Is Spiking Necesarry?

@hifiman5 

Thanks. I'll give the gliders some consideration after I get my speakers set up in a week or so. I'm getting the Triton Reference and I will be spiking them to the floor (through carpet onto wood). Another concern I have with the gliders is that I imagine they raise the height of the speaker at least a half inch, maybe more. Not that a half inch is ultra critical, but many speaker manufacturers situate the tweeter at 41 inches (or thereabouts) because that is the typical ear level height in the seated PLP. Also, in my case I have some acoustic panels that were also placed with the height of the tweeter in mind. Still, the gliders do seem worthwhile and are not expensive (as audio gear goes) either.  

@gdhal  The Herbelins will let you return the gliders if they don't work for you.

For many years, as a machinist and field tech with the Westinghouse Corp. I spent a great deal of time analyzing and solving problems related to resonance and vibration. Wither to couple or to isolate, you are looking at two very different solutions to address a common problem. While it does make moving a heavy speaker a bit more difficult, using a good, well secured set of spikes can be very effective, as long as the floor itself is good and solid. Spikes help to solve three problems. They eliminate looseness and vibration between the speaker and floor; they couple the relative small mass of the speaker to the much greater mass of the floor and structure of the home which helps to reduce the chance resonance and they prevent your speakers from walking. Spikes is, by far, the cheapest and easiest way to solve most problems and get better sound from your speakers but if your floors are not solid or you live in an area of heavy traffic and are getting outside vibrations through your floors then isolation (usually much more expensive and difficult to achieve) is your best option. There are some very expensive products out there that may or may not work. Not only do you want to reduce or eliminate vibrations from outside sources, you do not want to cause instability and movement of the speaker itself. Try first, before spending a lot of money, a small, thin, sand bag or firm gel pack under each corner of the speaker. Sometimes the simplest and cheapest solution is the best.
Regards,
Jim

Re Herbie's gliders.

I now have them under my big Thiel 3.7 speakers.

My speaker have sat without spikes on a shag carpet over a solid wood floor, and the bass response (and general sound) has been so even and seemingly perfect I've never bothered with spikes.  (I remember trying spikes after a while of listening but they didn't do anything for the sound, and raised them higher than I wanted).

For various reasons I sometimes have to move my speakers around - even if to achieve different spatial or tonal balance effects as I desire.
I tried using some castor wheels under them - the shortest I could find - but it seemed to alter the sound to a bit too much upper bass richness (possibly, simply by raising the tweeter/woofer position higher, though it may also have changed some floor bounce characteristics).

Finally I discovered the Herbie's gliders and ordered the Giant Threaded Stud Glider.  They just screw in the place of spikes and only raise the speaker something like 1/2 inch, which when the speaker is sinking into carpet a bit anyway, barely makes a difference.   As to sonic benefits I thought *maybe* I heard some clearing up in the midrange...but I'm not remotely confident about that because it is far too arduous to take unscrew and screw in the gliders to compare.  What I can say is that they make moving the speakers a breeze, whether over carpet or wood floor (sometimes I have to move them between rooms).