2. speakers
  3. 187821-167033

Speaker Spikes - Working Principle

Vibration damping obvious makes sense (in speakers just as well as in cars). 

That involves 'killing' (converting into heat, through typically internal friction) kinetic energy. So any sort of elastic material (rubber has lots of internal friction) makes sense. 

And then there are spikes. Using a pointy hard object and pair it with a softer, elastic material (to deform, and kill kinetic energy) can work; think metal sharp spike into carpet or wood floor. 

But what is the idea behind pairing fairly unelastic metal (brass for example) with similarly unelastic (brass, stone, etc) material (example photo provided)? Only thing I can come up with: LOOKS good and makes owner feel good  thinking its an improvement (works only for Audiophiles though),

Even more curious: are they ENGINEERED "spikes" (vibration dampers or shock absorbers) for speakers that are TUNED for the frequency (and mass)  that needs to be dampened? Can piston style fluid dampers be designed for the high frequencies (100, 1000, 10000 Hz) using geometry, nozzles size and viscosity of the fluid?

 

kraftwerkturbo
n0m1n4l
24 posts
 

Hello, looking for confirmation, I have concrete floor with pad/carpet on top, I have spikes but don't use them, the towers rest on the carpet.

My understanding from everything is this is decoupling, am I correct?

If I used the spikes provided with the speakers, they would "couple" the speakers to the concrete floor, because the spikes would pierce through the carpet and pad.

Am I understanding correctly or do I have it backwards? Thanks for any clarity you all can provide.

bolong
385 posts
 

How many angels can dance on the head of a spike?

whipsaw
753 posts
 

Hello, looking for confirmation, I have concrete floor with pad/carpet on top, I have spikes but don't use them, the towers rest on the carpet.

My understanding from everything is this is decoupling, am I correct?

No, your speakers don't require spikes to be coupled to the floor, and they are coupled as you describe your set-up.

That doesn't mean that they would sound the same with spikes, but vibration will be transmitted both to and from the floor with or without them.

What this means is that you would need to insert decoupling/damping devices in order to significantly reduce such transmissions.

Post removed 
Post removed 
More to discover