Floorstanders on wood floor, help

Thanks, Fp.

I've always had trouble getting my head around bearing devices beneath speakers. I understand how they could isolate the cabinet from the floor and reduce boominess. Shouldn't they also free the cabinet to move backward whenever the cones want to move forward, thus rounding off transients? Whatever happened to Newton's 3rd Law of Motion?

Please understand, I'm not doubting what you've heard. I'm just trying to understand it.

Perhaps the answer lies in Newton's 2nd Law of Motion: the forward-moving mass (a few ounces of cones + air) is so much less than the backward-moving mass (65 pounds of speaker) that the backward acceleration is negligible. If you fire a bullet through a sheet of paper the bullet is no doubt decelerated, but you'd have a tough time measuring it. Have I answered my own question?

If Aurios are good, would Stillpoints be better? Not only do they add isolation in the vertical plane, they're half the price! Anybody?

Holy wow and flutter! Thanks for all the ideas everybody.

Seems like there's a concensus to spike or float the N803's above lots of mass, possibly with an absorbing layer beneath that. Maybe I can use those Sorbothane hemispheres after all, if they're not touching the speakers maybe they won't absorb transients and microdynamics. Seems a shame to waste the 10 x $2.25 they cost me!

Twl - I checked out your system page. Most of us can only imagine how much fun, and work, you've had assembling such a unique rig. Hats off to a real pioneer. I know you love the Sistrum stands, have you heard them beneath fuller range speakers than your Lowthers on a lively wood floor? Seems to me (pure speculation here) that the better they channel energy to "ground", the more that ground will shake.

Cdc - There's no question our CDP and power amp need upgrading, but our present front end really does produce *either* pretty clean bass *or* good, fast transients. The problem is getting both at the same time. We need to let our system's transients and microdynamics through, while preventing the speakers from exciting the floor.

Thanks again to all,
Doug

Jsawhitlock,

Unfortunately, there's little I can do about speaker placement. They're centered on the TV, about 10-12" farther into the room. Any position change causes audible differences in image or soundstage. We've put a lot of listening time into getting those right.

What would better spikes do? Wouldn't they just feed *more* energy into the bass drum/floor? (Admitting my ignorance.)

Bass traps. There's an idea nobody's mentioned yet! Any suggestions for good ones?

Thanks,
Doug

Great, thanks for the tips.

UPDATE: since the previous post we've upgraded our power amp from a fifteen-year-old SAE A205 to a new c-j MF2500A.

The changes were manifold, huge and bloody (financially anyway). The point of mentioning this here is that this upgrade fixed the problem this thread addressed. The MF2500A controls the woofers while increasing slam *and* improving bass musicality in every way, quite a feat.

Heavy bass passages still vibrate the floor, more than ever, but this now has little or no effect on the music because there is no more uncontrolled bloom from the speakers. The proof is that we now clearly distinguish the primary sound of an instrument from the secondary sound of its hall decay. Importantly, this is true for even the largest and lowest-pitched instruments like bass drum, organ, tuba, etc.

We'll still try the tweaks all you helpful people suggested (because everything matters) but a special "thank you" goes to Cdc for thinking outside the box. He hit the nail on the head.