Can foam padding isolate better than spikes?

Thanks for your responses. Yes, it is fun trying all these unusual tweaks and decoupling materials but the bottom line is what sounds better.

So spikes get rid of resonances quickly whereas decoupling materials allow the resonances to remain until they dissipate on their own, it seems.

Enjoy,

Sonicray

It seems alot these days,cheers,B

i,ve tried everything over the years within reason financially like black diamond cones, vibracones and pods, foam from swimming floats cut into discs, huge concrete slabs on tennis balls and can never make a descision. i just have fun experimenting. i wonder what my system would sound like if i went back to 1970s with my luxman integrated and allison ones without any tweaks or high dollar treatments and cables.

I am currently decoupling my speakers from the stands using FIM isolators, which are two cups with a ball bearing between them. I subistuted better bearings from Small Parts for the stainless steel ones that came with it. Disclaimer, I am a dealer for these although I have never actually sold any. On my present system I like this the best but very likely others might prefer other methods, you have to try them for yourself. All I will say is that when 2 of my friends came over yesterday they immediately noticed a difference between this and Blutaking the speakers to the MDF stands as I had them previously. One of them said that the silences were now "blacker" than they had been and the definition of the music was better.

Stanwal has a very intriguing point about the perceptions of "blacker" silences. I wonder if this blackness is enhanced by the fast dissipation of unwanted resonances being emitted from within and around the speaker cabinets or from the floor. Not knowing the kind of floor or anything else about the listening environment, I would suspect its the result of both which is creating an absence of unnecessary resonances. And its this absence that most purists strive for (do I sound like the professor on Gilligan's island here or what?). And then there are a few who can accept and enjoy a little added "earthiness" as their floor chimes in and the fleas in the carpet begin to sing along . . .