The death of spikes!

After a lifetime of playing with HiFi, including working in the industry I have thrown away my speaker spikes. I’ve been looking at a lot of YouTube video’s as well as reading and I came to a conclusion that spikes were not a good idea for speakers, especially on a suspended floor not to mention making ugly holes in the carpet (or wooden floors). I’m now using footers by IsoAcoustics (GaiaIII) on my Spendor D7’s
And am not missing the boomy bass I had on some recordings which gives a huge amount of credence to a lot of reviews I’ve watched. Max Townsend (RIP) was right. A friend uses his podiums also to great effect.

I also stopped using spikes a few years ago and placed the speakers on paving slabs. The sound improved considerably. It was more 'open' with clearer definition, particularly from the bass, which was still prominent, but without the 'booming'

I came to the same conclusion after evaluating my speakers without spikes. They sound a good deal better just standing on their rubber feet on some compact laminate.

Never been fussed about spike use. If they're there on the bottom of stands and won't damage the floor of a particular room I'll use them, otherwise rubber feet works OK for me. I don't use spikes into the bottom of speakers, they cause too much damage (BluTak is also best avoided, it can tear off veneer).

I remember having an arguement with Dominic Baker (RIP) @ Focal HQ in 2008 about he very same subject, haven't used spikes on ANY equipment for maybe 25 years

Same here, in fact I use some big focalpods under mine. Just sound better.

These are what I have under my speakers. Plenty strong, they don't squash, and the speakers weigh 35kg. And a bit grippy, like tyres. Cheap enough to try out.

https://www.googleadservices.com/pag...BAgDEA8&adurl=

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Originally Posted by Pigmy Pony

These are what I have under my speakers. Plenty strong, they don't squash, and the speakers weigh 35kg. And a bit grippy, like tyres. Cheap enough to try out.

https://www.googleadservices.com/pag...BAgDEA8&adurl=

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They look interesting Steve.

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Originally Posted by Jimbo

They look interesting Steve.

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Yeah, it was Adrian (AJSki2Fly) who recommended I try them. Works well for me And at less than £20 to do both speakers, could be worth a punt.

And if they don't work out, you could put them under the legs of your bed. Give your neighbours some peace ;)

I found this in the gutter outside my house yesterday, looks like I might get enough feet for my whole system out of it. Does anyone know what it is??https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...1a751af38c.jpg

Just found it

https://www.prtoolsupplies.co.uk/pro...e-pad-so-safe/

its a knee pad

But has anyone tried it under a component?

Tried different things with speaker mounting over the years, solid stone floor and found spikes worked well with the different speakers I’ve had.
The big Impulse H2’s played nice with a heavy floor tile under the spikes, with other speakers the slab just sucked the bass out.

Go figure, maybe not a one stop solution for every setup?

Happy to have settled with what I have, best sounding combo for my speakers.
Herbies Sliders sat under speaker outrigger feet, and sat in Isoacoustics Gaia carpet spikes.
A faff to get them fitted, but worth the time.
My systems got some low end welly, with speakers mounted this way there’s no bass interaction at all with the floor.

https://i.imgur.com/78O0AK9.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/Zna9XXG.jpg



https://theartofsound.net/forum/blob...1-71594edc7635
https://theartofsound.net/forum/blob...4-4c39a29ef5d1

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Gazjam

Tried different things with speaker mounting over the years, solid stone floor and found spikes worked well with the different speakers I’ve had.
The big Impulse H2’s played nice with a heavy floor tile under the spikes, with other speakers the slab just sucked the bass out.

Go figure, maybe not a one stop solution for every setup?

Happy to have settled with what I have, best sounding combo for my speakers.
Herbies Sliders sat under speaker outrigger feet, and sat in Isoacoustics Gaia carpet spikes.
A faff to get them fitted, but worth the time.
My systems got some low end welly, with speakers mounted this way there’s no bass interaction at all with the floor.

https://i.imgur.com/78O0AK9.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/Zna9XXG.jpg


https://theartofsound.net/forum/blob...1-71594edc7635
https://theartofsound.net/forum/blob...4-4c39a29ef5d1

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I know it shouldn't matter, but they do look really good :)

Never used spikes - for the simple reason that for all of my gear, the relevant manufacturer has not mentioned it (and I assume they know what they are talking about).

I think I used them once, on the bottom of stands when I had some little Mission speakers. That's decades ago.

If you think about it, it's difficult to see what they are supposed to achieve.

Well in the olden days, when hifi speakers tended to be fridge-shaped they'd happily stay where you put them, but as speakers got taller and narrower the smaller footprint made them less stable, especially on carpets.

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Originally Posted by Pigmy Pony

Well in the olden days, when hifi speakers tended to be fridge-shaped they'd happily stay where you put them, but as speakers got taller and narrower the smaller footprint made them less stable, especially on carpets.

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true, but unless the spikes were on outriggers, they weren't going to widen the footprint so wouldn't improve stability unless you hammered them deep into the floorboards.

Which I am guessing no-one did. Plus how would you then screw them into the cabinet?

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Originally Posted by Pigmy Pony

I know it shouldn't matter, but they do look really good :)

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Yeah,
didn’t turn out too bad. :thumbsup:

A Billy Bonus is that the speakers sit rock solid on the floor, zero wobble, but as the sliders sit on the carpet discs I had a few degrees of play to dial the toe-in …in.
Speakers isolated from the floor with the feet sitting in the Herbies sliders, and the whole speaker assembly clamped to the floor through the carpet spikes.
Advantages of speaker isolation and coupling to the floor… Best of both worlds?

Dunno, works well though.

when listening to 'The Orb' I like zero wobble with my Jah Wobble.

Concrete floor solves a multitude of problems.

:lol:

True about the stone floor.
My last place was a real ‘mare, even stopping the tonearm skipping, when skipping past.

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Originally Posted by Gazjam

:lol:

True about the stone floor.
My last place was a real ‘mare, even stopping the tonearm skipping, when skipping past.

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one place I lived just walking in the room would bounce the tonearm - from fifteen feet away. Ended up having to put the rack halfway up the stairs.

Speakers had to be placed on concrete slabs with plastic feet between the speaker and the slab and blu-tak between foot and speaker. Only then did they stop exciting the floor. Although they were big speakers (three 8 inch bass drivers) and of course we used to like it LOUD in those days...

When I bought a house, a concrete floor was a deal-breaker.

Wish I had a concrete floor again as I did in my last house. Now have to resort to huge mass to stop vibration.:rolleyes:

concrete on ground floor here.. standard addition for Scottish Homes houses at time, who were abolished by Scottish govt oddly.. the council ones in same area didnt have it

If I had to do it again I would use sand trays.

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Originally Posted by Macca

If I had to do it again I would use sand trays.

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Yes I can see the appeal. More to life than just hifi.

https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/6okAA...ZFw/s-l400.jpg

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Originally Posted by Macca

If I had to do it again I would use sand trays.

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Double win if you have a cat too?

The extra (brown) mass would help stop the speakers vibrating.

I used to fill my speaker stands with sand and convinced myself I could hear the difference when I altered the amount of sand in the stands. What a Knob.:)

All it did was make them either difficult or easy to move.:doh:

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Originally Posted by Jimbo

I used to fill my speaker stands with sand and convinced myself I could hear the difference when I altered the amount of sand in the stands. What a Knob.:)

All it did was make them either difficult or easy to move.:doh:

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Been there, not just you!

Even tried audiophile 'silver sand' sold by my friendly snake oil dealer at the time,
Yeah thanks for that.

The sand stopped any ringing in the.metal stand, sure, but when you got to a point the Job was done.
But what under the speakers...the screw in wee spike and locking nut, or Blutak directly toothed top plate?
Kept me up at night that!

Sand in stands, blutak under the speakers...brings back memories that.
Target 22" stands and Mission 760i bookshelves, nice combo with the Pioneer A400 actually those wee boxes.

Ran those until one day I came home from work and found my 5yr old had poked the tweeters in!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Gazjam

Been there, not just you!

Even tried audiophile 'silver sand' sold by my friendly snake oil dealer at the time,
Yeah thanks for that.

The sand stopped any ringing in the.metal stand, sure, but when you got to a point the Job was done.
But what under the speakers...the screw in wee spike and locking nut, or Blutak directly toothed top plate?
Kept me up at night that!

Sand in stands, blutak under the speakers...brings back memories that.
Target 22" stands and Mission 760i bookshelves, nice combo with the Pioneer A400 actually those wee boxes.

Ran those until one day I came home from work and found my 5yr old had poked the tweeters in!

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I had my tweeters poked in at one time and small stones put in the speaker ports!

That's why speaker grills were invented! ;)

That's why locks on doors to rooms with a hifi in were invented :D

As for spikes...my spkr stands, equip rack, floor speakers, and tube amp have them so I use them. No complaints from me and tighter bass too.