Spikes or rubber feet for floor stander speakers?

[BluePotato]

Basic question, I run my Spendors sat on spikes into the original floorboards in the Dining Room. Never tried rubber feet, should that improve sound or is it best to stick with the spikes?

 

[Overdose]

Pick the ones that make your speakers the most secure.

 

[CnoEvil]

Trial and error is the key.

Spikes into floorboards give stability, but "couple" the speakers to the floor.....this is a good thing if there is concrete under the wood. If it's a suspended wooden floor, it is better to "de-couple" the speakers from it, by putting something like Granite under them (then use spikes & spike shoes or rubber feet).

The rubber feet will go some way towards isolating the speakers.

 

[BluePotato]

Trial and error is the key.

Spikes into floorboards give stability, but "couple" the speakers to the floor.....this is a good thing if there is concrete under the wood. If it's a suspended wooden floor, it is better to "de-couple" the speakers from it, by putting something like Granite under them (then use spikes & spike shoes or rubber feet).

The rubber feet will go some way towards isolating the speakers.

Thanks CnoEvil. I'll look into getting some rubber feet as my floor is suspended and does have a little bounce so sounds like this won't be helping. Any tips on where to get said feet? I'm assuming I need some on a thread to screw in and adjust like the spikes.

 

[SiUK]

Yeah, and besides that, some spikes aren't as floorboard or carpet friendly as others, if that's a consideration. Even though I've got my stands on carpet now, I've put the 'boots' on my spikes as they left hard to get rid of impressions in the carpet. Will get some composite marble bases cut to size and sit them under the stands eventually - will get them cut to size as you get to choose the colour.

 

[CnoEvil]

Since your floor is suspended, this is what I would try:

- Get some Granite Worktop Savers from Argos for £8 (can be returned if necessary) http://www.argos.co.uk/static/Product/partNumber/8423689.htm

- Use the spikes

- Get Spike Shoes, which can be bought....or you can make them from 1Ps (punch a dent in the middle for the spike to sit in, and if necessary, stick some felt "wooden floor savers" on the underside of the pennies).

I would be surprised if this didn't make a difference.

 

[SiUK]

£8 each? Now that's a good price.

 

[CnoEvil]

£8 each? Now that's a good price.

It's a steal, and means you can use two under each speaker, if necessary.

Suspended wooden floors are a btch!

 

[Crocodile]

When I enquired for my A6 Spendor advised that they offer threaded rubber feet to replace the spikes as an accessory (bit of a liberty IMO given the price of the speakers). RRP is £20 "per set" which I took to mean per speaker but may be worth enquiring with your dealer. I have an electronics distributor local to me so bought these instead & they seem to work well enough:

http://www.rapidonline.com/Mechanical-Fastenings-Fixings/Polyurethane-Clear-Feet-Recessed-22-3mm-Dia-X-10-1mm-Pack-of-24-31-0620

For granite, Tesco place mats are a little more discrete at 30 x 21cm & can be had for as little as £5 of vouchers for a pair:

http://www.tesco.com/direct/tesco-set-of-2-granite-placemats/203-5190.prd?pageLevel=&skuId=203-5190

 

[Crocodile]

£8 each? Now that's a good price.

I see they're on offer at 3 for 2 at the moment so you could even have one for the kitchen!

 

[letsavit2]

I have the Argos granite speaker plinths under my speakers and some ebay machined spike shoes. Def more solid than sitting straight on 100 year old floor boards.

Also so bought a third to sit under my rack just to take my headphone and phono amps of the floor!

 

[SiUK]

£8 each? Now that's a good price.

I see they're on offer at 3 for 2 at the moment so you could even have one for the kitchen!

Well spotted! I may very well do that. I will be passing an Argos later today as well...better check the stock levels first though as the one nearby isn't huge.

 

[Crocodile]

better check the stock levels first though as the one nearby isn't huge.

Better check you can park close as well. Using the Tesco place mats as a guide I estimate the Argos worktop savers to be around 6kg each!

 

[BluePotato]

Since your floor is suspended, this is what I would try:

- Get some Granite Worktop Savers from Argos for £8 (can be returned if necessary) http://www.argos.co.uk/static/Product/partNumber/8423689.htm

- Use the spikes

- Get Spike Shoes, which can be bought....or you can make them from 1Ps (punch a dent in the middle for the spike to sit in, and if necessary, stick some felt "wooden floor savers" on the underside of the pennies).

I would be surprised if this didn't make a difference.

Thanks for the advice, unfortunately the wife was horrified when she saw that link (let's say the Spendors arent her idea of nice furniture) so think the compromise would have to be rubber feet. Just had a quick look online, nothing jumping out at me but look into a bit more later

 

[SiUK]

Ha ha, you weren't far out there, Crocodile. The box with two in had the weight on the side: 11kg ... So 22kg in all (I'll explain why the maths is right ;-) ).

I reserved three granite slabs online before mooching off, and took a print out which included a description of the 3 for 2 offer from the Argos site. Paid the £15.98 at the till for three slabs and went to the collection area. But when I collected them there was a box double the thickness of the other two with it, so I queried it. The girl said it was definitely the right item and said that it was probably different packaging. So I took it. But when I got home I discovered it was actually a box of two boxes....the external shipping box hadn't been unpacked. So I got four for slabs for £15.98. So there's one under each speaker, one under the sub, and one on the kitchen worktop.

Thanks to CnoEvil for the heads up and to you for pointing out the three for two offer

 

[BluePotato]

In fact I'll probably give these a go

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Fisual-FISPADS-Adhesive-Isolation-Pads/dp/B004O06TWU/ref=pd_sim_sbs_recspk_1

 

[SiUK]

@BluePotato

They don't look so bad actually.

(forgot to turn flash on...so wierd yellow)

 

[CnoEvil]

Thanks to CnoEvil for the heads up and to you for pointing out the three for two offer

You're welcome......seems to have been a team effort.

Let us know if it all makes a difference.

Edit. Are the stands filled with anything?

 

[SiUK]

The stands are solid affairs, made from mdf and sandwiched Gelcore I believe. Surprisingly heavy things.

 

[CnoEvil]

The stands are solid affairs, made from mdf and sandwiched Gelcore I believe. Surprisingly heavy things.

Thx, I didn't know that.

Has the Granite made any difference to the speakers or the Sub?

 

[Overdose]

...or

http://www.ebay.co.uk/bhp/self-adhesive-feet

 

[Crocodile]

Couple of things to watch for with stick on feet:

If the A5 is the same as the A6, the collar holding the female thread for the spike isn't flush with the cabinet. So you'll need to take that into account when choosing the height of the foot. I didn't want to stick anything over the threads as it would have reduced the contact area for the adhesive.

You'll also need to check the loading as you don't want something that's going to compress too much under the weight of the speaker. The ones I linked to are 10mm high & quite rigid.

 

[Thompsonuxb]

Before you try anything else buy yourself 2 pairs of squash balls (spot colour is un important) cut them in half and place one half under each spike

see if that makes a difference before spending more or try a set of jenga blocks under each spike - if no difference is heard then you know only a small amount was spent.

 

[Thompsonuxb]

@BluePotato

They don't look so bad actually.

(forgot to turn flash on...so wierd yellow)

those standmounts take up more ground space than my floor standers.

 

[ifor]

Valhalla Technology's spike shoes look interesting. Pricey, but they combine spikes with rubber. A cheaper, and maybe better option, would be spikes and cheap spike shoes on top of sorbothane pads.