Isolating speakers from suspended floor

[Yomanze]

They don’t look like they decouple. Looks like a mass damping solution.

[Pieoftheday]

They don’t look like they decouple. Looks like a mass damping solution.

I assumed they were to isolate speakers from the floor?

[RothwellAudio]

I assumed they were to isolate speakers from the floor?

Imagine standing on the floor in a pair of heavy/hard boots. You'll still feel vibrations through the floor (if there are any) because heavy/hard boots won't be very effective at isolating you. On the other hand, a pair of trainers with soft/spongy soles would be much more effective. Which is probably why people prefer running in spongy trainers.

A hard slab won't really isolate a pair of speakers but the added mass will make the floorboards vibrate a bit less.

[Pieoftheday]

Imagine standing on the floor in a pair of heavy/hard boots. You'll still feel vibrations through the floor (if there are any) because heavy/hard boots won't be very effective at isolating you. On the other hand, a pair of trainers with soft/spongy soles would be much more effective. Which is probably why people prefer running in spongy trainers.

A hard slab won't really isolate a pair of speakers but the added mass will make the floorboards vibrate a bit less.

Thanks for that, always something to learn

[Macca]

One house I rented had a separate flat in the basement, just one main room, a little kitchen and a shower room. The main room was under my living room. It was an old house, 1881, and the floorboards in the living room looked like the deck of HMS Victory. Huge oak beams. But the floor still bounced like a trampoline.

I used paving slabs under the speakers. The couple below were students so they wouldn't go to bed until 6 am. I'd be up and playing music by 1100 and they would be banging on the ceiling because it woke them up. Well they were only poxy students so I used to turn it up instead. They had the last laugh though. When they moved out 2 years later I discovered that their flat had no separate electricity supply. I'd been paying their leccy bill the whole time.

[Si74]

I had a pair of Keswick Audio Torinos that went down to 20Hz (I didn't believe that either till I heard them) in my lounge. Suspended floor above a 22x22ft garage.
The bass was an utter nightmare, floor bouncing, cones flapping, Lencos going wild! Tried all sorts of slabs, cones, spikes, chopping boards etc,etc. Stillpoints between two sheets of MDF made it bearable but the isolators cost about 3 times what I paid for the speakers (fabulous speakers by the way).
A move to Audio Physic Virgos and still problems although not to the same degree.
Purchased or swapped I can't remember a pair of Voodoo isolation platforms, apart from the initial worry about the 'wobble', these transformed the system.
A move to a much smaller room , still suspend floor and the Voodoos still made a night and day difference.
A swap to AN/Js on an Australian welders idea of replicas of the Audi Note stands, metal three times as thick as the originals and a two man lift even without the additional sand filling and I was almost a convert to sheer mass.
A trial period with a 6.5K pair of not to be named speakers, unimpressed till me and my mate sat them on the Voodoo Plats, not a one man job when you've borrowed 6.5k speakers. An utter transformation which almost had me buying them.
Fortunately a pair of 6ft high pair of double mouth horns intervened at a fraction of the price:-)
Unfortunately at 75Kgs each, no way could the Voodoo plats cope.
Tried a set of RDC cones under them with much trepidation, waste of time.
They now sit on two sets of Aurio something bearing isolators so they only 'wiggle' as opposed to 'wobble' as does everything else in my rack (Townshend so wobbles) bar the Oracle and I could not live without them.
My mate now has the Voodoo plats under his Audio Physics and feels the same way.
Hence I'd say all this spikey crap was made up by pikeys selling crap or scrap.
Until everything in your rack wiggles or wobbles along with your speakers, you won't hear half of what it can do!
Should I win the lottery this week, first purchase is a set of Max's things for under my speakers, a custom pair for under my monoblocks... well maybe after a barn load of nice motors,yawn......

[Macca]

Everyone really rates those Townshend stands but as you say, they are a bit spendy. After the experience with HMS Victory I made sure when I bought a house it had a concrete floor.

[alcarmichael]

Sorry, only just noticed further replies.

I knew this would work well for you Alex. They don't look great admittedly, but to do an excellent job in this area doesn't require huge outlay.

My Auralex Subdude XL platforms are brilliant (terrible name aside) and perhaps a touch more discreet-looking for home use.



Improvements are always heard, whatever the speaker, when using them.

Edit: apologies for massive picture!

Massive picture required due to massive speakers 😊👍

Congrats looks like a nice space.

Any chance of being able to pull those speakers forwards a bit? Your room looks very similar to mine. Some good clearance from the fireplace is worth trying.

There’s a good few inches between the speakers and the wall, more than it looks in the picture but I do have space to bring them forward and have a play.

[bonzo]

Merry Christmas.

I’ve recently moved house and seem to have an issue with my floor transmitting sound! It’s suspended wooden floorboards with an oak floor atop. The floor seems to be sucking out the bass in my living room where the speakers are, if I go into the next room I then hear the bass. This makes me think my new neighbours will be quite displeased.

I’ve checked out the quite impressive looking Townshend platforms but am wondering if there’s anything at the - just bought a house so broke - end of market for me to experiment with?

Speakers are B&W 805N with the dedicated B&W (no spikes) stands.

Hi Mate, I had this issue. My Martin Logan Summits had downward firing woofers that let the bass down to the neighbors below. Forget all the granite and marble recommendations. Tried them all. Also had 1000 quid Townshend platforms. The best is to get Auralex pads, which cost around 70 quid off amazon. Problem solved and sonically it was the best. You can put granite below that if you want. If the sound still goes through, there are mats available which are kept under washing machines to stop vibrations going through. I bought one and put it at the bottom of the Auralex, but it looked ugly, not WAF. Unless you can cover it with carpet etc.

This will solve vibration issue through floor easily as well as direct bass going down through. My floors were strong enough that the rest of the sound around the room was not going through

[RothwellAudio]

Purchased or swapped I can't remember a pair of Voodoo isolation platforms, apart from the initial worry about the 'wobble', these transformed the system.
A move to a much smaller room , still suspend floor and the Voodoos still made a night and day difference.

...Hence I'd say all this spikey crap was made up by pikeys selling crap or scrap.

Yes, I agree there has to be an element of bounce for effective isolation. Spikes or slabs don't do it.
BTW, I looked up the Voodoo platforms but only found these:
http://voodoocable.net/product-categ...ation-systems/
Are they the things you're talking about or have they stopped making the platforms?