Stands on wooden floors- Spikes vs rubber thingies

[ID.]

Am enjoying my new stereo, and I currently have my stands sitting on the rubber nubs that came with them to avoid using spikes on the polished wooden floor. I am thinking of switching from the rubbers to spikes standing on spike shoes/plates/coins, and was hoping for a little feedback from people who have made a similar switch about the changes in SQ and particularly bass delivery.

I may be hoping in vain that this will somehow overcome the shocking room acoustics and little flexibility regarding placement, where bass turns up in unexpected places, while disappearing in what should be the ideal listening position (although if I stand up at that place rather than sit with ears around tweeter r even bass driver level, I seem to get decent delivery of bass...). To be honest, my main worry with buying the 685s was that the room would be overcome with bloated bass, but it seems fairly taut wherever it does actually turn up.

 

[ESP2009]

Sorry, but I can't help it - I have this vision of your bass lurking behind sofas, scuttling under furniture, and leaping out at the unwary.

Sorry about that, but at least I have promoted your post back up the pages!

 

[Chokobolt]

Please promote my post too. It's called Dali lektor 1 + sub,

 

[ID.]

Cheers, bass is actually a little woolly under the sofa, but it likes to hang out in front of the fridge for some reason.

 

[ESP2009]

ID.:Cheers, bass is actually a little woolly under the sofa, but it likes to hang out in front of the fridge for some reason.

I suggest you vacuum under the sofa more often and possibly put a lock on the fridge - it's after your chilled beer!

Alternatively, perhaps if you offer it a drink (in moderation, of course), it will become more cooperative?

Good Luck

 

[visionary]

I keep my Bass in the garage, I find it is too cold straight from the fridge

 

[shooter]

ID.:
Am enjoying my new stereo, and I currently have my stands sitting on the rubber nubs that came with them to avoid using spikes on the polished wooden floor. I am thinking of switching from the rubbers to spikes standing on spike shoes/plates/coins, and was hoping for a little feedback from people who have made a similar switch about the changes in SQ and particularly bass delivery.

I may be hoping in vain that this will somehow overcome the shocking room acoustics and little flexibility regarding placement, where bass turns up in unexpected places, while disappearing in what should be the ideal listening position (although if I stand up at that place rather than sit with ears around tweeter r even bass driver level, I seem to get decent delivery of bass...). To be honest, my main worry with buying the 685s was that the room would be overcome with bloated bass, but it seems fairly taut wherever it does actually turn up.

Try this http://www.stereophile.com/finetunes/179/

For me having the speakers out in the room was impossible. The BH and kids would of been looking around them to watch TV!

But i did keep the same symmetry and push the speakers to the wall and to the manufactures recommendations.

I benefited from it with better clarity at the listening position.

 

[ESP2009]

visionary:I keep my Bass in the garage, I find it is too cold straight from the fridge

And then there's Maxflinn who just likes to flaunt his on the forum!

Still, it's good to see that ID has finally received some constructive advice from Shooter69.

 

[Anonymous]

Sounds like room interaction.

Imagine sound like a wave when it comes out of your speakers. If the waves hit your ear when they are (both speakers) at their peak, you will have BIG BASS. If the waves hit you when one of the waves is at its peak and the other is at its trough, they cancel each other out.

Play with speaker placement or move your listening position.

Good luck! 685's are supposed to be pretty bassy. But again, that depends what you were used to.

And don't forget, bloated bass (if thats what you had before) is very different to well defined bass

 

[Anonymous]

Forgot to mention, when younger and the stereo was in my bedroom, I kept my bass in the wardrobe. LOVED IT!!!

 

[Anonymous]

ID.:I am thinking of switching from the rubbers to spikes standing on spike shoes/plates/coins, and was hoping for a little feedback from people who have made a similar switch about the changes in SQ and particularly bass delivery.

After asking on here last year, I did something similar, except didn't know what size spikes to buy so splashed out on bolts from B&Q to get the sizing before ordering pukka spikes. Anyway, stuck the bolts in, put penny coins under them, and the clarity improved a fair bit actually. Then apathy took a firm hold and I've never got round to buying the spikes because it sounds great as it is and the bolts look OK in a kind of industrial way. Total cost £1.99 for the bolts and 8p for the coins!

 

[ID.]

I'll try out some cheaper tweaks, but as advised, I think that further playing with speaker placement, both closer to the back wall and further into the room will give me the best results (sorry, don't know what I've done with the formatting to make it look like this is a quote

Edit: Just tried with and without the ports plugged and noticed I get a much more even bass response throughout the room, but as y are designed as a ported speaker I'm not such a big fan of the overall sound with the speakers plugged. Still, as the speakers are definitely the weak link and the amp/source can easily power far more capable speakers it might mean looking at some ATC SCM 11s in the future (hopefully I can find a way to audition them in my own home first...)

 

[Anonymous]

leenorris78:Forgot to mention, when younger and the stereo was in my bedroom, I kept my bass in the wardrobe. LOVED IT!!!

How often do you buy new bass? Do you have a schedule or just wait until the smell just getss too overwhelming?

 

[Anonymous]

Try some concrete or granite slabs under the stands (spike to slab and then PTFE pads under slab) - this tightened up bass considerably for me. Tesco chopping boards work well apparently but I got some offcuts from my kitchen work tops!

 

[ID.]

Just to give the thread some closure.

I ended up buying some spike plates (TAOC PTS-G) because the aesthetics of coins didn't really do it for me, and I figured these would serve as a bit more insulation, so no need to granite slabs, etc.

These didn't solve my problem directly but did help the overall resolution and soundstaging. It got more accurate, more depth, generally more "3D" bringing greater transparency.

I decided to give up on the bassless theoretical sweetspot at the head of an equilateral triangle (it had great stereo imaging, but lost a bit of cohesion in the timbre and also missed the lower frequencies).

With a bit of fiddling with toe-in and speaker position, and with the improved imaging from the spikes, I found a decent compromise for listening from the sofa within 1-2 feet of the rear wall and about 3 metres from the speakers. I give up a little stereo imaging but get good, even, bass response.

In general I'd highly recommend spikes on plates (even if the "plates" are coins) just for the increased resolution and improved soundstage.