Speaker shock absorbers

Maybe my experience can illuminate the question whether to spike or not. During a long audiophile life I have vacillated between spikes or more pliant shock absorbers (SD-feet from Sweden, the Base Platform from Norway and Valhalla Technology from Denmark). All had their advantages, but the main problem was that they made the speakers wobbly and the sound muddy. So I always returned to spikes. So a few weeks ago I by chance discovered Equarack speaker mounts (from the US). I ordered eight of these and put four under each of my Vienna Acoustics Beethoven Concert Grand speakers. Suddenly everything fell into place: natural, smooth, free flowing music but with tight bass and sharp transients. I can`t recommend them highly enough ( I am certainly not paid by the producer to say this!). So this might be the "final solution"! So try them.

Trondf - Have you tried Vibrapods. It is pretty much the same idea (lossy viscoelstic rubber) and very smart design. I have one of them under each corner of my speakers. Compare to spikes sound is cleaner, bass is faster and more even/musical.
Vibrapods are perhaps not as good as Equarack speaker mounts but my total bill was about $50 while Equaracks would cost me over $1400.

Kijanki - No I haven`t tried the Vibrapods. To me they seem to be based on more or less the same principles as the products I have tried before, but then again: I don`t know too much about them. Anyhow, they seem to work for you and that is the main thing. As to the cost of the Equarack speaker mounts: 8 mounts with viscoelastic pellets set me back around 6-700 US dollars. For me they combine two things: stability and decoupling/isolation. But the real proof is in the pudding; i.e. listening. What sounds good to you is good, isn`t it?

Trondf - It sounds better than spikes by cutting off resonanses of the floor (basement underneath). The question is how much better it could sound with Equaracks. My modest speakers are around 90lbs each and Equarack footers for this range are $160 each + $18 for bag of 10 rubber pellets (from their web page). Total amount for whole set is pretty much what I paid for the speakers. Vibrapods have poor stability - speakers are straight but wobble a little when pushed. If Equarcks are more stable I might invest one day in them, when I get better speakers. What I like about them is ability to adjust load by inserting different amount of pellets - Vibrapods have to be ordered in different load ranges.

Hi Kijanki,

I believe Trondf meant the SM-1 model($70 w/ 50lbs capacity ea), not the SM-2 which you mentioned @ $160ea (150lbs capacity). So, $80 (w/ $10/ pack of pellets)x 8(4/spkr) = $640.00. Still, this is not insubstantial but if you have the dough, its justifiable.

Kenobi