Just put something beneath it. Some people use Nickles, some people might put the speaker on a slab of granite with felt beneath to protect the floor, and then some spikes come with small trays that sit below the spike to keep it from damaging the floor.
Rubber feet are always the worst way to go in my opinion, if you have hardwood floors you should still use the spikes but put something beneath them to protect them. |
I've been very happy with the conecoasters I bought from soundanchors.com, they work great with spikes and hardwood floors!! Hope this helps! |
I've had the best results with spikes; I've always found it better to couple the speaker with spikes that to de-couple with a soft material like "rubber" or sorbothane. If you want to protect the appearance of the floor, use a spike cup (or even nickels) under the spikes; you'll still get fairly decent coupling. I'm currently having great success with Walker Audio Valid Points terminating onto Walker Audio 1/2" resonance control discs under my Eidolons on hardwood floors.
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Symposium Slevte's work very well and won't hurt your floor. |
LOVAN Footers will protect your floor but yet allow you to use your spikes. |
I'd recommend going straight into the floor with the spikes. Putting anything between the spikes and the floor begins to defeat the purpose of installing the spikes in the first place.
And provided you do not drag your spikes across the floor the tiny indentation is so miniscule, only you will know they are there. (assuming of course that your speakers do not weigh 800 lbs each)
-IMO |
I'll second the spikes (or cones) and coasters from Sound Anchor. A great side benefit of the coasters is that they are a felt like material on the bottom and I can move my Europas and Sound Anchors easily on the wood flors to try different speakers positioning. This at almost 100 lbs total weight.
Rubber sounds---umm,let's see----oh yes, Rubbery! |
Conecoasters from Soundanchors @ $14.00 each work great for me with spikes on my oak floors. My rack weigh 600+ lbs. with gear, if I went straight to the floor with the spikes the points would be visible in the basement! I also use Orchard Bay points, & pucks under my speakers. The only time I ever used rubber was under down firing subwoofers to keep them from moving around. |
Some people who have tried both spikes and softies prefer one and some prefer the other. As I remember a lot of those who use rubbers, utilize them in a slab sandwich - more fun, less attractive. Spikes appeal to me only because their purpose is to better inhibit speakers from rocking. The energy used in rocking is information lost.
I used to have a house with hardwood floors; thought the discs 'n spikes worked quite well, but never tried squeezable alternatives. |
I will second the opinion about the nickels below the speakers.
I use pennys below my spikes. It works quite well, However depending on the wieght of your speakers you might want to spring the extra 32 cents and use nickels.
The Copper in the pennies is softer and a really heavy speaker with spikes can drill there way through a penny over a few months. I just colored mine black with a Jiffy marker as not to stand out.
Cheers,
Nick |
All, who have opted for the conecoasters, from Sound Anchor, made the right choice. I also use them under my Dynaudio stands. The felt pad underneath the conecoasters allows me to slide the speakers for easy placement.
Regards.
David |
I use the Audio points and coupling disks on my oak floor with great results. Although the brass coupling disks are expensive I find the sonics to be an improvement over $.05.
http://www.audiopoints.com/audiopoints.html
Regards... |
I agree with Lak. I use Audiopoints under everything in my system, including the battery pack for my Teres (had an extra set). |
Depending on the size of the footprint of the speaker, I have used marble tiles from Home Depot with great results. |
Hi Lextek,
Using any type of rigid mount (such as a cone or spike, a slab of stone or wood, a rigid metal stand) will send unwanted vibration down into the floor from the speaker and the vibration will travel towards the stand which holds the electronics. It will travel up through the stand and into the electronics where it will contaminate the signal and impede the performance of the overall system. This situation is true for suspended wood floors and concrete floors.
The most effective method for supporting a speaker will be with a high mass, high absorption platform that has the ability to absorb the unwanted vibration before it can enter the floor and contaminate the rest of the system's components. The specific methods and construction of this platform is critical for best performance.
Please let me know if you'd like me to elaborate further as well as provide measurements which show the effectiveness of this type of speaker support.
Best Regards,
Barry Kohan
Disclaimer: I am a manufacturer of vibtration control products. |
I have a freind that has great results with "quarters" nickels might work but resting the spike into the quarter is a pretty good deal because the spike actually digs into the copper and the quarter rim seems to hold it in place |
I use Quadraspire floor protector discs. You can get them from audioadvisor. They my WB Curves very well and they're not an eyesore, either. |
All good info. Thanks. So it is best to "connect" speakers to the floor. So why would one put Blu tack between speakers and speaker stands? Right now I have the spikes with coins under them. |
Check audiogon "mfg directory" for email address. Contact Steve at Herbie's. Depending upon the weight of the speaker these elastomer feet will remove vibration and not stain wood floors. I'm using his "Combat Boots" on a pair of Von Schweikert dB99's 100lbs ea. Smaller footers work great on components. They are terrific!
Jack
www.esotericaudiovideo.com |
Lextek, you raise a good question. Why would people put Blu-tac under their speakers? It is probably because they haven't tried the other way, yet.
Blu-tac and other soft stuff provides a kind of soft "wiggly" interface between items, which at one time was thought to be a good way to do things. Others have used rubber, and sorbothane, etc, to do similar things.
A tweeter vibrates at more than 20kHz, at very low amplitudes, which means very tiny movement of the dome, maybe less than 1/10,000th of an inch in some cases. If your speaker enclosure is "wiggling" at all, then there is doppler induced onto the tweeter(at the very least), and perhaps even cancellation of certain sounds.
"Spikes" became popular years ago to help to stabilize the speakers from this "wiggling" behavior. They also help to couple the speaker to the higher mass of the floor. This can help to absorb the vibrations that are present in the entire speaker cabinet.
Not everyone subscribes to this method. But, I guess that makes for interesting dialogue.
Disclaimer: I work for a company that manufactures audio products, including points and stands. |
Well for kicks I swapped my spikes for some stick on clear rubber feet (1/4"). The sound did soften somewhat. I actually may prefer this sound to the spiked one. The Thiels can be unforgiving. |
Go with what works best for you! As for blu tak, I don't think it acts like a rubberized interface. It essentially sticks your monitor to the stand. By coupling ths speaker to a heavy stand ( increasing the total mass ), the speakers are less prone to "wiggle". You should then decouple the stand from the floor. |
