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Speaker Spikes - Working Principle

Vibration damping obvious makes sense (in speakers just as well as in cars). 

That involves 'killing' (converting into heat, through typically internal friction) kinetic energy. So any sort of elastic material (rubber has lots of internal friction) makes sense. 

And then there are spikes. Using a pointy hard object and pair it with a softer, elastic material (to deform, and kill kinetic energy) can work; think metal sharp spike into carpet or wood floor. 

But what is the idea behind pairing fairly unelastic metal (brass for example) with similarly unelastic (brass, stone, etc) material (example photo provided)? Only thing I can come up with: LOOKS good and makes owner feel good  thinking its an improvement (works only for Audiophiles though),

Even more curious: are they ENGINEERED "spikes" (vibration dampers or shock absorbers) for speakers that are TUNED for the frequency (and mass)  that needs to be dampened? Can piston style fluid dampers be designed for the high frequencies (100, 1000, 10000 Hz) using geometry, nozzles size and viscosity of the fluid?

 

kraftwerkturbo

Showing 3 responses by whipsaw

whipsaw
753 posts
 

I also use ISO Acoustics Gaia under my speakers, and there is no doubt that they improved the sound over spikes. They don't decouple fully, but work well in that direction, and, along with the likes of related Townshend products, reduce the "smear" that results from vibration, and also improve the focus of bass response.

The disadvantage, at least for some (not in my case), is that hard-coupling devices like spikes do transmit more bass energy to the floor, and some listeners prefer to have that visceral feedback, which is reduced with the use decoupling devices.

whipsaw
753 posts
 

@curiousjim 

I assume that that you still use the associated threaded rods to attach the Gaias, yes?

Interesting that you use granite under them. Do you have wood floors? Mine are tile.

All the best.

whipsaw
753 posts
 

Hello, looking for confirmation, I have concrete floor with pad/carpet on top, I have spikes but don't use them, the towers rest on the carpet.

My understanding from everything is this is decoupling, am I correct?

No, your speakers don't require spikes to be coupled to the floor, and they are coupled as you describe your set-up.

That doesn't mean that they would sound the same with spikes, but vibration will be transmitted both to and from the floor with or without them.

What this means is that you would need to insert decoupling/damping devices in order to significantly reduce such transmissions.

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