Vandersteen 2wq Subwoofer Help


Hello,
I have a Vandersteen 2wq which I bought used. Although there are holes for spikes on the bottom of the sub mine did not come with any spikes. I have a hardwood floor so I ordered a Auralex Great Gamma to decouple the sub from the floor. My question is will this take away from the musicality of the sub by placing the sub directly on the auralex piece or should I just put spikes on the bottom. The drivers are downward firing.
autodexr
I'd use hard steel points in small steel protectors.Eperiment with bit of mass loading under as well.Mybe a heavy iron amp stand from Sound Anchor.
Chazz
I'm wondering if the mat won't be counter productive by reducing the vibrations that help bass resonate with the floor. I put my ear against the top, and could hear the bass and feel the vibrations which must help the overall sound(feeling). Won't more resonance be created if the sub is the height of the spikes off the floor? Did you get the high pass filter and setup instructions? The subs are side ported so mostly vibrations are coming out the bottom. Let us know what you find.
It seems to me, that the speaker was designed for spikes. If you like the Vandersteen sound, you should use them as intended. If you need spikes call Richard or your local Vandersteen dealer. All balls, blocks, new power cords, etc. makes the speakers sound different, but not better...but they are yours and you should do what you think you want to do.
I decoupled my Vandy nine years ago and have never gone back to the spikes. I did place "unhappy" balls where the spikes would normally have screwed in and placed a 25# sack of lead shot (BB's) on top. A friend couldn't find the unhappy balls so he used hocky pucks and blue tacked them to the bottom of the sub.

Also, I have this all sitting on a sandwiched 18" cermic tile platform. I held the tiles together by using Mortite "roof and gutter" patch tape sandwiched between the tile's non-glazed back's. This also made the platform totally dead to vibration (knuckle rapped it). If you can't find the patch tape, you can use roof calking or rope calking. Other than the rope calking, this stuff is messy so be careful where you use it.

OBTW, since one of the glazed tiles faces down, it is very easy to push them around on a carpeted floor.

Good luck,
L
Thanks for the response. Due to room issues my sub is centered between my two speakers. I dont have much choice is the matter as far as placing in the corners. But I centered in the room my be ok with just running 1 sub. I am going to receive the auralex product in a few days and will update on what I hear. The height on the gramma is 2.75 inches. Do you think this will compronise the sound/ not close enough to the floor?
Hi, I have a pair of 2Wq's that I am experimenting with the placement of also.
I put EZ Glide surface protectors on first sitting directly on the hardwood floor, this way I could slide the sub around to find the best placement. I liked the sound this way, the closer to the floor the fuller the sound, but am now trying the spikes sitting on 1/4" high density fiber board. I am finding corner placement has far more affect on the type of sound, is the sub in a corner? When I found the place that sounded best I listened for a week then put the spikes in. Currently they are 4 1/8" from the back wall and 3 3/8" from the side wall, the db is at 89 and the Q is at 5.