Floor standing speaker isolation advice needed.

Whatever form of isolation you chose (sorbothane or springs) will need to be compliant/soft enough to get as low as possible (<10Hz).

That will make the speakers very wobbly so will you need to use some form of wedges underneath the speakers or the platform with a minimum clearance of say 1-2mm to prevent accidents.

The benefits of isolating speakers have been well documented. Spikes induce resonance in the baffle hundreds of times greater than that of even soft rubber when the speaker is in use.

The problem with isolation is that it’s cheap to implement and the sonic gains are huge (bass starts to play notes) but apart from a few companies like Townshend or Herbie’s there is little profit in it. Whereas with spikes the opposite is true.

@kalali, yes finding springs with the optimum compliance can be a problem especially if large heavy drivers render your speakers front heavy.

Like with most things in audio, it can be a fools mission to pursue perfection, but springs are probably the way to go if you insist. Otherwise rest easy in the knowledge that even bits of soft rubber can offer huge improvement in isolating the baffle from unnecessary resonance.

Since Sorbothane is measured in shore durometers it shouldn't be too difficult to mix and match to get decent isolation. For anyone with kids, don't forget to spoil their fun by preventing any unnecessary wobbling by placing some wedges underneath!

@jriggy Whilst you may see improvement by trying out different stands with the Hatbeths don't forget that they are probably the most advanced speakers ever built when it comes to controlling resonances.

Everything from driver material, driver mounting, and panel resonances has been meticulously considered by the designer. In fact the designer, Alan Shaw once said that you could place them on a stack of telephone directories if you so wished and they would still sound good.

I'm sure he's right. I just wish all speakers were designed and built with such care.

@jriggy Yes, you shouldn’t need fancy stands but it definitely a good idea to let all the speaker panels breathe freely. All Harbeths are constructed that way to allow the resonances to fall below the threshold of hearing in terms of frequency range.

The M40s have always been fantastic speakers and are the sum of one man’s attempt at getting as close to neutrality in the midband as possible with the fewest compromises. Does any speaker do voices better?