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Speaker spike feet?

I recently acquired a nice older hifi system with Aerial Acoustics 7B tower speakers.I am not an audiophile. The speakers have heavy iron bases on them but there are no feet of any sort on these bases. I emailed the owner/designer at Aerial and he sent me a schematic of the bases which show that they originally had spike feet. He said he could provide the spikes at minimal cost. I was afraid to ask what minimal meant since I seem to remember that these bases cost $400 when new. (I'm still getting accustomed to what things cost in the audiophile world.)

I am wondering if I really need the spikes. These speakers sit on a carpeted floor with hardwood on typical joist construction floor. They sound quite good to me but if spikes would help in any way and I can get them cheap then I will do so.

I'll ask Aerial how much theirs cost but I'm pretty sure that stainless steel tripod (for photography) spikes will fit the 3/8-16 threads in these bases. The cost would be about $40 for those. Maybe the actual Aerial ones wouldn't cost any more but they are longer and look very sharp which makes me wonder about floor/carpet damage since these speakers weigh around 110 pounds each.
n80
geoffkait's avatar
geoffkait
23,365 posts
 
Throbbing Gristle (TG) Audio pretty much nailed down, to use an expression, the tempered steel spikes territory with Pointy Things 25 years ago. IMHO the best solution to the whole vibration issue is a combo of mass on spring isolation and spikes or cones and damping of the top plate. Everything is relative and it’s difficult to determine if you have achieved a maximum or only a local maximum. 😛

Rubber? Yikes!
ieales's avatar
ieales
1,201 posts
 
For audio cones, the way the rating of materials vs sound quality works is the HARDER the material the faster energy exits the system.
ROTFLMFAO!  We have a 100 pounds of MDF wobbling about in space and the 1µS delta between a 1 inch aluminum vs beryllium spike is audible?

Spikes couple the speaker to the floor providing a more rigid plane for the drivers.
geoffkait's avatar
geoffkait
23,365 posts
 
Isolating the speakers with springs, making them less rigid, sounds better.
n80 OP
2,125 posts
 
frozentundra, I could have made them narrower, and still could, but I felt them pop through the carpet mat so I think they're fine. 
kalali's avatar
kalali
1,977 posts
 
"Isolating the speakers with springs, making them less rigid, sounds better"

In my experience, that depends on the specific conditions. That approach worked well for me when I had the speakers on a suspending hardwood flooring, e.g., second floor, above basement, etc. Direct/solid coupling worked better when I had the same speakers on hardwood floor on concrete slab or on tiles on concrete. I also think the results could vary depending on the speaker design and the location of the woofer and its relative proximity to the floor, assuming a floor standing speaker.
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