# Spikes or Rubber silencers for subwoofer



## rytec (Mar 4, 2015)

We have not a wooden floor but floor tiles.
Under my Klipsch sub there are four little 2mm thin rubber pieces, this stands now on this floor.
My Klipsch floorspeakers are on spikes on this floor.
Would it be better to put the sub on thicker rubber silencers or leave it as it is?
Sometimes it happens that the low frequency in some music or movie is too low, not often and the maybe it's better to have it more isolated from the floor tiles?
What do you experts think about this.
I do not think you put a sub on spikes.


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## Talley (Dec 8, 2010)

I cannot offer my opinion. I'll get scolded.

I will say that I would prefer to isolate everything in your a/v lineup. speakers, amps, receivers, players etc. Everything.


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## rytec (Mar 4, 2015)

You won't get scolded by me :nono:


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## gdstupak (Jul 13, 2010)

Many times I've heard that letting the speaker boxes vibrate unhindered is best for sound reproduction. This is probably true for sub boxes as well. 
But I like to make a nice solid connection to the floor with my sub boxes, as long as it doesn't noticeably degrade sound quality. This solid connection helps the sub box act as a butt-kicker, vibrating everything around it.
When I had the sub box on hard flooring, I used thin felt pads under the wooden legs to keep them from chattering. On carpeted flooring, I just leave the bare wooden legs (maybe I should try spikes sometime).


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## rytec (Mar 4, 2015)

So actually leaving the sub on these little thin rubber pads of 2mm which were already mounted when I bouhgt it is OK?


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## tonyvdb (Sep 5, 2007)

What you dont want is the vibration of the cabinet to transfer to the floor as that will introduce resonance that you dont want. Some will say heaver pads are better but I highly doubt that there would be any noticeable difference so just stick with the ones you have.


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## Lumen (May 17, 2014)

tonyvdb said:


> What you dont want is the vibration of the cabinet to transfer to the floor as that will introduce resonance that you dont want. Some will say heaver pads are better but I highly doubt that there would be any noticeable difference so just stick with the ones you have.


Agreed! Depending on floor joist spacing and subfloor materials, either separate sections or the entire floor can vibrate just like a drum head. Would a quality riser help damp sub cabinet vibrations?


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## tonyvdb (Sep 5, 2007)

BlueRockinLou said:


> Would a quality riser help damp sub cabinet vibrations?


any rubber spacer would do the job in my opinion. Ive even seen a heavy piece of carpet or even foam used under a sub.


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## NBPk402 (Feb 21, 2012)

Get a SubDude. http://www.auralex.com/product/subdude-ii/


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## JBrax (Oct 13, 2011)

^^^^ +1 I have these under both of my subs and they work great!


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## Lumen (May 17, 2014)

gdstupak said:


> Many times I've heard that letting the speaker boxes vibrate unhindered is best for sound reproduction. This is probably true for sub boxes as well.
> But I like to make a nice solid connection to the floor with my sub boxes, as long as it doesn't noticeably degrade sound quality. This solid connection helps the sub box act as a butt-kicker, vibrating everything around it.
> When I had the sub box on hard flooring, I used thin felt pads under the wooden legs to keep them from chattering. On carpeted flooring, I just leave the bare wooden legs (maybe I should try spikes sometime).


Like your butt-kicker concept for movies! I think music can benefit from a sub's hit-you-in-the-chest effect. But I'd rather my main speaker boxes didn't "sing" along with their drivers. Designers strive to include bracing and inert materials, and add mass to dampen and/or eliminate sound colorations. I think sub designers and DIY's pay even more attention to sturdy construction because of the higher power and sheer mechanical force. So I take it your felt pads were enough to keep the sub put? (just another beginner soaking up the input and climbing the learning curve).


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## gdstupak (Jul 13, 2010)

_BlueRockinLou,_

For the sub's felt pads I used good quality stick-on pads usually used for furniture to keep legs from scraping flooring. They work great, unless you are wanting more isolation. My 15" sub driver is horizontal, so it shakes up and down.

When I wrote _'letting the speaker boxes vibrate unhindered is best,'_ I meant decoupling the speaker boxes from the support is best, I didn't mean to infer that a vibrating box is good. The Chane A3 speaker boxes have (or had) a cavity and hole to install sand into the base. The A5's don't have that feature, not enough room for a cavity?


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