What's Under the Speaker?

[MDSPHOTO]

Looking through the system pics thread I see a lot of people have their speakers on some sort of base. What is the base made of and what is the advantage compared to using carpet piercing spikes?

Thanks

Ps- New Summits in birch wood are due to arrive tomorrow!

 

[FISH_MAN]

you are in for a treat

on carpet i would first spike them. usually people use the bases on harwood or
tile just to look cool and bring them up of the floor a little.be sure to use the flashlight trick to toe them in properly, you will be very happy with those speakers congrats on the purchase!

 

[amey01]

A lot of people also use outriggers - now I just gotta get a set!

 

[Cherian]

I have my speakers on slabs of 1.5” thick granite. I find the bass is tighter than when it was on carpet.

 

[Beakman]

I'm using 18" square home despot floor tiles with furniture sliders on their botoms. This is just so I can fool around with the positioning until I find the best spot. someday I'll get some thick butcher block or stone slabs for a more or less permanant base.

 

[amey01]

I have my speakers on slabs of 1.5” thick granite. I find the bass is tighter than when it was on carpet.

Interesting - is your floor timber or concrete?

 

[Cherian]

It is concrete with carpet over it.

 

[David Matz]

Experiment for yourself, as always!

Looking through the system pics thread I see a lot of people have their speakers on some sort of base. What is the base made of and what is the advantage compared to using carpet piercing spikes?

Thanks

Ps- New Summits in birch wood are due to arrive tomorrow!

There are many theories - spikes, stone, wood, footers, etc. There is no absolute right or wrong way to go about it. You will get different sound how ever you choose to go about it.

I recently tried some Finite Elemente footers. The speakers became much more dynamic, but the images became a bit smaller, and the bass lost some weight and became tighter. It was a tough tradeoff, but I personally like the spikes going into wood blocks for a warmer sound with larger images.

 

[twich54]

It is concrete with carpet over it.

Interesting you say that Cherian, for I too have concrete floor beneath my carpeting I find just the opposite...... me thinks the key here is the ability of the spikes to penetrate through carpeting and backing all the way to concrete.

 

[Cherian]

Dave you could be right. My monoliths are not spiked. I will order some spikes and paly around with it.

 

[robertawillisjr]

I use the earlier spike ML sold about 5 or 6 years ago. Since, I need to protect the floor (excellent laminate over concrete) I am using starsound brass protectors.

I have two StarSound platforms but don't have enough good help to use them under the speakers without damaging the floor.

 

[C.A.P]

Hickory ! .....Good old American Hickory !

Its a engineered wood floor glued directly to the concrete with a poly elastometric glue that has excellent sound deadening and vibration absorption..

 

[zaphod]

Hickory ! .....Good old American Hickory !

Its a engineered wood floor glued directly to the concrete with a poly elastometric glue that has excellent sound deadening and vibration absorption..

Chris - did you put spikes on your stands? i can't quite tell from the pictures.

 

[C.A.P]

No they are tapped for 1/4 20 spikes if needed. I have been experimenting with tiny rubber pods ! They are solid as a rock with the design.

 

[theWB]

I'm using 18" square home despot floor tiles

I also use 18" tiles, my room is on the top floor above my garage.
I find I don't get the floor vibrations with the speakers on top of the tiles, I also have the subwoofer on an amp stand. Feel the bass is much tighter that way.
I recently upgraded to the Summits and tried them with and without the tiles, I preferred the way the bass sounded with the Summits on the tiles.

 

[zaphod]

No they are tapped for 1/4 20 spikes if needed. I have been experimenting with tiny rubber pods ! They are solid as a rock with the design.

yeah a couple of weeks back i found the company that fabricates neoprene anti-vibration sheets/pucks/balls and chatted with one of the engineers for a while. fascinating stuff. then he put in touch with a reseller (as the company tends to sell in lots of hundreds.

i was thinking of putting some under the electronics box on my stand design, but had figured spikes on the bottom. was going to have some 1/4 20 thread nuts welded onto the frame.

 

[JonFo]

Dave you could be right. My monoliths are not spiked. I will order some spikes and paly around with it.

Cherian, Highly recommend spiking to the floor, as your tile is still allowing some resilience from the carpet and underlayment.

Also adding some weight to the rear-top of the woofer cabinet to steady the unit.

I’ve also started to think about engineering an articulated arm that I can attach to the front wall and then to the top of the Monoliths to ‘lock’ them in place.

Anybody with good Solidworks experience?

I was thinking about using a stock flat-panel TV wall mount arm and creating an adapter to hook onto the top of the Monolith as way to achieve this.

 

[robertawillisjr]

Cherian, Highly recommend spiking to the floor, as your tile is still allowing some resilience from the carpet and underlayment.

Also adding some weight to the rear-top of the woofer cabinet to steady the unit.

I’ve also started to think about engineering an articulated arm that I can attach to the front wall and then to the top of the Monoliths to ‘lock’ them in place.

Anybody with good Solidworks experience?

I was thinking about using a stock flat-panel TV wall mount arm and creating an adapter to hook onto the top of the Monolith as way to achieve this.

There are some that will tell you to put 50lb shotgun pellets on the platform of the Monoliths and Quests (or any other ML speaker). I tried this for a while and found that the bass was faster and more coherent at the expense of a slightly muddier mid range and less distinct highs.

I finally dediced to remove the extra weight. I wanted to experiment with the amount of weight but have been just too busy.