Granite slabs

[SteveR750]

I bought a pair of the Morrisons £10 slabs for the kitchen for me new house. The D18s spikes are very shallow big cnical things, and I suspect will have trouble piercing the carpet. Current house has that click lock type of "wood-u-like" floor. Anyway, I ploned them on the slabs this evening, and I'm really not sure it was for the good. In factr I know it's not, and I can feel them wobbling slightly, which is due to the s,mall foam pads under the slabs. I can only imagine they will be even less stable resting on carpet.

Not sure what I can do, any ideas?

 

[BenLaw]

Just onto spike shoes / 2ps on the floor? Or will you still have stability problems?

 

[Gazzip]

Hi Steve,

The point is to decouple the granite chopping boards from the floor. On a wooden floor like the one you describe I would go with balls of blue tack squashed down hard so that your speakers won't wobble. On carpet I have previously bought spikes from eBay and had a stone mason drill the granite so that I can fit them. However this doesn't decouple the speakers from the floor, it just provides a solid base from which to decouple. In this instance you should take the spikes off your ProAc's and put some blue tac between the speaker bases and the boards.

I am currently developing a decoupling isolation plinth with an acoustic engineer. No blue tac involved. Watch this space!

 

[ESP2009]

Get rid of the spikes. I tried them and regretted it. First off, it didn't seem to make any difference, and secondly one of my lovely speakers got damaged when it was knocked off its pedestal and into the hallway by the person cleaning in its vicinity. "I only touched it!" Hah!!!

Stick with the slabs, try those ice hockey pucks and halved squash balls...or a good blob of blutak.

 

[iceman16]

If you can get a pair of granite from a local stone merchant at least 30mm thick. I use spike shoes before I put the speakers with spikes on the granite to prevent them from slipping.Bought mine for 70 quid a pair(30x40x4cm)

 

[SteveR750]

wow thanks all, but just want distil some ideas from all the comments.

The slabs have got 4 small "tabs" of spnget foam on the bottom, these mean the slabs are not perfectly stable. I think replacing them with tiny blobs of blu-tak, or better still "potty putty" as this solidifies under high shear stress, so should stay firm under the vibration. I think the half squash balls would not be stable enough as the slabs are not that large.

What about removing the spikes - place the base of the speaker directly onto the slabs? That will couple them to the slab, making them nice and rigid, but will there be enough clearance between the floor and bass ports?

I can see a series of "experiments" coming on!

 

[iceman16]

wow thanks all, but just want distil some ideas from all the comments.

The slabs have got 4 small "tabs" of spnget foam on the bottom, these mean the slabs are not perfectly stable. I think replacing them with tiny blobs of blu-tak, or better still "potty putty" as this solidifies under high shear stress, so should stay firm under the vibration. I think the half squash balls would not be stable enough as the slabs are not that large.

What about removing the spikes - place the base of the speaker directly onto the slabs? That will couple them to the slab, making them nice and rigid, but will there be enough clearance between the floor and bass ports?

I can see a series of "experiments" coming on!

In my experience,placing the speakers directly in to the slabs without the spikes makes the bass a bit boomy even with my previous speakers.Won't you be able to strip off the foams at the bottom of the slabs?I think they will be more stable without them.

 

[Anonymous]

Remove pads from ganite slabs, replace with blutack or putty of your choice and ensure slabs are level and firm.

Place speakers with spikes on slabs, adjust spikes to ensure speakers are level and firm (no rocking).

I did this and frankly didn't notice much difference. It was only when I put granite slabs under my CD player and amps that I noticed a difference and it was quite remarkable. I have no explanation for that :shifty: