Huge difference in sound : Spikes vs. Vibrapods

Cones are the way to go IF you want to develope a more neutral sound in your system.

I have done many experiments in this area. Most people have been so conditioned to believe speakers must be spiked that
they dismiss outright any suggestion of using vibrapods or
bearings devices even though they have never actually tried them.

When using vibrapods under speakers you can simplify things
by getting 20x16 or larger glass cutting boards and then set vibrapods/speakers on top, and you can easily slide speaker on carpet/wood floor. Also 1" nylon dog leash makes good strap to loop under large heavy speakers so 1 person can lift/move.

Once you have speaker on vibrapods you will easily hear deeper more detailed bass lower midrange, however with some speakers/music it can be too much bass emphasis and not sound natural, this is mainly with bass heavy rock music.
I really like vibrapods with classical music as it brings out bass details on viols, bassons, deep horns etc. When speakers are on spikes there is shift to upper mids and treble and bass becomes tighter/leaner which may be the sound you prefer. So depending on speakers you have may like the vibrapod effect, you should try this if you feel system is currently bright and needs less treble emphasis and more bass.

The lower mid/bass also becomes more detailed with vibrapods
I feel vs spikes. I especially like using vibrapods with stand mounted monitor speakers that by design are lacking low bass response, really works wonders here.

There is also half way step between vibrapods/spikes and that is with oak blocks (cut from 1/2 x 3 trim boards) you can try. Also since bass is omni directional you can vibrapod one speaker and hear the basic effect.

Hi guys. Over the years I have always endeavored to increase the mass of dynamic speaker systems in order to lower their natural resonant frequency. I'll use my set up as a case in point. Each speaker weighs 55 lbs. The stands, unfilled, weigh about 20 pounds each and I've filled them with another 80 pounds each of a combination of sand and clay-based kitty litter. The speakers are bluetacked to the stands and the stands' pointed feet pierce the carpet to the concrete beneath. This couples everything together so that the resonant frequency of the whole is much lower than it is for an individual speaker. When I first got this pair I tried them out of he box on unfilled stands with rubber bumpers and non-piercing cones on the bottom. This gave boomy bass which didn't reach terribly low and gave male voices "in a barrel." After the changes cited above the voices sound natural and the low bass is now apparent with authority and impact.

I have not run into a dynamic speaker that hasn't responded this way, but I'm open to the possibility that a given speaker takes into accout its natural resonance as part of its design. Such a speaker will require compliant mounting. The other thing is that you should go with whatever sounds most right to you...always trust the ear!

I responded to Tekunda's post over on Audioasylum about this (actually his first response there), and would agree with the posters here that you need to trust your ears and try this within your own system. My speakers are Elipson 1313's (a french floorstander weighing about 45 pounds each) and I have a room with berber (low pile) carpet over a hardwood floor/suspended wood floor. My system set-up with regards to speakers for the past 6 months or so has been 1/4" laminated glass (about 15"x15"-slightly larger than the footprint of my speakers) on the carpet, with vibrapods on the glass and speakers on the pods. The improvement (to my ears) as compared to spiking was pretty dramatic. I think Sam has nailed exactly what the vibrapods will do (and I am using floor standers), and if you prefer a "leaner" or "brighter" sound, the pods will not do that for you. Within my system, I would say that everything was improved-some posters at the Audioasylum say that the high frequencies are "rolled off" with the pods and the bass becomes "slower" but that would not be the way I would describe it. I'd say that you get a "richer" (and in my opinion more realistic) sound right from the bass through the midrange and treble, with the higher frequencies being marginally cleaned up but certainly not "rolled off". Bass and midrange performance in my system was really enhanced and the music seems to have an "ebb and flow" that was just not there with spikes. Spikes really bleached out the sound in my system and made it sound much more "mechanical". I'd recommend that anyone experiment with the vibrapods under speakers. They're cheap, and in my opinion, really effective, particularly as Sam said if you have a system that leans toward brightness and you'd prefer something a little smoother. My system doesn't warrant major expenditures on Aurios or other bearing devices, but I can certainly believe that they would also have a pretty substantial effect on speaker sound quality.

Blake

Larryken, DH Labs ceramic Cones..where can I find more information please?
I checked DH Labs's website, but cannot find anything about the cones.
Thank you, btw, for your kind words.