Spikes versus Rubber on wood floor?

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.

Fiddler, if this is what's happening in your case:

"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."

Then it's because the wood floor is flexing (what you call "excite") underneath the speaker allowing the woofer motion to rock the enclosure back and forth. Remember, it only takes 1/16" of deformation (flex) in the floor for a 5 foot tall speaker to rock back and forth as much as 3" at the top! There are three possible solutions:

1.) (the easiest) reposition the speaker so the front and rear spikes/cones/feet are on top of, or very close to, the (two closest) joists themselves (as discussed earlier)

2.) If (1.) isn't possible for some reason, then put blocking (little cross joists) between the two joists right under the speakers and/or put posts (or jacks) from the ground to under the floor where the speakers sit.

3.) If (1) and (2) aren't possible, the best solution (a bit of a hassle to do nicely, but works great!) is to run a brace (aluminum tube or plastic PVC pipe works well) from the top-back of the speaker to either the wall behind, or back down to the floor at least 4 feet behind the speaker, and secure it.

Any of these solutions will keep those woofers from rocking the cabinet instead of your ears. An additional benefit will be better highs and mid-range transients.

Hanging speakers can work also, except the chains or cables need to be splayed enough to insure that the speakers don't sway even a little. That's sort of an ugly tour-de-force don't you think?

Nsgarch, thanks for the feedback, but number 1, 2 & 3 won't work simply because the floor is being excited by certain frequencies. The problem is not floor flex, per se. The floor is acting like a drum head. It doesn't much matter where you strike the drum head, it will still resonate. Until the frequency vibrations are sinked to something with a much lower resonant frequency (such as, the ground or a concrete pad on the ground), they just rumble around until they dissipate. So moving the speakers over joists won't make a big difference. Believe me, I tried.

Stiffening the floor would cure the problem, but most effectively if it is stiffened by applying pressure from the floor to the ground, i.e. using floor jacks and posts or footings and pilings. These solutions simply change the resonant frequencies and the problem can be eliminated. But the simpler solution is to decouple the speakers. Do a search for actual results.

And according to other users, hanging a speaker from a single chain does not produce any movement of the speaker when the speaker is playing. I personally have no experience with this, but that is what has been reported from actual use.