To bolt Standmounts to stands, or not?


Hi all, 

Wasn't sure whether to post this in the speaker section, but it's not specifically a speaker question as such; I suppose it's more of a coupling/de-coupling question,..... I think 🤔.

Anyway, here's the situation; I bought a pair of Triangle Comete's a couple of months back, plus Triangle stands to match. The speakers have built in threads on the underside to bolt to their matching stands, on each corner.

I've utilised this, and bolted the speakers to their stands (there is a thin layer of a foam like material stuck to the top plate of the stands, I assume for protection to the bottom of the speakers and a degree of damping.

As for the floor in my listening room; it is a wooden suspended floor (floor boards over joists, with a covering of around a half-inch, solid oak tongue & groove flooring. Fairly solid. My speaker stands have the option of regular spikes and Spike shoes or rubber inserts; I chose the rubber feet. 

So, my query is 2 fold;

1/ is bolting my speakers to their stands a bad idea, or should I just place them on some kind of rubber absorbant feet, attached to the stand/speaker bottoms?

2/ is there a better method of placing my stands on the floor than the rubber feet supplied with the stand (such as the supplied spikes and shoes)? 

I haven't tried alternative set ups yet, as I just wanted to settle in the speakers (new speaker cables too). 

I've read up on coupling/de-coupling and the various takes on this topic, and quite frankly, it makes my head hurt 😝

Would love to hear some of your thoughts on the above; whether there are better ways of setting up what I have (I'm sure there is 😊, I just don't know what) 

Thanks very much 👍

 

 

128x128painter24

Is there a torque value for the bolts? If not that’s something else to experiment with.

 

I tried it with speakers and stands that weren’t intended for bolting but not for long.

 

I find the small Herbie's that take a spike very useful for speaker positioning particularly on smooth floors but I’ve only used them with floor standers,. The Titanium were slightly better than the brass I thought but with both there’s a hint of harshness until bedded in, a week or two sees it off.

Wow, thanks for all the advice and suggestions guys, really appreciate it!!! 🙏

The Herbie's products look great; I will be trying these out. 

@mitch2 thanks for the detailed advice on these 👍

@erik_squires thanks for the advice 👍

@yeti42 not sure about torque values, I don't recall anything from Triangle on this, but will double check, and maybe try adjusting. Thanks for the Herbie's advice too. I think I will be trying their products out.

Thanks again guys, very much appreciated; I've gained more benefit than all the reading I've done previously 😊

In my case, I built a set of speakers that weighed in at about 40 pounds each. They sat atop heavy stands that probably weighed about the same. In spite of that, I wasn't totally comfortable setting the speakers one the stands by themselves. I found out only a short time later that I was right to do this. A guest bumped into one of the speakers making it rock on the three footed stand. In spite of his apology, imagine if were a toppling thing, and right down onto the power amp. etc. it goes! Now, having said this, I cannot confirm that the sound is better or not this way, as I have only used them like this. I like the idea that they are coupled to very beefy stands filled with lead shot though. 

I have some stand mount paranoia too. My dog knocked over my BC1.

It land flush on its side on carpet. Missed my sub by 1/2" 

I started to admire the Dynaudio stands with a wider stance.

A backup would be a safety wire connected to the ceiling from

the speaker. 

Is that like wearing a belt with suspenders?

 

Back to the permanent mount question. I had a pair of the Cometes here

last month and noticed the extra thought they gave to the mounting system.

A great speaker too!

 

The OP may want to direct his question directly to Triangle as they

have clearly investigated the symbiotic relationship of stand to speaker.

My guess is they will say a heavy stand is better than a light one but to

inextricably bind the two together-no. Isoacoustics is your ticket. 

 

Please post what you learn.

 

Security concerns aside, every standpoint speaker I’ve owned required it’s own stand interface to sound their best to my ears. Some sounded best when blu-tak’d firmly to the stands, others on small wood blocks, on and on. Same with the stand bases. For years, everyone said speaker stands must be rigidly spiked to the floor, but now, many swear by springy Townsend platforms, which let the speakers rock significantly. So what to do? IMO, start with what the manufacturer suggests and listen for a few weeks. Then try something else and see if you like it more or less. Ultimately, it just had to sound good to you. But if you have animals and/or kids, go for a secure mounting system.