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Coupling or Decoupling speakers?

I have always coupled my loudspeakers to the listening room floor with cones/spikes and thought that is how it should be.  I recently stumbled on a discussion of the issue.  After reading a good bit I decided to decouple my Vandersteen Treo CT speakers using Herbie's Audio Lab Titanium Cone/Spike Decoupling Gliders.  So now, instead of having my speakers spiked into the concrete slab under my carpeted listening room, the cones and spike fit into the decoupling gliders and ride on the carpet.

I was assuming I would hear a difference with music containing bass, especially as my 2wq subwoofers sit right behind each speaker.  The unexpected outcome is that even music with virtually no bass sounds smoother/cleaner and more "real".  The frequency balance does not seem to have been altered, everything, and I mean everything I play is smoother and cleaner.  The soundspace is more open and the decay into the recesses is just a bit l o n g e r.

Please share your experience/ideas/opinions about what is happening with decoupling versus coupling speakers.

128x128hifiman5
ebm
9,311 posts
 
See my thread Symposium and Magico.
goose
671 posts
 
I tried the Herbie gliders under my speakers on a second story suspended wood floor with carpet.  My audio buddy and I liked them spiked directly to the floor instead.  It kind of surprised us.  the bass was actually tighter when we spiked them directly.  Go figure.  
jazzonthehudson's avatar
jazzonthehudson
277 posts
 
+1 for the Sistrum stands which works best in my 2nd system on concrete floor and I have Star Sound gear under my DAC and mono blocks. Very neutral sound.
Under my heavy speakers in my main system, the Stillpoints Ultra 5 works best on suspended floor.
hifiman5's avatar
hifiman5 OP
1,825 posts
 
@georgelofi  I'm not sure what variable determines whether coupling or decoupling on a slab sounds better but I have carpet and pad on a slab in a dedicated basement listening room and decoupling with the Herbie gliders does lend a new clarity and smoothness to the sound.  I wonder if having a coupled subwoofer behind each speaker makes a difference as that sub energy is not traveling up the speaker cones/spike into the speaker cabinet and thus to the drivers and crossover components.

Next decision...to try decoupling the subs??

georgehifi's avatar
georgehifi
10,312 posts
 
hifiman5

Seeing you have a cement slab, this is the best. I would spike all speakers directly into it, mains and subs. As there’s no way your going to vibrate a cement slab. And doing this you’ll have absolutely no back and foreword or sideways movement of the speaker/s, and the imaging will be as good as it gets doing this. As any waisted movements of the speaker will take away from the imagining by the drivers making the speakers move ever so slightly.

Unfortunately on a suspended floor the last thing you want is to couple to the floor with a spike, as then the floor then becomes a sound board especially the bass as well. So decouple (no spikes into them) for these types of floors and try to make the speaker not rock as best you can.

I’ve found on a suspended floor the best was to put a thick oversized cement paving slab (paint it black or whatever for the wife factor) )on the carpet under the speaker and spike the speakers into it. This way the paving slab is still de-coupled from the floor by the carpet and you can still get the speakers quite steady on it.
And paving slabs are cheap only a couple of bucks each but you want them to be around 2" or more thick and larger than the speaker the speaker that's going on them.

Cheers George
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