Just how much do speakers suppose to vibrate?

mapman
13,599 posts
08-18-2016 4:53pm
"If the speakers are vibrating due to interaction with the floor, as is usually the case with suspended plywood floors found in most modern home upper levels, then its often a good idea to try to isolate the speakers from the floor better by using isolation stands or platforms of some sort. The bad effects of floor interaction and resulting vibrations transmitted to the floor and then the room is muddied less articulate bass that also obscures detail in the mid-range compared to otherwise.

Vibrations detected from the cabinet may also well be a symptom of this and not the root cause of any resulting sound issues.

Many good speaker isolation products out there. Main thing is to find the one that fits your speakers and needs best.

As an example I use Isoacoustics brand isolation stands under my smaller monitors and Auralex Subdude platforms under my floor standers. Both cost a mere $100 or so a pair to try and are similarly effective in greatly cleaning up the sound overall when needed."

Mapman, from the Aurelex website: "

• Dramatically reduces structural vibrations through walls, floors & ceilings

Thus, the problem is reducing the vibrations from the speakers TO the floor not the vibrations FROM the floor to the speaker. The low frequency seismic vibrations we’re talking about when we think of structural vibrations are generally in the range 0-20 Hz - well below the frequency response of virtually all hi end speakers. However, the structural vibrations the speakers produce exacerbate the acoustic feedback situation for all front end complements.

Cheers

No vibrating allowed!

If they sound good to you, that's all that matters. If you're curious and motivated, you've gotten some good suggestions. 

I've tried different tips for isolating components, some improved clarity and others sounded different- not neccessarilly better. 

I'd just let em rip.

Regards

Yes of course it’s the speakers that are the source of vibration. That’s what dynamic speaker drivers do. Who said anything about seismic waves? Not me.

Speaker interacts with floor and waves propagate through the floor. Anything in contact with the floor is vibrating to some extent from there including the entire speaker not just the drivers which are the true source.

If the floor is massive and rigid like a concrete foundation for example the waves produced by the speaker driver movement is not likely to make the floor vibrate so likely not a real issue that case.

There are varying design philosophies on the issue whether a speaker should resonate to quickly disperse energy or be completely inert. As sbank mentioned above Totem sells a product to reduce vibration and by the marketing they would fall into the second camp. Why you had poor results with sand fill could be a matter of altering the cabinet geometry or of Totem designing the speakers with that resonance in mind(the beak only focuses on the top of the speaker.)