Why is it that the majority of audio equipment comes with four feet rather than just three? It seems that only having three would provide a more solid foundation that would better resist vibration and rocking. Speakers come to mind as a component that might really benefit if it was part of the original design.
Any thoughts? Are there companies that do this that I have not seen?
It has to do with the center of gravity and the distance to the support points. If you have a speaker with a square foot print with four points of support at the corners, the center of gravity is equidistant to any two points that you tilt against. If you had three points on that speaker (two in the front, one in the center rear) and you tilted against any two points, the center of gravity is still equidistant but closer to those two points than the four point speaker. Meaning, that the three point speaker will topple over sooner than the four point.
A three legged stool is more stable than a four legged stool because a four legged stool only needs three points of support and those three corner points are not equidistant from each other, hence it tilts easier than a three legged stool which has the three legs equidistant from each other. However... it is easier to fall over if you tilt back on a three legged stool because of the center of gravity is closer to the two tilting points. The same tilting distance on a four legged stool will send you safely forward since the center of gravity is further away from the tilting plane.
A long winded way of saying any more than three points of support on a stool makes it easier to tilt back but harder to fall over.
In my experiments 3 always sounds substantially better than 4, more grounded. Unless you go round with a stethscope and dial in the spikes precisely then 4 is less stable. It always amazes me when designers claim they make the ultimate product, cost no object, and put 4 feet on their gear shows they dont listen.
The reason that three is better than four is that three points define a plane. This means that it's virtually impossible to have four points equally support something. This is why a stool with three legs won't rock but ones with four almost always do. If the legs can be adjusted then I'm sure that it's possible to set things up such that it really doesn't make a difference.
Nordost recommends putting three sort kones in specified locations under equipment and then moving the 4th around looking for the "low" point.
The pros/cons are rooted in the real world of physics. Four beats three any day. Any working of a model of the physical forces in play will tell you that.
My Thor Cantantus Phono Preamp has three feet. BUT it is a rather large oval and it seems to me three feet work better of a circle or oval than a square.
Some do, my Star Sound rack has three, as does the factory stands for my Spendor S 100s. The Lead Balloon TT stand I use to have had three also, as does my Russ Andrews stand for the Linn turntable. All of these except the Linn stand are very heavy and work well. Several other very good equipment racks also use 3 as do others that are quite respectable in quality, I have one of these also but the brand escapes me at the moment.
IMHO, the only valid reason for using three feet instead of four is that it makes it a whole lot easier to level the component, something that is very important for TT's and speakers. I agree that it makes things unstable and for that reason I will not use three footers on floor-standing speakers.
"Added: One feature that would allow three feet (or four) and incur a very minimal expense for maufacturers would be to have the base of units drilled and tapped for BOTH a three foot setup, ANd a four foot setup. arranging the hole for opimum placement. Then one would only need to unscrew the feet from the four and move them to the three setup. (and save that fourth foot for when one sells the unit..) Cool."
Merlin floor standing speakers (VSM's) do exactly that....have a four foot setup but also drilled for a three foot setup which is their recommended way to set up the speakers with the spikes that they provide.
Some electronics gear has three feet. I've owned some of it. It always seemed unstable to me - if I leaned on a corner by accident, it would just about tip over. Having said that, if the product in question is the proper shape, three would work just fine. A floor standing speaker that is quite narrow but very deep comes to mind (think audio physic) Two spikes in front, one in back.
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