Spikes versus Rubber on wood floor?

Here are a few thoughts, for what there are worth.

IMHO the only vibrations which originate in a speaker that are 'necessary' to drain are those which by reason of construction and materiels creat a resonance at some particular frequency, if that resonance actually effects sound quality (some speakers are voiced to include resonances). In order to 'drain' the vibrations at any particular frequency (where the resonance occurs) wouldn't you have to have materiel which would be capable of passing vibrations in that frequency as opposed to having a similar resonance frequency which might then compound the problem? If that is correct how do you select the materiel used to connect the speaker and the floor?

What I think might actually be in play, which is not discussed much, is the benefit of isolating speakers from the floor. Again IMHO most of the vibrations which occur in the rooms and floors are the result of airborn loading from the speakers. When the speaker is fully coupled with the floor these vibrations are being fed back into the speaker which causes a change in perceived sound quality and may actually increase the degree of resonance of the speaker in its resonance frequency.

As I said, just some random thoughts..............

Just a few thoughts, I'm sure most of you have the answers and they are not revelant.

Mitch2,

Herbie's Big Fat Black Dots provided considerably richer and somewhat more detailed sound vs. the Audio Points in my setup.

Newbee, you raise an interesting point which I think is long overdue for discussion:

There are absolutely no vibrations or "resonances" to be DRAINED from a loudspeaker. And if there are, then its cabinet/enclosure (or stand) is poorly designed.

The object of using spikes/cones under speakers (as opposed to components) is to "mass-couple" the speaker to the ground. "Mass-couple" is just a fancy term for "hold it down tight!" and steel tie-downs with big bolts would work great too, if you didn't mind looking at them.

The only thing that should move/vibrate in a loudspeaker is the transducer(s) itself -- and 99% of those only move forward and backward. And the only thing the transducer should impart its vibrations to is the air -- not the cabinet, or the stand, or the floor.

With components, especially turntables, transports, and amps (because of tubes and especially transformers) it can be desireable to "drain off" micro-vibrations thru a mechanical "diode" like cones, or ball bearings, etc. But speakers do not require this. With loudspeakers, the use of cones and spikes is merely a way of securing the cabinet (or frame, in the case of electrostats) to the ground so that ALL the energy of the transducers is transferred to the air, and none to the cabinet, floor, etc.

Aball, how do we know what our ears are capable of measuring if we can't measure their capability with instruments. What instruments are we using to measure the fact that we can't hear sounds at 40kHz?
If there is any effect from speakers systems 'moving' 0.1mm due to vibrations, that effect cannot be detected by the ear and in any case would be smaller than if your ear (the measurement device)moved a similar amount.

There are many threads on Audiogon and AA about suspended hardwood floors.

I tried many solutions on my suspended hardwood floor and the only thing that worked was to decouple the speaker from the floor. Coupling the speaker to my suspended hardwood floor was a disaster. All coupling does to many suspended floors is excite the floor which creates a delay in the sound traveling in the floor and it muddies the bass badly.

You will find in the many threads here and on AA that the vast majority of suspended floor owners had much better success with decoupling. I know...I searched every thread available and the over-whelming consensus was coupling was bad, decoupling worked. All of the theories you will hear are great, but there is nothing like actual experience. Search "suspended hardwood floor" and "suspended floor" here and especially on AA and you will find a lot of "actual experience" from owners with suspended hardwood floors, not a bunch of theories. That is not to say that coupling may not work on "any" suspended floor, but the preponderance of evidence from owners is that coupling is not good.

And as far as movement of a speaker goes, there are also those here or on AA who have suspended their speakers from the ceiling with absolutely no movement of the speaker when playing...none, zilch. Once again, theories are nice, but actual experience is soooo much better.