Subwoofer Footing - Connect or Isolate?


What is considered the best way to "foot" a subwoofer, should one try to connect it with the floor or isolate it? I have a REL 7i that I have firmly coupled to my wood floor with the weight of a 42 lb curling stone, mainly because it looks cool. Would some sort of isolation be better and reduce resonance from the floor, or could the connection with the floor help "drain" resonance from the subwoofer cabinet?
zlone
Not a single subwoofer manufacturer offers springs for their subs. But hey, what do they know about subs anyway. SMH.

The only component that may benefit from a sprung suspension is a turntable. That also happens to be the only component offered with suspension. 

A sub (and every speaker known to man) is best served by being spiked onto a firm surface like a floor.
"Why would a manufacturer build and sell a product that will not work optimally with the feet supplied knowing that a bad review can kill sales. "

barjohn-you are on an audio site. Audiophoolery  is the name of the game here.

There is no product that doesn't need to be tweaked, cryo'ed, fused, retubed, cabled, sprung...etc.

After you do  all those things, you start a forum thread titled: "what's best, digital or analog?"
"Why?" To keep the price down and give people options. I use the soundpath feet because I have wood floors, I don't want to make a plinth for a huge sub and I don't want it walking across the floor. Various reasons people make their choices...  
"Why would a manufacturer build and sell a product that will not work optimally with the feet supplied knowing that a bad review can kill sales. "


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Why would a manufacture sell a 20K amp with a 10.00 usd power cable.
They don’t expect YOU to use it..

Just because someone puts a name on a box and call’s it "The Best Sub", Doesn’t mean it is... I keep reading how ’So and So subs should know about subs" WHY? 10-20 year old businesses. Most Agoners have been at this STUFF for 40 plus years. So who has the years under their belts.

I keep seeing Points, solid to the floor, no isolation, spring move, La-Te-Da. Mercy!!

In the 70-80s they new to do it.

From the old VMPS web site, below.. Mr Bass Himself Brian C

"Spikes

Spikes both couple and decouple the cabinet/speaker output from the floor.

Bass wavelengths are quite long and, below about 200Hz, boundary dependent. Without a surface to travel along they dissipate somewhat rapidly. A woofer would ideally be as close to a boundary (floor) or multiple boundaries (side and back walls, and even ceiling) as possible, or at least a constant distance from them. By elevating a cabinet from the floor with spikes, you reduce the propagation efficiency of bass wavelengths. So, you decouple bass from the room, even if ever so slightly. The effect is quite audible.

Spikes couple cabinet output to the floor, turning it into a transmission medium. Soundwaves travel through many solids much more rapidly than through the air. Instead of "moving the floor", cabinet output is transmitted to the listener ahead of the music, through the floor (made usually a good carrier of sound like wood or stone). This is why I’m no fan of spikes, and the Sunfire people aren’t either.

Try some damping compound between the spikes and the cabinet (not between the spikes and the floor) and let me know if you hear a difference. I’ve seen composite spikes that were metal only on the tips, otherwise rubber. Should work better.

Since spikes do two things I don’t like--diminish bass propagation, and transmit or even amplify spurious cabinet talk--I never recommend their use.

As Sunfire recommends, rubber or other absorbent materials can be used as feet for speakers or subs.

Since a lot depends on the height of the stand and the materials from which your floor is made, why not experiment? Personally I like Dynamat".


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That was in the 80-90s. 3-40 years LATER I read this

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Speakers and subwoofers like to be solidly mounted to add structure to the enclosure, they do not like to be in micro motion.
The ONLY reason you would ever want to iso mount a speaker or subwoofer is if the energy of the speaker is transfering into something such that it is audibly resonating, e.g. a suspended wood floor.
In that case you would introduce isolstion of some sort because not using it is worse than using isolation.
isolation is a compromise solution, the speaker is now in micromotion. no isolation is always best if the speaker isnt causing something else to vibrate audibly.

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Sounds confusing doesn’t it?

Everything vibrates. HOW MUCH? That is the question.

IF the cabinet is not solid to begin with, it’s certainly not going to get that way setting it on the floor. You can ADD weight to the structure to mass load then spring load. THINK!! Just like the bus, car, plane, train, horse and buggy, bicycle, motorcycle, baby carriage. When you ride in them, they isolates your BUTT from the road..

There are NO STEEL WHEELS... You don’t couple vibrations to other structures... THINK!!!




Why would a manufacture sell a 20K amp with a 10.00 usd power cable.
They don’t expect YOU to use it..


Most amplifier manufacturers recommend aftermarket cables. Not a single one advises against using them. At best, some may claim aftermarket cables aren’t needed.

Not a single speaker manufacturer, currently active or active during the past 80 years, have ever recommended their speakers be sprung. They all recommend their products be placed on a solid and firm surface.

The idea that using a aftermarket power cable is analogous to putting a speaker on suspension is ridiculous.

A speaker driver cannot possibly reproduce sound accurately when it’s enclosure is moving on the same axis as the driver. It’s simple physics. Very simple physics.

You’re the one who needs to think.

BTW, the caps key is the third from the bottom on the left side of your keyboard.