spikes

[Jeff Zaret]

I have spiked both sets of ML's and my Depth and it made a difference. More precise and less muddled sound in the low end and low to mid.
Every room is different but I would think it still can be helpfull.

Good lUck

Jeff

 

[jhorowitz128]

Can someone tell me where I've gone wrong in my set-up, spike-wise?
(System #8)
http://67.19.167.226/~tdacquis/forum/showthread.php?t=222

Seems like I'm getting less resonance with this set up then when I had the speakers coupled to the floor. Would appreciate any feedback, either on a practical or theoretical level.
Thanks,
Jeff

 

[Jeff Zaret]

Jeff,
If you remove the "cups" and just use the spikes in the carpet is there a difference? Does it mess up the floor? I think you may be getting resonance from the floor. I am not sure how to reduce that. Take a look at Jason's setup. I think he has a wood floor too.

BTW nice setup.

Good Luck

Jeff

 

[jhorowitz128]

Jeff,

The reason I use the floor protectors is that there was too much resonance when the spikes were coupled to the floor. Human fingertips are very sensitive to vibrations. When I touched the sides of the speaker rails during loud, bassy music, I could feel the speaker resonate. They seem to vibrate less when I use the protectors. Also, the bass and treble both seem to be better well-defined.

It looks like Jason has placed his speakers on granite. I, too, tried this, but I felt that the granite slabs also coupled to the floor, I guess due to their mass.

As stated before, my floor is very springy and the acoustic energy from the speakers transferrred to the floor through the spikes, causing vibrational feedback back to the speakers. With my current set-up, that energy is going through the spikes to the protectors which are resting on soft carpet. In other words, the energy (vibrations) is being dissapated through the carpet and is not being sent back to the speakers.

Am not sure about the physics of all this but am convinced that it works. Would sure like to know what others think or if I'm just blowing smoke

 

[Paul Pohopien]

I don't know if anyone has experimented with this setup, but, due to my bouncy floors, I've recently decoupled my speakers using a bicycle inner tube.

Basically, it's a wooden box with a 12 in bicycle tire (barely inflated) on the inside.....with a top piece that "floats" on top.

See pic. Seems to really have cleaned up my floor issues.

 

[jhorowitz128]

Hi Paul,

Yes, that's the idea......decoupling the speakers from a bouncy floor. Your set-up looks good and you say you cleaned up your floor issues. But how do your speakers sound compared with them being coupled to the floor? Do you find the bass tighter? The highs clearer/less "smudged?" Am curious to know if you have any improvement.

 

[rynopr]

Paul,

Did you make that box yourself? It looks great! If so, did you stain it, or was the wood just assembled?

 

[Paul Pohopien]

Yes, I'd say the bass tightened up quite a bit. It a trade off though. Being a amature speaker designer, I'm waaaayyyy too aware of how cabinet vibrations can muddy the sound. It just so happens my floors produce more vibrations than the cabinet, thus I elected to decouple. The highs do appear a bit more detailed......more as a result of the less boominess in the room. I also have a set of DIY base tube traps that helps here too.

Just a quick comment though, If my floors floors were good and sturdy, then I'd spike them directly to the ground...it helps terminate the cabinet resonances.

Rynopr - Thanks for the kind words, yes, made it last weekend (maple with rosewood accents). Built it to go along with the equipment rack I made out of the same woods. See pic.

 

[rynopr]

Okay, I just put the spikes on the two mains with nothing under them. We will see how bad it tears things up until I put something under them. I probably will use pennies temporarily.
Right away I have noticed a slight tightening of the mids, treble, and base. Good advice from all. I am still playing with placement. I'm continually moving them and playing with them. I'm trying to get as far out from the wall as I can without my wife having an issue, and as close to the E.C. without the doors banging them when they are opened. It seems as though this process may never end.

 

[zaphod]

great box and isolation approach. i did a bit of research a while back for non-audiophile isolation techniques and saggy inner tubes are also used in labs to isolate extremely precise scales.

so i took the same approach designing an isolation platform for my monoblock amp that sits *on* the sub woofer. powered subs of course have the amp a part of sub chassis, but i thought i'd isolate mine and see/hear the effect.

the floating top box is the same thing i arrived at for hiding the tubes.

i found too much sway with just one bicycle tube. what i did instead was take three 8" inner tubes from a motorized wheelchair (don't tell gramma and use them.

the three provided more stability.