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Caster Wheels vs. Spikes

My Tekton Double Impacts came with caster wheels, which made them very easy to move and reposition. They are sitting on probably fake wood floors in my apartment. They sound great now, but I can't help but wonder if I'm leaving SQ on the table by not having them on spikes. Some people say I must use spikes, others (including Erik Alexander) say wheels are just fine. They are super heavy so the wheels are not easy to take off. I want to make sure it's worth doing. What are your experiences and thoughts?
divertiti
georgehifi's avatar
georgehifi
10,312 posts
 
divertiti

If you have a suspended floor "decouple" the speakers from it. Otherwise your floor will become a sound board for the speaker.
Each ring takes 14kg (70 duro density), you could use three for each speaker, but for 4 you’ll need 3 packs.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/NEW-SRM-TECH-SORBOTHANE-ISOLATION-RINGS-HEAVY-DUTY-70-DURO-3-PACK/333149656416?hash=item4d91445560:g:AOAAAOSwA3dYJIMB&frcectupt=true

These look OK too
https://www.ebay.com/itm/1-LARGE-SORBOTHANE-DISC-CIRCLE-FEET-PAD-2-5x0-5in-64x12mm-SILENT-PC-CASE-AMP-70D/251441886583?epid=1731907846&hash=item3a8b1ab577:g:O04AAOxycmBS70F6

If you have a cement slab floor on ground, then couple, "spike" the speakers into it.

Cheers George
shakira
149 posts
 
Spikes are good for wood floors 
don’t use spikes on concrete floors 
becomes lean 
wspohn's avatar
wspohn
608 posts
 
My Wilsons weigh in at over 400 lbs. a side. I replaced the factory supplied casters, which had started to break down, with heavy duty commercial parts and opted to leave them on rather than spike them (lifting the speakers to install spikes is fraught with hazard and the likelihood that you will slightly change the alignment and be unable to correct that easily).  Wood floors.

OTOH, my big Vandersteens do sound better with spikes, so YMMV.
audiosens
236 posts
 
georgehifi5 ,  The Vibrapod are well design (compare to the sorbotan footer) and not expensive and very effective on my suspended floor, but if the  sorbotan footer do the job, why not.
lwal22's avatar
lwal22
76 posts
 
Herbies sliders have given me by far the best results on several different floor structures. For my Arias they were an immediate improvement without a doubt. 
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