Quote Originally Posted by Ammonite Acoustics View Post
Spikes couple the speaker to the floor so there is no isolation at all and placing a heavy slab between spikes and floor will only alter the character of the sound transmission, not prevent it, but every little helps. Isolation, in varying degrees, can be achieved by:

  • Spring systems which when carefully specified can provide total isolation (Townshend Seismic products are the Gold Standard but you can go DIY at modest cost). The challenging bit of designing a spring system is to get the correct spring rate, with optimum damping, and (most importantly) having something that's stable in use.
  • Elastomer systems where good isolation can be achieved at mid-high frequencies, but compared to a sprung system low frequency isolation is often poor. Gaia do some good ones.
  • Foam pads like the Auralex products used in studios are the cheapest and most convenient way to achieve some isolation and decoupling, but in truth not much.


Moving from a 'hard coupled' mindset to one that accepts speakers can be quite softly supported is quite liberating in terms of sound reproduction, but much more liberating for anyone living in a house or flat where transmitted sound to other rooms and/or neighbours is a problem (that's pretty much all properties, and even those supposedly constructed in accordance with Building Regulations Part E).
What are the options if you've got a carpeted sprung floor? I thought the faux marble slab would provide a nice flat hard surface for the speakers to sit on - whether they are spiked or on some form of squidgy plastic supports.

Here's my current speaker set up. IMG_20190411_215126077_HDR by Mike Van, on Flickr

As you can see my components stand is also rigidly fixed to the floor by its spikes, and that's a heavy stand, is this ideal?IMG_20190607_123743162_HDR by Mike Van, on Flickr