# Speaker spikes or rubber feet



## Mikeythai

I have 3 PSB Image C60 and 2 S50 surrounds. My new years resolution was to improve my home theater setup, and I want to begin by getting the speakers off the ground.

I think I'll build some simple plywood speaker stands, but I need advice on how the speaker will sit on the top of the stands. I looked at speaker spikes on Amazon, and they look OK. There are no inserts in my speakers so I would have to drill and install the inserts. Not too excited about doing that.

Are rubber feet a good alternative if they are the right type?

Also can someone point me to a good website to buy either spikes or rubber feet?


Thanks


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## Peter Loeser

Are you hoping to get an improvement in sound by adding the feet or spikes? Each system is unique, but even so, it may not make an audible difference. If you are just interested in keeping the speakers from sliding around on the top of your stands, then I think some simple adhesive rubber pads would do the job just fine, without the need to modify your cabinets. Something like this: http://www.mcmelectronics.com/product/28-940&scode=GS401&CAWELAID=220329447?catargetid=1545764029&cagpspn=pla&gclid=CKzL1bO1uLUCFSWRPAodVTUAsg
You could even stick these on top of your stands, one at each corner, and leave your speakers as they are.

If you do decide to try installing spikes or pads to the bottom of your speakers, Parts Express has a pretty good selection of threaded metal and rubber feet.


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## mvision7m

Mikeythai said:


> I have 3 PSB Image C60 and 2 S50 surrounds. My new years resolution was to improve my home theater setup, and I want to begin by getting the speakers off the ground.
> 
> I think I'll build some simple plywood speaker stands, but I need advice on how the speaker will sit on the top of the stands. I looked at speaker spikes on Amazon, and they look OK. There are no inserts in my speakers so I would have to drill and install the inserts. Not too excited about doing that.
> 
> Are rubber feet a good alternative if they are the right type?
> 
> Also can someone point me to a good website to buy either spikes or rubber feet?
> 
> Thanks


Does the manufacturer of your speakers recommend spikes over rubber feet? I have Paradigm Studio 100 V.4s and they come with a set of spikes, the manual also states to use the spikes to decouple the speakers from the floor which should tighten their perceived bass performance. Since installing the spikes, I do feel the bass is cleaner and just a little less thick so I think the spikes did make a favorable difference in my case. So, I favor the spikes over the rubber feet obviously. Some speakers however, may be designed to perform best without spikes, the manufacturer may be able to tell you one way or the other and if they say spikes would be beneficial, they may be able to recommend particular ones and how to go about properly installing them. But, I guess you have to also be careful about the possibility of voiding any warranty.


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## mpompey

What kind of flooring does your speakers sit on? Hardwood, carpet, tile? My Axiom M60s came with rubber feet, but I replaced them with outboard/outrigger type feet that let me use rubber or spikes. They came from the Klipsch Synergy Sub and fit perfect.

But to tell you the truth, for my uses, (movies and video games) I couldn't tell the difference between spikes or the rubber feet. If I had nice hardwood floors in my theater room, I would probably use the rubber so as to mar the surface


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## AudiocRaver

I claim no authority here, but this is a topic I have thought about it a lot, and I will throw in my nickel's worth of opinion. This is what seems logical to me:

It seems like you want the speaker firmly interfaced to a stand that is very strong, then spikes or some kind of solid interface to the floor so that the floor and the whole house now are helping hold the speaker cabinet from vibrating. Then only the speaker transducers themselves are allowed to vibrate, they are more like point sources, and imaging and sound stage would be optimized. That is the theory anyway. For it to work, the speaker cabinet, stand, and floor/house need to be firmly rooted together. Spikes into the floor where there's carpeting would accomplish this. With hardwood floors, perhaps a dense pad covering the entire bottom of the stand. Or sandbags of some sort, but the aesthetics??? An opportunity to get really creative. Between speaker and stand, another maximum-area dense pad. Or more sandbags.:huh:

Other possibilities.

Make the stand stable so that it cannot vibrate and root the speaker to the stand, as above. The stand stability can be partly structural and partly by filling it with shot or sand or gravel or bricks or something that makes the whole structure dense and immovable. If this is accomplished, the interface between the stand of the floor seems to be of minimal concern, and you can do whatever you need to protect the floor. 
Have a "floating" interface between the speaker and the stand. The best way to do this is magnetic levitation.:bigsmile: I have actually heard of people doing it experimentally and claiming miraculous results. Seriously, there are pads made of materials meant to acoustically float this speakers off the stands. I do not even remember where I saw them. I think the theory here is: If you cannot keep your stand from vibrating, better to isolate the speaker from the stand so only the speaker cabinet is vibrating. I think the approach that stops all vibration except the actual speaker transducers is best overall, but if that is not practical, then this approach might be better than nothing.

Oh yeah, will you here a difference? That is the big question behind all of this. I think it is possible, but I would not expect it to be a big difference. So if you go to a lot of trouble and can hear no difference, just remember the words of my hero Buckaroo Banzai: "No matter where you go, there you are."

Hope this helps at least a teeny tiny bit. Let us know what you come up with.:sn:


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## NBPk402

I don't know if they are still available or not, but they used to make little cones that you would put your spiked feet in. They would protect your nice hardwood floors. I will have to look as I used to have some nice brass ones. On the cheap... a penny under the spikes will work nicely.


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## needspeed52

I've had good results here:
http://www.oregondv.com/spikes.htm


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## ALMFamily

I got my spikes from Danny at GR Research - worked great.


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## NBPk402

needspeed52 said:


> I've had good results here:
> http://www.oregondv.com/spikes.htm


The component spikes are the ones I have.


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## Andre

Speaker to Stand = Rubber or other issolation material
Stand to Floor (Carpet) = Spikes
Stand to Floor (hardwood, lino..etc ) = rubber Isoloation material

imho of course


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## Mikeythai

Thanks for all the input guys. :clap::clap::clap:

I am still designing my speaker stands, so it now looks like I should think about how they will stand on the floor (which is granite). 

Rubber pads between speaker and stand, and spikes between stand and floor sounds pretty good. And yes, they do seem to include the 'bases' for the spikes.


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## ben wilson

well i guess everyones answered the obvious so a few alternatives are dsp correction for resonants , push pull if using sub woofers or dipole speakers wich can reduce in room interaction and i almost forgot line arrays can have quite loud spl with lesser in room interaction


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## Andre

I wouldn't use spikes on a granite floor


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## BruceW

spikes are for placement on carpet. rubber feet all other surfaces...


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## needspeed52

I made these and am very happy with them, inert as stands should be, do they have a distinctive sound:huh:
http://www.tnt-audio.com/clinica/stubby_e.html


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## Mikeythai

OK. No spikes on the granite floor. I guess I thought if I used the bases it would be okay.

NFS2 I like your TNT audio site!

Edit: I really like those stands you built... talk about getting a lot of bang for your buck. I will build something very similar in design. Sort of a standing box filled with sand. I just bought one of those Kreg jigs for pocket screws. Should do the trick.


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## pmcneil

As far as I know, there is no evidence (from blind listening tests) that it matters what the feet are, nor is there a compelling argument from physics (though that matters less than an objective listening test).


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## rab-byte

The whole point of spikes or rubber is to couple the speakers to the ground. This increases the mass of the speakers and in theory will improve bass and imaging. When your speaker creates sound inertia is acting on both the air in the room and the speaker. By increasing the mass of the speaker you are transferring more energy into the room. 

Spikes on carpet and rubber feet on hard floors.

It's basically applying newtons laws of motion to help improve sound quality. You still need a solid cabinet with little to no resonance to see any benefit from spikes.


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## needspeed52

Mikeythai said:


> OK. No spikes on the granite floor. I guess I thought if I used the bases it would be okay.
> 
> NFS2 I like your TNT audio site!
> 
> Edit: I really like those stands you built... talk about getting a lot of bang for your buck. I will build something very similar in design. Sort of a standing box filled with sand. I just bought one of those Kreg jigs for pocket screws. Should do the trick.


Thanks Mike, the forstner bits are a must for the flat holes, I got mine at Lowes for $19, no need to buy expensive bits unless you plan on using them a lot, you can pay $19 or more for a single Forstner bit. I also used 4" schedule 40 PVC instead of the 3". One other tip, instead of making the top shelf in a permanent position, I used a minimum of the rope caulk so I could turn the top plate to angle (toe in) the speakers while leaving the base squared up. I used 5/16" ( you can also use 1/4") threaded inserts on base plate to screw in my spikes, also with the spikes I used a 5/16" nut (in between the spike and base plate) to secure the spike after I got them level, this helps to keep the stand sturdy and the spikes from being wobbly, I don't know if that's a word but you get my drift. Total cost about $35 a stand, the oak is the most expensive component but well worth it.
Cheers Jeff:sn:


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## NBPk402

needspeed52 said:


> I made these and am very happy with them, inert as stands should be, do they have a distinctive sound:huh:
> http://www.tnt-audio.com/clinica/stubby_e.html


Nice! If I ever have some small speakers again I will have to try this. When I had some BA speakers I made a pair of stands out of a old waterbed and filled them with sand and veneered them... Worked out nicely and man were they heavy!


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## MasonUK

AudiocRaver said:


> Other possibilities.
> 
> Make the stand stable so that it cannot vibrate and root the speaker to the stand, as above. The stand stability can be partly structural and partly by filling it with shot or sand or gravel or bricks or something that makes the whole structure dense and immovable. If this is accomplished, the interface between the stand of the floor seems to be of minimal concern, and you can do whatever you need to protect the floor.
> Have a "floating" interface between the speaker and the stand. The best way to do this is magnetic levitation.:bigsmile: I have actually heard of people doing it experimentally and claiming miraculous results. Seriously, there are pads made of materials meant to acoustically float this speakers off the stands. I do not even remember where I saw them. I think the theory here is: If you cannot keep your stand from vibrating, better to isolate the speaker from the stand so only the speaker cabinet is vibrating. I think the approach that stops all vibration except the actual speaker transducers is best overall, but if that is not practical, then this approach might be better than nothing.


Yes there are special brackets that are available with rubber or spring mounts built into the middle of them. Any vibration is absorbed there.


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## 3dbinCanada

Mikeythai said:


> Thanks for all the input guys. :clap::clap::clap:
> 
> I am still designing my speaker stands, so it now looks like I should think about how they will stand on the floor (which is granite).
> 
> Rubber pads between speaker and stand, and spikes between stand and floor sounds pretty good. And yes, they do seem to include the 'bases' for the spikes.


Don't get hung up on spikes/rubber feet..decoupling a speaker etc. The biggest sonic improvement you will be getting is having the tweeter at ear level while you are seated. Any benefits from spikes as to speaker decoupling will be a negligible improvement if any. Based on your floor, I would use rubber feet and also and between speaker and stand. Spikes will serve you no audible improvement.


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## 3dbinCanada

AudiocRaver said:


> Other possibilities.
> 
> 
> Have a "floating" interface between the speaker and the stand. The best way to do this is magnetic levitation.:bigsmile: I have actually heard of people doing it experimentally and claiming miraculous results. Seriously, there are pads made of materials meant to acoustically float this speakers off the stands. I do not even remember where I saw them. I think the theory here is: If you cannot keep your stand from vibrating, better to isolate the speaker from the stand so only the speaker cabinet is vibrating. I think the approach that stops all vibration except the actual speaker transducers is best overall, but if that is not practical, then this approach might be better than nothing.


:doh: Sounds like yet another audiophile subjective claim of voodoo magic that they can hear but yet shy away from objectively proving their results.


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## rab-byte

Voodoo...

Long and short is sympathetic vibration reduces the energy sent out from the driver. Force and equal/opposite force... IMO adding mass is the best way to avoid this. Heavy stands and anchored to the floor as possible and the bookshelf speaker anchored to the stand. 

We want less vibration. This does affect your imaging and response, albeit less than positioning and room acoustics. 

All these tweaks and tricks can provide incremental changes in performance. It will never completely alter your speaker's voice.


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## 3dbinCanada

rab-byte said:


> Voodoo...
> 
> Long and short is sympathetic vibration reduces the energy sent out from the driver. Force and equal/opposite force... IMO adding mass is the best way to avoid this. Heavy stands and anchored to the floor as possible and the bookshelf speaker anchored to the stand.


Agreed.



rab-byte said:


> We want less vibration. This does affect your imaging and response, albeit less than positioning and room acoustics.
> 
> All these tweaks and tricks can provide incremental changes in performance. It will never completely alter your speaker's voice.


Like I stated in my prior post, the fact that the OP gets the tweeters to ear level will provide the single biggest benefit in sound improvement, 1000x more than worrying whether to use spikes or rubber pads. The OP should only be concerned with preventing the speaker from vibrating on the platform. I agree with you that the stands should be made as inert as possible. What I disagree with this in this thread that people think that spikes are the only way to go. However, spikes on a marble floor would be far in above the worst way to go.


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## NBPk402

If you use spikes you can always put a penny under them so you don't scratch the floors or get the cups for the spikes.


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## robbo266317

ellisr63 said:


> If you use spikes you can always put a penny under them so you don't scratch the floors or get the cups for the spikes.


Or cut out the middleman completely and just glue pennies to the bottom of your speakers. :devil:


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## Babak

Hi 

An important question has not been answered yet :


mpompey said:


> What kind of flooring does your speakers sit on? Hardwood, carpet, tile?


The aim is to get rid of resonances. 
And the best solution depends on the construction of the floor 

--------------

The optimum would be a solid floor like stone or a glued floor (wood or carpet) 
Here spikes are the best solution (3 per speaker). 
They couple the speakers tightly to the floor. The resulting system has a higher mass than the speaker alone and thus can better absorb the vibration. 

To protect the floor you can get metal washers with the spikes.

--------------

A floating floor construction (e.g. wood) or a more traditional wood floor are not as steady but vibrate and resonate more. 
Here it is necessary to isolate the speaker from the floor in order to prevent that the floor resonates. 
A resonating floor swallows a lot of bass energy. 

So the best solution is decoupling the speakers with rubber feet or special anti resonance feet.
Or even better :

Get a stone tile (3 centimetres thick, 30 x 30 centimetres) to add mass to the system. 
Put three rubber feet or anti-resonance feet below and put the Speakers with 3 spikes onto the stone base. 

-------------

My speakers came with casters and my listening room has a glued wooden floor. 

I replaced the casters with spikes and washers between spikes and floor.

The bass performance got more precise and lost its booming. 


I can recommend to look for the best solution for coupling or decoupling. 

Cheers 
Babak


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## 3dbinCanada

If one hears that much bass improvement from using spikes, I would seriously question the inertness of the speaker cabinet and the over quality of the loudspeaker as a whole.


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## Babak

As it is with all written communication - also here is a lot of room for subjective interpretation. 

What you understand as "booming " might be something different than what I wanted to express. 

The bass performance was not bad before.
It improved with using spikes and got more contours. 

How should simply putting a speaker on spikes compensate for a bad resonating speaker cabinet???
If it would help, manufacturers could save costs by putting drivers into cardboard boxes and put them on spikes that only cost a couple of cents. 



I guess most people agree that 4 plastic casters don't provide such a steady standing as 3 spikes do.

So it was more a matter of degrees of freedom for the whole speaker to move rather than the quality of the speaker cabinet.


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## 3dbinCanada

Babak said:


> So it was more a matter of degrees of freedom for the whole speaker to move rather than the quality of the speaker cabinet.


Exactly.  So on a marble floor, rubberized speaker feet would work equally as well or better as speaker spikes to reduce the degree of movement of the speaker on the floor.


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## Babak

3dbinCanada said:


> Exactly.  So on a marble floor, rubberized speaker feet would work equally as well or better as speaker spikes to reduce the degree of movement of the speaker on the floor.


Not really. 
One thing is the number of feet,the other thing is how rigid or elastic the material is. 

You get a stable stand with 3 feet, no matter what they are made of. 
4 feet offer more degrees of freedom. 

Everybody knows that from restaurant tables that wobble and where you need to put something beneath one foot.
And that's why photographers and camera men tripods. They get a stable standing regardless how uneven the floor is. 

Also loudspeakers stand most steady on three feet. 

Metal spikes are more rigid than rubber feet. 
Because rubber feet are more elastic, they offer a little more freedom for movement and don't couple the speakers to the floor as good as metal spikes.


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## rab-byte

That's a good point about tripod vs 4 points. My speaker's spikes included jam nuts to properly balance the towers. Had it been a tripod I would have had much less work to get then perfectly vertical.


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## 3dbinCanada

Babak said:


> Not really.
> One thing is the number of feet,the other thing is how rigid or elastic the material is.
> 
> You get a stable stand with 3 feet, no matter what they are made of.
> 4 feet offer more degrees of freedom.
> 
> Everybody knows that from restaurant tables that wobble and where you need to put something beneath one foot.
> And that's why photographers and camera men tripods. They get a stable standing regardless how uneven the floor is.
> 
> Also loudspeakers stand most steady on three feet.
> 
> Metal spikes are more rigid than rubber feet.
> Because rubber feet are more elastic, they offer a little more freedom for movement and don't couple the speakers to the floor as good as metal spikes.


Having a degree in Engineering, I know better than to discuss the merits of 3 feet verses 4 feet but then again, I never raised the point. However, I will argue the point of the merit of steel spikes on a floor harder than steel spikes; ie marble. If the cabinet hasn't been made sufficiently inert, its possible for the steel spikes to vibrate on the marble floor as opposed to speaker feet made from a rubber/plastic compound whose density will prevent vibration from occuring and prevent it from vibrating across the floor.


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## 3dbinCanada

rab-byte said:


> That's a good point about tripod vs 4 points. My speaker's spikes included jam nuts to properly balance the towers. Had it been a tripod I would have had much less work to get then perfectly vertical.


I totally agree with you but I've never raised that point in this discussion.


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## AudiocRaver

3dbinCanada said:


> :doh: Sounds like yet another audiophile subjective claim of voodoo magic that they can hear but yet shy away from objectively proving their results.


Actually, you are right in a way. There are many sonic qualities we can measure with instruments. Imaging is not yet one of them, that I know of.

The best way / only way to partly bring some objectivity to the subjective is to get several sets of ears together to compare what they are hearing. Many ears have agreed that good imaging is real and a repeatable experience. And that it can _sometimes_ be made better or worse by how one anchors the speakers.

Here is the best rule of thumb I have found. Once a pair of speakers is set up for good imaging, see how much you (the listener) can move around and have the image quality not change or change very little. If the imaging seems stable and fairly forgiving of head movement, there is probably little to be gained by spikes. If small head movement changes the imaging dramatically, then spikes will probably - but not necessarily - improve the image clarity somewhat. It seems logical, and that is what my own experience has shown. But as for objective proof, I have none, and no one wishes for a way to offer it more than I do.


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## Babak

3dbinCanada said:


> Having a degree in Engineering, I know better than to discuss the merits of 3 feet verses 4 feet but then again, I never raised the point. However, I will argue the point of the merit of steel spikes on a floor harder than steel spikes; ie marble. If the cabinet hasn't been made sufficiently inert, its possible for the steel spikes to vibrate on the marble floor as opposed to speaker feet made from a rubber/plastic compound whose density will prevent vibration from occuring and prevent it from vibrating across the floor.


You did not discuss the merits of 3 vs 4 feet. 
But your idea was that the improvement with my system was an indication of bad speaker cabinets.

And I replied that there were other points, one of them being a more stable standing by putting the speakers on 3 spikes instead of the original 4 casters. 

----------

As an engineer you know better than me that the speaker moves in response to the movement of the drivers.
This causes the speaker to tilt forward and backward. And that reduces the accuracy of the sound.

A low quality cabinet vibrates anyway, however stable the standing of the speaker is. 
So, improving the standing cannot improve the errors caused by a cabinet that is not inert enough. 

3 feet increase stability and thus reduce the movement of the speaker. We have covered that already. 
Spikes increase stability compared to casters. Casters allow the speakers to move a little bit.

----------

Using steel spikes on a marble floor is only problematic if the spikes can move /slide on the floor. 
Of course this depends on the weight of the speakers. 
Heavy speakers don't move as easily as light speakers. 

Having light speakers, one should use heavy stands and /or washers with a thin layer of rubber between spikes and floor.
That prevents the spikes sliding on the floor. 

On a marble floor, rubber feet reduce the vibrations of the speaker because they get deformed and absorb the energy of that deformation. 
But this deformation allows more movement/tilting of the speaker than spikes do. 

That's why I would not recommend rubeer feet on a marble floor. 
I would prefer spikes. 
Either direct on the floor (heavy speakers) or on washers with a rubber layer below. 

----------

The situation is different with a floating wooden floor. 
Here spikes would transfer the vibrations to the floor and the vibrating floor causes the speaker to vibrate. 

Rubber feet reduce /dampen those vibrations and the floor vibrates less. 
But still the speaker moves more than when being on spikes on a solid floor. 

Here it helps to add mass. 
Examples are stone bases between speakers an the wooden floor.
Put the rubber feet between the floor and the stone and put the speakers /stands with spikes onto the stone.

Sometimes it also helps to add even more mass by putting another stone base onto the speaker.

----------

It is difficult to give recipies as there are many factors., like 

- Type of drivers (moving mass, hard or soft mounting) 
- Position of the drivers (near the floor, higher above) 
- Weight of the speaker
- Construction of the floor 


However, one can easily check, how good his speakers stand. 

Just gently push the speaker on the top - forwards, backwards, sideways - and find out how easy the speaker can be moved (sliding, tilting etc.) 
Also notice any movement of the floor, especially with a wooden floor. 

If it is rock steady,then everything is fine. 


Cheers Babak


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## 3dbinCanada

Babak said:


> You did not discuss the merits of 3 vs 4 feet.
> But your idea was that the improvement with my system was an indication of bad speaker cabinets.


I never said your system nor did I imply anything to do with your system. I meant speaker cabinets in general. 



Babak said:


> And I replied that there were other points, one of them being a more stable standing by putting the speakers on 3 spikes instead of the original 4 casters.


Never saw a speaker on casters before..Not something I would recommend either. 





Babak said:


> Using steel spikes on a marble floor is only problematic if the spikes can move /slide on the floor.
> Of course this depends on the weight of the speakers.
> Heavy speakers don't move as easily as light speakers.
> 
> Having light speakers, one should use heavy stands and /or washers with a thin layer of rubber between spikes and floor.
> That prevents the spikes sliding on the floor.
> 
> On a marble floor, rubber feet reduce the vibrations of the speaker because they get deformed and absorb the energy of that deformation.
> But this deformation allows more movement/tilting of the speaker than spikes do.
> 
> That's why I would not recommend rubeer feet on a marble floor.
> I would prefer spikes.
> Either direct on the floor (heavy speakers) or on washers with a rubber layer below.
> 
> ----------
> 
> The situation is different with a floating wooden floor.
> Here spikes would transfer the vibrations to the floor and the vibrating floor causes the speaker to vibrate.
> 
> Rubber feet reduce /dampen those vibrations and the floor vibrates less.
> But still the speaker moves more than when being on spikes on a solid floor.
> 
> Here it helps to add mass.
> Examples are stone bases between speakers an the wooden floor.
> Put the rubber feet between the floor and the stone and put the speakers /stands with spikes onto the stone.
> 
> Sometimes it also helps to add even more mass by putting another stone base onto the speaker.
> 
> ----------
> 
> It is difficult to give recipies as there are many factors., like
> 
> - Type of drivers (moving mass, hard or soft mounting)
> - Position of the drivers (near the floor, higher above)
> - Weight of the speaker
> - Construction of the floor
> 
> 
> However, one can easily check, how good his speakers stand.
> 
> Just gently push the speaker on the top - forwards, backwards, sideways - and find out how easy the speaker can be moved (sliding, tilting etc.)
> Also notice any movement of the floor, especially with a wooden floor.
> 
> If it is rock steady,then everything is fine.
> 
> 
> Cheers Babak


You and I will never come to an argreement on this. If the quality of the speaker cabinet is good, you will not be able to tell the difference between rubber feet or spiked feet in a blind listening test.


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## Babak

3dbinCanada said:


> I totally agree with you but I've never raised that point in this discussion.


Again. 
Yes, YOU have never raised that point. 

But in my experience many people are not aware of that. 

I have seen many speakers on 4 feet or on 4 spikes that had no steady standing. 
That allowed them to vibrate more causing the bass to become muddy.

Putting them on 3 feet /spikes improved the sound significantly. 

So I think it is beneficial for everybody to be aware of that. 


3 feet /spikes are always better than 4.

Cheers
Babak


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## Babak

Hi



3dbinCanada said:


> I never said your system nor did I imply anything to do with your system. I meant speaker cabinets in general.


Maybe our memories are different.

My original post was:


Babak said:


> My speakers came with casters and my listening room has a glued wooden floor.
> 
> I replaced the casters with spikes and washers between spikes and floor.
> 
> The bass performance got more precise and lost its booming.


You replied:


3dbinCanada said:


> If one hears that much bass improvement from using spikes, I would seriously question the inertness of the speaker cabinet and the over quality of the loudspeaker as a whole.


So you did somehow question the intertness of the cabinet and also the overall quality of the speakers ...





3dbinCanada said:


> Never saw a speaker on casters before..Not something I would recommend either.


Yes, there's always something new to learn.

I would also not recomment casters.
Especially not on wooden or marble floors.
Maybe they work better on carpets, because they are not moving that easily there.

But I would replace them anyway.



3dbinCanada said:


> You and I will never come to an argreement on this. If the quality of the speaker cabinet is good, you will not be able to tell the difference between rubber feet or spiked feet in a blind listening test.


Having a degree in science, I would prefer to perform a blind test and looking at the results rather than assuming how the results would look like based on somebody's opinion.

I think it makes sense to ifferentiate between the cabinet vibrating due to inner resonances and the speaker shaking/tilting as a whole due to a compensatory movement of the cabinet to the movement of the drivers.

You are right if you refer to the inner resonances.
Regarding the shaking/tilting of the whole speaker there are differences between rubber feet and metal spikes.

------------

We can agree to disagree.

At the end the best thing is to try different options and find out what works best in the real situation rather than disussing different opinions and assumptions in a forum.

My aim is to explain different options that can be tested by people who are interested in this topic.

Cheers
Babak


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## buildsafire

Well, this has been an informative read. Thanks all for your opinions and ideas to the OPs question, it has helped me learn quite a bit. I never would have thought of just 3 feet for speakers, etc... I myself am about to build some speaker stands, and have been pondering how exactly to do it. This post has shed light on some ideas I had not thought of. I think there a probably a lot of ways that would fit the bill for the OP, and for all of us. Now, I hope I can pull of something that is a quality implementation for my system. Thanks!


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## tesseract

My best results have come from nice, heavy stands, spiked into the floor. Spikes push down with hundreds of pounds of pressure each, so floor vibrations are discouraged from traveling up the stand, this also holds the stand is completely stationary. I prefer 4 spikes for stability,
and have hardwood floors, so discs are placed under the spikes to protect the floor. 

I interface the speakers to the stand with museum putty or Herbie's Fat Dots. This allows decoupling from the stand while still maintaining a firm grip upon the stand's top plate, keeping the cabinet still.

The name of the game is to keep the cabinet from moving and preventing external vibrations from reaching the cabinet.


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## JDsVoiceWorks

i was wondering about the rubber mats for shelf speakers


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## Babak

buildsafire said:


> I think there a probably a lot of ways that would fit the bill for the OP, and for all of us. Now, I hope I can pull of something that is a quality implementation for my system. Thanks!


The right solution depends on the construction of the floor and of how the speakers look like. 

With this information we can give you some good recommendations. 

cheers 
Babak


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## Babak

JDsVoiceWorks said:


> i was wondering about the rubber mats for shelf speakers


I think rubber mats are not enough to inhibit the shelves vibrating. 

In a german forum I saw a solution using cleaning sponges beneath bookshelf speakers as isolators.

Brilliant cheap and effective solution. 

Cheers 
Babak


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## part expert

this site has a wide variety of rubber feet different types from self adhesive to screw on heavy duty. I highly recommend


http://www.laptoppartsandmore.com/collections/self-adhesive-rubber-bumper-feet-heavy-duty-screw-on-rubber-feet


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## h2oyo

I have been using cork to isolate the speaker base to the stands or wall stands. It works pretty well in my opion and also adds a bit of non-slip to the wall mounts. I use a bit of double stick tape (cant remember the make of it now) to also help keep the speaker from causing vibrations or slip out of the mount. The tape will come off the speaker and stand unlike your garden type white double sided tape.
Johan


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