My sound studio IS in the basement on a concrete slab. I noticed MASSIVE improvement after separating the speaker from the slab the way I described doing it. Magic?
Bent
Spikes on tower speakers
This is my first post here, just getting involved in the earlier stages of serious stuff. I recently bought a pair of Piega p4L MKll speakers. They sound great, at least according to my perhaps unsophisticated ears.
My question/problem: The speakers have spikes on them that cannot be removed because the previous owner glued them to the base. Becaue of the spikes, the speakers are very unstable on the carpet in my listening room. I need something that the spikes will go into so that the speaker towers will be more stable. So far, neither plywood nor small metal speaker spike pads have worked. Am now considering carbon speaker spike pads and hockey pucks to get the spikes into and then a bigger base, such as wood or even granite/marble.
I would greatly appreciate any suggestions that would solve this problem.
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@michaellent , you change the amplitude response of the speaker when you raise it off the floor and you prefer that response. Just as many people are going to think it worse! There are much better ways to deal with amplitude without disconnecting the speaker from the floor. As long as the floor is significantly more massive than the speaker's drivers it is much better to spike the speaker to the floor. This is easy to demonstrate with test signals and a measurement microphone. |
I have a suspended wooden floor with carpet. I recently swapped out OEM spikes for Dayton Audio outriggers which made leveling a lot easier and I think it improved the sound. My question is this- I have a pair of Auralex SubDude's which are MDF over some type of cushion. If I put these under the outriggers, wouldn't I have the best of both worlds? They would be spiked to something that wouldn't allow them to move, easily adjustable for leveling and they wouldn't be transferring resonance to the floor. |
@mijostyn I am in agreement with you regarding relative masses. A concrete screed laid on good foundations in the ground will always be far heavier than any speaker as it is coupled to the mass of the Earth. For a concrete screed intimately attached to the frame of a large apartment building, again the mass of the structure will be much heavier than the speaker. |
@dadork the subdudes are large enough to accommodate the outriggers? I've experimented with using two platforms to fit under my subs so the feet would all rest on top and it didn't work so well. Not enough weight to compress the foam properly. Think about some heavy ceramic tiles or patio tiles to try. |
@michaellent , Amplitude is essentially volume but referring to output level across the frequency spectrum. It is a essentially a different way of describing frequency response. An equalizer adjusts amplitude at specific frequencies with a specific Q. |
@jtcf , The silliest thing you could possibly do to a subwoofer is put it on anything but a very sturdy floor. Put your hand on the sub playing a bass heavy number. That vibration you feel is distortion. In a perfect world you would not be able to feel anything. Some of the best subs come remarkably close if placed on a solid floor. None of these have a single driver. The Newtonian forces of a single sub driver shaking at 20 Hz will vibrate even the heaviest enclosure. |
Competitively priced with the Townsends is the Boenicke Swingbase, which has been around since 2010. 6moons has a preview for a review going on and here's a video of the base in action: So many ways to skin the cat. No intent to highjack this thread but to point out that if one wants to really isolate something from below, this is one alternative that goes even farther than springs. All the best, |
Sorry I’m so late to the discussion. I just saw this. If I were in the same boat, the first thing I would do is go to s store that sells bricks/patio pavers/ blocks and look for the concrete formed, big, patio blocks. They usually have designs on the top, but you should be able to work around that. Or, look for blocks with a nice, flat underside. Get yourself a pair of those and experiment with the different ideas, If you find an idea that sounds good to you, then you can get fancy and buy some granite. Who knows, you might decide your speakers on top of concrete gives you the sound you desire.
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