Removing spikes... Now my speakers sing

Generally, it's best to follow the directions of the speaker mfg with regard to whether use spikes or other footers based on type of floor.  You especially don't want to mess with speakers that already account for a certain resonance with their cabinet.  Many speakers use this to their advantage versus trying (usually in vain) to rid all cabinet resonances and floor born resonances.

On the flip side...a lot of speaker makers don't put much effort into their feet/stands.  In those cases, I would actually recommend this one combo that I've found works generally well.  Take the spike footers that come with most speakers/stands and insert them into Oyaide INS-BS pucks.  Whether it's on wood floors or carpet, they seem to have a positive impact for a much more reasonable price than other exotic options.

Another option is to construct a sandbox with a floating top and put your speakers on top of that without spikes.  Nothing dissipates the significant vibrations of speakers while also providing a solid base like sand...especially at a cost effective price. 

georgehifi
Thank you for your explanations 1and 2

Note that if you live in a large (or even medium sized) tent in a desert someplace, the spikes can go right through a rug into sand and possibly fall over into a hookah...nobody needs that...

@labtec  Ther last paragraph in your post would, if employed with most floor standing speakers, raise the tweeters much too high relative to the listening seat going against the speaker manufacturers recommendations, throwing the sound out of balance.

@hifiman5 The sand box I'm referring to is actually almost identical to the the height of spikes.  Bright Star audio made these sand boxes (mainly for equipment), but could be used for speakers too.  You don't need the spikes, so it's not like doubling up on the height. You mainly have to customize them for your speakers since every speaker is different size nowadays.  Thus, you can make them any height you want.

Also remember, that even if you double the height or it's 1-2 inches different than a spike, it's not any different than other things you have to manage if your speakers are super sensitive by a couple inches to dispersion.  Chairs/couches/etc aren't all at the same height.  The cushions aren't the same tension. People aren't the same weight and height.  Some people slouch when seated and others don't.  Thus, the size of the custom sand base you make is virtually immaterial to other things if you have speakers with very sensitive/poor dispersion.  As long as you don't do anything crazy with the height of your custom sand base, you should be fine.

It's also a good time to say that I only use large line source ribbon/planar speakers (Wisdom Audio, Maggies, etc). I'm not a big fan of any point source loudspeakers that have all these hyper sensitive dispersion issues, but that's a discussion for another topic and for more reasons than just dispersion characteristics.