Positioning B&W 802’s with spikes in hardwood?


I’m about to spike my new B&W 802’s, directly into hardwood for best sound, but I can’t fathom how to accomplish that with ultra-precise positioning of my speakers which happen to weigh 180 pounds. I feel like when I move the speakers on to their sides, to replace the rollers with the massive spikes, that when I rock the speaker back up it will be impossible to re-attain the precise position that the speakers were in with the rollers.

Can anyone offer advice on how to best accomplish this?

My poor floor has quite a few little holes from where my prior speakers (which were half the weight of my new speakers) were spiked. This was from getting the positioning just right. I can’t do that again with the weight of my new speakers and the absolutely massive size of the new spikes.

By the way, for my prior speakers I found that installing the spikes led to a drastic improvement to the “solidity” and grip of the sound.  And not just in the bass!

 

nyev

@nyev Could you possibly share your impressions when you get them installed and have a handle on what improvements they make?  I’m planning on getting them in the near future so would be good to hear from someone here with a good system.  I’d love to put Townshend platforms/podiums under everything, but with two kids headed toward college that’ll have to wait. 

If it we're me, I would put mark the placement of the speakers by way of blue tape, measurement from side wall, whatever..., place the spikes, tip the speakers back upon metal discs made for spikes. You can move the speakers some this way and can easily tip the speaker to remove the discs two at time.

I’m going to give Herbie’s a shot.  It seems that almost 100% of people who post about them are very happy with them, say they are the “best tweak” available etc, and they make speakers easy to move, permanently.  Plus, they are half the cost of  Isoacoustics, which I don’t see written about as much as Herbie’s.

I would consider Isoacoustics Gaia feet.  First use sliders to position, then remove the sliders and keep them on the Gaia's.

Not the best sound.  Consider Townshend outriggers (aka seismic podiums).  Instead of anchoring your speaker to the floor and making it try to excite vibrations in the wood, isolate it on springs and let it vibrate as it was designed.  As a physicist, this is my preferred option.  I was quite surprised by the magnitude of the change.

I’m going to try these that not only make it a cinch to move speakers but several people much prefer them for sonics over spikes…

https://herbiesaudiolab.com/products/threaded-stud-glider

Just learned about Herbie’s decoupling gliders.  Claim that leaving the gliders in place with the spikes improves sound.  
 

Anyone have any experience with this?  I like the major sound improvements when spikes go direct into the floor, so hopefully this approach could even be better?

Yeah was hoping their was a simpler solution!  How do other people manage this?  Surely not everyone gets a transmission Jack to spike their large speakers with precision!  
 

 

 

you need something like a transmission jack, a friend to hold them steady.

roll in place, lower them down.