Thiel Owners

hey Batman,   i have used both 2.7 and 3.7 speakers with outriggers and think they help.   however i strongly recommend testing feet from Gaia and the brass feet from Mapleshade.  i used them both with the outriggers.  However if outriggers cannot be used,  then  try those feet directly under the speaker. 

Talking about the value of our systems versus everything else,  I too had to laugh.  not counting my home,  my audio system is my most valuable asset.
True story:  in 1978 I bought my dream car,  a baby blue 1976 BMW 2002.  It was so cool and sharp.  a year or so later i got a job working in a mid and upper end hi fi store.  sold Dahlquist,  Maggies, and Infinity among others.  At this store,  we were able to get things at a special employee "accommodation price"  that allowed us to get things below dealer cost.  Oh boy.  since i really had no extra money (still in grad school) I did something totally stupid and sold the BMW and bought a cheap ass little honda cvcc (a pregnant rollerskate).  took the money that was left and bought audio stuff.  Been crazy about this hobby ever since. 

I would like to explain the basic principle behind Outriggers or spikes under the speakers, so that each of us can answer the question of "need" for ourselves. Basically, when a woofer’s motor structure (this means the magnet and voice coil) applies force to the cone, causing it to move in and out, the woofer itself has enough mass that an equal-and-opposite force is applied to the entire speaker cabinet. If the bottom of the speaker cabinet is not firmly coupled to the floor and rigidly stable, the speaker will rock in the opposite direction as the woofer, causing inaccurate sound from the woofer (primarily Doppler distortion). So we apply cone feet under the speaker, to stabilize it, and even better, puncture through the carpet to the floor itself. We are simply trying to make sure there is not even very slight cabinet motion possible, under the force of woofer motion.

Since Thiel speakers have a relatively small footprint compared to their height, it can be helpful for the cones to be situated farther apart than the depth and width of the cabinet. The Outriggers help in this regard, compared to simply adding cones under the speaker, due to their greater separation distance, as well as their firm attachment to the bottom of the speaker.

But, however you stabilize each speaker, if you cannot rock either one, and so they are firmly unable to move even the tiniest bit, then you have accomplished this "rigidly stable" condition, that I am claiming is so important to producing accurate bass. A well known TAS reviewer from the 70’s and 80’s, Enid Lumley, claimed she stabilized the speakers by hanging them from the ceiling with fishing line. She claimed that the weight of the speaker, and the long length of the line, did the trick, PLUS decoupled the speaker from the floor completely, so there was absolutely no interaction of vibrations in the floor with the speakers. I have noticed recently there is a growing number of audiophiles applying heavily damped, but not rigid, feet under speakers to accomplish this. This is a current "fad" that is growing in popularity. But that is another story, beyond this spike/Outriggers explanation.

By the way, Enid’s speakers were Magnepans, so their moving panels had lower mass, and therefore applied lower "equal and opposite" force on the cabinet, than cone woofers.

--Warren (aka "Sandy")

I've experimented a bit with stuff under my Thiels - spikes, isoacoustics footers etc.
I preferred the sound of the Thiels just sitting on my rug, no footers (beneath that, wood floor).  Just by lifting a speaker up you can expect some changes to the sound, which means it's not necessarily coming from the material or footer you've used to raise it.  And "different" sound of course may not be better.

I've tried my 2.7s  without and then with the outriggers.They're located three feet from the wall on a carpet with a floor mat.  I played a variety of music, including several CDs with substantial bass with near-instantaneous bass impact, as well as with sustained bass.  I couldn't tell any difference between using the outriggers and just leaving the speakers on the carpet. 

Just my experience, YMMV.