Quadraspire QX7's -a revelation

[SteveW]

For the last few years, I've struggled to make my Linn active (two klouts) Tukans sound reasonable. In fact of late I've listened to my system more and more through headphones, resigned to waiting until demands on funds allowed me to replace with Sonus Faber or something.
All that changed this week after a visit to Graham and Trevor at the House of Linn, where I came home with a set of Quadraspire QX7 'skeet' Floor protectors.
They are much much more than that. The spikes of my Linn Kan stands sit on each one as be;ow (at £20 a time).
http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j280/Stevewaller/Quadraspire.jpg

To say they have changed the sound is such an understatement. I cannot believe the difference. Claity...real bass...detail...more detail...soundstaging etc etc.

On top of all this its been difficult to get my head around the fact that previously the spikes sat on philips screw heads that had been screwed into the floorboards, through the carpet. The stands had been totally rigid and solid as a rock. Now they are not...they just sit on top of the carpet and if fact wobble quite freely...but sound sublime.

Go figure.

A bigger upgrade than I've ever heard before. I had heard a demo of them in the shop which showed the improvements, but with my speakers and stands it was even more dramatic.

[alb]

Good news then!
It's always good to experiment with such things, because some people believe that rigid coupling is not always the best idea where floorboards are concerned.
I was once told that spikes are best with solid floors, and that compliant spongy types work best with suspended floors.

Probably not a rule of thumb, but you never know.

[Steve Toy]

I'm using compliant spongy plinths under my speakers on a concrete floor. Suspended floors are already fairly compliant so just going on theories I'd say the opposite was true.

[Peter Stockwell]

is OX7 the real name for these ?

[Mike]

I reckon its 'QX7'... http://www.hifigear.co.uk/site/scripts/product_browse.php?product_id=4459&category_id=339

:)

Edited accourdingly...

[Steve Toy]

QX7. I also use acrylic QX "Silencers." They can be placed under kit just like with Still Points or Black Ravioli or used as cable lifts under mains or speaker cables. Reduction of microphony always has the potential to be beneficial to overall system performance.

[SteveW]

Ah yes...QX 7's :o:o

Anyway...Bit expensive at £160 for the set of 8...but in the context of what they actually do are a bargain.

I'm told that the disk of steel/metal that the spike sits in is isolated from the rest of the 'skeet' with some kind of compound.

[SteveW]

I'm told that the disk of steel/metal that the spike sits in is isolated from the rest of the 'skeet' with some kind of compound.

[YNWaN]

On top of all this its been difficult to get my head around the fact that previously the spikes sat on philips screw heads that had been screwed into the floorboards, through the carpet.

I've tried the screws into floorboards idea a number of times (on different speakers in different rooms) and don't like the effect it gives. I think it encourages a hard, flat sound - peaky and without depth to timbre. I personally find that speakers sound much better if just spiked very firmly to the floorboards.

[SteveW]

you might well be right Mark.
I'm not an engineer..but I'm still trying to think about why these should work so well. I've always thought , and had explained to me, that if the cabinet was kept perfectly still and rigid then this allowed the drivers to 'shift' more air, hence sound more accurate.
However...I'm now wondering if the Quadraspires actually do this but at the same time stopping any energy being sort of dissipated into the ground. (hey...I did say I wasn't an engineer :)). Perhaps this is also what the effect Mana stands have??.

[YNWaN]

To be honest, the 'shifting more air' idea (widely promoted) is rubbish (IMHO); there just isn't enough air displaced by the drivers to move the mass of the cabinet. I believe the reason is much more to do with grounding the vibration that the drivers feed into the cabinet - now that is a significant amount of energy. Completely stopping the cabinet from vibrating is very difficult indeed - effectively it is like a balloon that the bass driver is trying to modulate - the air inside is continually being compressed (even in a vented enclosure). Even very thick and stiff cabinets often show some sign of vibration at some frequency. Depending on the resonant frequency of the cabinet, overall output can be reasonably substantial.

How that energy is coupled to the surroundings definitely makes a profound difference. Some time ago I fixed small 5mm aluminium pads to the underside of my speakers and the three stand spikes make contact with these - this definitely sounded different to when they made contact with the wood directly.

I think you have put your finger on it when you write
stopping any energy being sort of dissipated into the ground.. They won't entirely stop it (0.5 of some damping compound and your carpet isn't going to be a sufficiently broad filter to do that) but they will reduce it. Whether keeping that energy in the system, rather than grounding it, is a good thing is another matter entirely. To be honest, the carpet will be doing most of the filtering and the footer is just stabilising the contact with the carpet (I am deeply sceptical that any damping between the metal components is doing anything of real value within this context).

[Peter Stockwell]

Just installed a set under my main Hutter rack. I had RDC buttons before. The effect is positive.

[Steve Toy]

To be honest, the 'shifting more air' idea (widely promoted) is rubbish (IMHO); there just isn't enough air displaced by the drivers to move the mass of the cabinet. I believe the reason is much more to do with grounding the vibration that the drivers feed into the cabinet - now that is a significant amount of energy. Completely stopping the cabinet from vibrating is very difficult indeed - effectively it is like a balloon that the bass driver is trying to modulate - the air inside is continually being compressed (even in a vented enclosure). Even very thick and stiff cabinets often show some sign of vibration at some frequency. Depending on the resonant frequency of the cabinet, overall output can be reasonably substantial.

How that energy is coupled to the surroundings definitely makes a profound difference. Some time ago I fixed small 5mm aluminium pads to the underside of my speakers and the three stand spikes make contact with these - this definitely sounded different to when they made contact with the wood directly.

I think you have put your finger on it when you write Quote:
stopping any energy being sort of dissipated into the ground.
. They won't entirely stop it (0.5 of some damping compound and your carpet isn't going to be a sufficiently broad filter to do that) but they will reduce it. Whether keeping that energy in the system, rather than grounding it, is a good thing is another matter entirely. To be honest, the carpet will be doing most of the filtering and the footer is just stabilising the contact with the carpet (I am deeply sceptical that any damping between the metal components is doing anything of real value within this context).


Mark, I agree 100%. I think dissipating energy within the cabinet to ground is likely to be more effective than isolating all the energy and trapping it within the cabinet.

[Peter Stockwell]

Just installed a set under my main Hutter rack. I had RDC buttons before. The effect is positive.

By positive, I mean quieter calmer presentation. Now to get some for the sprakers and the other stand.

[SteveW]

Glad you have an open mid Peter, and tried them out. I'm still astonished by the difference.
I now want to experiment with them under my Mana equipment stands...

[Peter Stockwell]

I'm persuaded that the floor stand interface is a neglected area. My hutter is now on the QX-7s and on a hardword over concrete floor. I live in a flat in a pretty big building so there has to be a lot of structural born vibration getting into the equipment via the stand. The hutter stand has two power supplies and a power amp that would be feeding equipment generated vibration in the stand too. I have to say that the difference brought by the QX-7s was not at a must have level, more of a detectable step in the right direction, and given the cost of getting audible gains with the level of kit I have, i felt it worthwhile.

[Marco]

Glad you have an open mid Peter, and tried them out. I'm still astonished by the difference.
I now want to experiment with them under my Mana equipment stands...

That'll be an interesting one, Steve. It may interefere with the 'Mana effect' though so be careful of that, as the various preconceived interfaces with different materials (wood or concrete floor > metal spikes > MDF board > glass, etc) are integral to its function as a vibration sink.

Your Mana supports might not like to 'see' an alien interface material in the chain which has not been factored into the equation in its design principles, if you see what I mean. Coins, screw heads and Linn 'Skeets', have all been tried before in the past and found to be inferior to direct coupling to the floor surface via its metal spikes, and nothing else.

Keep us posted, though! :)

Marco.

[SteveW]

think in the case of the Mana, you may well be right Marco.
My two Mana equipment stand spikes sit on philips screws, through carpet into a very uneven victorian wooden floor. I had to use the screws in the first place to get the things near level in the first place. However...now curious as to what the effect might be if somehow I can get the quadraspires actually sitting on the wooden floor, as I can see that just resting on top of the carpet would have the Mana moving all over the place.