Spikes or Spikeless

Ended up using the extremely sharp spikes on the front 2 post of each speaker. While using a not so sharp on the 2 rear post.
The front drilled through to the concrete and the other 2 rear ended up not going so far....
Got them all balanced and they decoupled the speaker from the floor and prevented unwanted damping.
Really sweet sound.
Thanks for all the adavise....

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Mine is a tad different still. Just berber carpet glued to the concrete floor, no padding. My Paradigms need the spikes to sit solidly and they sound better with the spikes, no question. My Aerial 10t, with the Sound Anchor stands mind you, sound the same no matter if spikes are used or the heavy rubber feet. My horns are too big to care. In fact, the bass horns were designed to acoustically couple with the floor so they need to sit flat.

I've had good luck spiking , only time it made things worse was on a springy floor that seem to resinate . The spikes will not harm the carpet .

I have a concrete floor with vinyl flooring and a rug over it. My Gamut L5s come on a base with 4 large outrigger cones; they also have cups for the cones to rest in. My two friends and I have listened to them several times with and without the cones resting in the cups and everytime we decided that they sounded better with the cups. YMMV.

Wow - Someone put a lid on this open can of worms...=)
Thank you for all your input - I will give a few ideas a try: Im thinking try the Spikes to the concrete and see if that works. At 50# each I just did not think the spikes would "penetrate" into the concrete and perform properly. The idea of the spikes is to hold the speaker stationary. I was afraid they would "slide/vibrate" around. I will update on how much a PITA it is or was not...and my conclusions

Spikes couple and allow vibrations to transfer. I realize that many theorize that spikes decouple by reducing the contact area between the bottom of the speaker and the floor. The reality is that the small contact point creates a very large psi value that in effect bolts the two components together. Vibrations travel very easily through spikes in both directions. Spikes are used with speakers to create a stiff, no rocking stance. All speakers are not the same so many times you have to try different things to find which works best for a given situation.

I'm not sure what the objective is. Spikes are usually needed to decouple speaker from vibrating floor (infinitely small point cannot transfer energy). Your floor is concrete and most likely won't vibrate, so I assume you want to suppress speaker resonances. In that case you should couple speaker to the floor - either by direct placement on the carpet or on heavy base (thick marble or granite).

I also have a basement floor with carpet and padding. Over a 6 mo. to 1 yr. period I tried various combinations of spikes, wood plinths, rubber or composite footers, and nothing. This was for my VSA VR-4jrs. The worst was spikes directly through the carpet into the concrete. Grey, harsh sound with severely attenuated bass. What I finally settled on was a pair of custom maple platforms, 1" thick and about 2" extending beyond the speakers' plinths. Speakers spiked into the platforms, platforms spiked into the concrete thru the carpet. Got back my mid-bass, balanced out the rest of the spectrum, lost the harshness on top. I went with 4 feet on both sets of spikes but I have no doubt 3 would be better; also a 2" thick maple platform would probably be superior too. The platforms elevated my speakers a bit but luckily this did not cause problems re tweeter height and so forth.

How heavy are your speakers? How thick is the padding and carpet? Have you tried your speakers with and without the spikes?

Speakers with four feet are a PITA. For all my previous speakers, I had custom Sound Anchor stands made, and those guys know the benefit of a three foot base. There is no need for the constant adjustment. My current speakers came with Sound Anchor bases the manufacturer has made for them and unfortunately they have 4 feet. Fortunately, they are easily adjustable and lock into place, but still I find the need to occasionally go back and readjust, maybe because the spikes are drilling into the concrete just a little over time under the over 100lb weight. If you have an option, and you can make the speakers stable with only three support points, IMO that is the way to go. As to your question, I have tried SA cone coasters, Audio Point cups and spiked directly into the floor on my carpet over concrete and I think spiked is best. On hardwood, I like coasters or cups with Herbies Big Fat Dots under them.

I have had good luck with spikes over concrete,with an area rug under the speakers and 1" thick Maple between rug and spikes..Spikes grip into Maple and are stable with the weight of the speakers holding everything down..The Maples is just cut 1" thick, 2"x 2" square under each spike.....

With a little finessing and tweaking of the spikes, it should be very stable through the carpet and into the concrete.
You need spikes that are long and tapered sharply to get through all that padding. I made some platformes for my speakers with adjustable spikes because I have carpet on top of wooden floors. The platforms gave it some mass to clean up the lower end. But with concrete floors, that should be plenty of mass.
If it takes to much of the fullness out of the bass, just inch it closer to the wall to help fill it out.
Take small steps so you don't get to much bloom in the bass. It's a PITA, but when you nail it, all will be good.