Will the placement of casters on speaker stands degrade the performance

Movement, Alternate Toe-In!!!

Vibrations.

Forget spikes. I’ve done it, my friends have done it, we all have done it.

The speaker frame/enclosure should be essentially vibration free. Some believe it is important to keep vibrations from the earth from getting ’up’ to the speakers (via spikes of course). A vibrating frame or enclosure will vibrate as much on spikes as off.

My speakers, on 3 wheels, are tilted back for time alignment and to aim the tweeters at seated ear height. The tops are tilted. See my System Photos, I have lot’s of Donna’s ’Stuff’ on top, (cork coasters below each). Nothing moves, except during the few steps I need to ’get back’ from the TT due to my springy floors.

Prior heavy Infinite Slope Model 2's came with 4 casters, I centered one rear one and added rear corner blocks to prevent tilting (just a bit shorter than the wheel height).
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Movement (marks needed for hard-found location(s),

Luckily my wood floor grid is centered l/r. I stuffed a speck of white paper in a joint for the inside front corners, then adjust toe-in maintaining that corner.

I would not live without being able to move my main system speakers. The weight of the speakers influences solutions: a slip sheet; self-adhesive felt pads; wheels. Solid, no rocking, but wobble or roll when desired.

My heavy speakers are on 3 wheels: 3 don’t need leveling like 4 might; more weight per wheel than 4; skirt prevents tipping. (the bottom of one speaker is shown in my System Photos here) (front block above front wheels provides the tilt).

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Specific Toe-In angles:

A single centered listener, both speakers aimed directly at me.

Alternate specific toe-in angle for two listeners, small table between, Wider center image needed for imaging. Aim the left speaker directly at the right listener. Air the right speaker at the left listener.

Alternate toe-in, album or track specific, i.e. Eurythmics, Blue Nile, Andreas Vollenweider, 3 Guitarists, anything ... too wide can be great, or not; too narrow can be congested: depends, use the toe-in to alter
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More Space Needed

Pushed back some when 1 leaf is in the dining room table, back into the corners when all 3 leaves are in the dining table.

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I call it Wide Center, actually it is L/C/R Imaging maintained over a Wider Area.

2 people listening to 2 channel, I alter the toe-in to get this.

3 people on the sofa (or 2 in the corners near their coffee warmers). my DBX Soundfield 100’s are specifically designed for ’Wide L/C/R Imaging’, great for Surround Sound. Center Signal is sent only to the Center Speaker, thus you NEED a dedicated center speaker, especially for dialog. Meanwhile, the Main L/R signals (info not present in the center signal/speaker) create the L/Phantom C/R imaging (good in only the middle, or maintained over a wider area?)

http://www.hifi-classic.net/review/dbx-soundfield-100-135.html

a bag of concrete mix is 80 lbs. Go to home depot, pick up a bag. It can be on wheels (without wobbly axels) and it ain’t going anywhere by itself. Get two 20 lb bags of something, bird seed, sand, ... stuff is heavier the numbers imply.

Not ’easy’ movement, ’just possible’ movement. Mine are well over 100 lbs. I have to pull/push pretty hard. They stay solidly where I put them.

Solution for movement needs to be made relative to the speaker’s weight and bottom surface area, and the floor material and solidity. Sitting solidly, so the woofer can’t rock the boat is the goal. Mine are 37 lb 15" woofers, on 3 hard plastic casters with tight axels, they stay put, Donna’s stuff stays put on the slanted top, and I can readily adjust toe-in to maintain imaging.

As I said, for ’just possible’ movement potential, forget spikes, they are a done deal for a single precise location, and any ’earth’ vibrations can/will go ’up’ to the speakers.

If you have lightweight speakers, they are small, and need to be up for tweeter height at seated ear level, thus stands. Fill the stands with lead, sand, make them out of steel beams, HEAVY, and firmly attach the speakers to the stand, now you own a unified heavy sucker. Now, a solution for ’just possible’ movement based on the weight and bottom surface area, and solve tipping potential.

Any bottom mounted material or wheel, I recommend 3, not 4, (more weight per contact area, self leveling). If tipping is possible during relocation, a skirt or rear corner blocks to prevent that.

Slip sheet on carpet; felt pads on hard floor; hard plastic casters slightly softer poly wheels; a bit softer rubber wheels.

Suppose an infinitesimal difference between spikes and your method of firm but possible movement could be measured by a scientific instrument. Lack of movement would negate improved ’situational imaging’ for the sake of an infinitesimal measurement, that’s a bad bargain. Further back, way back out of the way for table extension for family dinners is FAR more important, let’s get real, solve your life needs, the music will be more enjoyable.

Reading ’Townsend’s ’block earth’s vibration going ’up’, I recently tried to find softer surfaced casters. I tried, returned 3 different sets as each one’s ’soft rubber’ was far from soft. Finally I got some, switched them, the wheels axels were too loose, they wobbled: so the softer surface was achieved, but the big woofers could rock the boat because of the loose axels. Hard plastic with tight axels back on!

Mine are dual wheel, plate mounted (not post pushed into sockets) high quality furniture grade (moved from the Infinite Slope speakers (they found good ones). Some have optional brakes, not mine. If you need brakes, they move too easily.

from a review of a Music Hall Turntable

" The platter, main bearing, and tonearm are all mounted to the top plinth layer, while the bottom layer houses a set of three threaded, adjustable conical feet (complete with anti-scratch cups) and the gold-plated single-ended stereo output jacks. The logic of using only three isolation cones as footers is remarkably sound, pun intended. Euclidian geometry teaches us that while two points are necessary to describe a line, only three are necessary to describe a plane, with more than three being superfluous. In fact, with four, one of the four will almost certainly be "floating" off the surface under the device being supported by the first three. From an isolation standpoint, I wish more manufacturers would employ only a troika of isolation feet, as such an arrangement allows for the more stable support of any component. Kudos to Music Hall for adopting this stance."

locking is one thing, tight axel is another, they need to be tight or even when locked they will wobble.