Location:
    Georgia US
  12. ayrehead

    ayrehead Forum Resident

    Location:
    Mid South
    I use Herbies threaded stud gliders under my rack and speaker stands. I use Herbies square fat dots between speaker and stand.
     
    Bill Mac and 33na3rd like this.
  13. jupiterboy

    jupiterboy Forum Residue

    Location:
    Buffalo, NY
    I do, too. Great results. Much tighter bass. I use those dots under the legs of my turntable as well. Took me a long while to figure this one out.
     
    ayrehead likes this.
  14. Chazro

    Chazro Forum Resident

    Location:
    West Palm Bch, Fl.
    In 1990 my Sound Anchors came with flr spikes, been using them for 28 yrs! The most massive sound improvement for me came when I moved, 8 yrs ago, from a single, private home, where my rig was located on the 2nd floor to my current ground floor apt, where she sits on a solid, carpeted, slab of concrete. I miss being able to fire up the rig at any time in the private home, but the system sounds undeniably better now! Same gear, different locations, different sound signatures. Its all about the choices we make!
     
  15. thegage

    thegage Forum Currency Nerd

    Google Gaia Footers. Transformative.

    John K
     
    Done A Ton likes this.
  16. Purplefowler

    Purplefowler Forum Resident

    Location:
    Bedfordshire, uk
    I have an ikea chopping board under each of my speakers. It sounds great, stops my wood floor getting scratched up and added bonus it brings them up to the perfect height for my ears! It’s a win win :D
     
  17. jupiterboy

    jupiterboy Forum Residue

    Location:
    Buffalo, NY
    It's because the spikes on the upstairs floor were making a hash of things.
     
  18. F1nut

    F1nut Forum Resident

    Location:
    The Mars Hotel
    Speakers and turntables are two very different animals. What applies to one most definitely does not apply to the other.
     
    timind likes this.
  19. Porkpie

    Porkpie Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    UK
    I’ve removed the spikes, placed the speaker stands directly on the wooden floor and the speakers are “attached” with blu-tac (as mentioned, with a dog and toddler I can’t risk them sitting on just cups). So far it sounds fine, will see how it is when I play some bass heavy music

    [​IMG]
     
  20. Bill Mac

    Bill Mac Forum Resident

    Location:
    USA
    I've been looking at the Herbie's threaded stud gliders for awhile. I recently installed the spiked feet on my Salk HT2-TLs. Was thinking the threaded stud gliders might offer better isolation. The speakers are on soft pine floors with three heavy cloth place mats acting as a buffer between the floor and the spikes. The Salk spiked feet are somewhat rounded and not a real sharp spike.

    Threaded Stud Glider

    The Gaia isolated feet look very interesting but the Gaia III is the least expensive and would be $400 for a set for two speakers. The Gaia III is rated to 70 lbs. and the HT2-TLs are 80 lbs. So I'd have to move up to the Gaia II which would be $600 for a set. Way too much money for a product like this in my system.

    IsoAcoustics - GAIA Speaker Isolators (Set of 4) | Shop Music Direct
     
    Last edited: Nov 9, 2018
  21. TimB

    TimB Pop, Rock and Blues for me!

    Location:
    Colorado
    Don't laugh, Nickels are made from nickel and is a harder metal than silver, A silver dollar may actually better! :goodie:
     
  22. Bill Mac

    Bill Mac Forum Resident

    Location:
    USA
    I'm all about saving money but using nickels or quarters under speaker spikes is not a good idea IMO. I look at its as metal to metal and would think the speakers would not be very secure as far as accidents. It's been mentioned that use a nail or something like that to make an impression for the spike to sit in. Not sure how well that would work but maybe it does. I have a set of 3/4" round metal pucks that have indentations for the spike to sit in. The set of eight cost about $12 which isn't much to have a secure mount for spiked speakers.
     
  23. F1nut

    F1nut Forum Resident

    Location:
    The Mars Hotel
    Regardless of whether your stands are spiked with floor discs or as you have them now they will fall over if hit hard enough. One thing that can help is to mass load the stands, but only fill them half way, which result in a lower center of gravity.
     
    timind and 33na3rd like this.
  24. TheVinylAddict

    TheVinylAddict Look what I found

    Location:
    AZ
    You guys probably missed this

    I don't use coins, I was trying to be funny and quoting someone else who did...

    On the flipside, it's audio gear, and I am sure someone will find a fault with your solution too!!! :D If the person who used nickels is happy with it and it works, to each his own. In this hobby there are so many solutions, and to most 9 out of 10 of them are "not a good idea" !!! When in reality, it is just varying degrees of "good enough" of just different ways to solve a problem. (many, many examples of this in our wonderful hobby - how much do you want to spend to solve that "problem?")

    Cheers.
     
    Roycer likes this.
  25. Porkpie

    Porkpie Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    UK
    I’m not worried about the stands getting knocked over, the play isn’t that rough, it’s about the speakers getting knocked off of them so I can’t just sit them on rubber cups I need the blu tac to hold them in place.
     
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