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Speaker footers – Ugh


I’m exhausted in my search for the truth. I have a pair of Rega’s R7 floor standing speakers (about 40” tall) and feel that I can improve their sound by changing out the 4 stock spikes each speaker came with.

I’ve read where spikes can be a “bad thing” by exacerbating vibration within the speaker. Mapleshade has a philosophy that vibration needs to be drained from speakers. They sell heavy brass footers (3” tall, 3” diameter) that are supposed to accomplish that. However, they cost a few bucks and cosmetically are not exactly what I’m looking for.

I’ve spent hours trying to identify footers that will make a difference and am at the point of exhaustion. I could research more, but feel I’ll get no closer to the truth of what would be a good solution. I encourage anyone who has had a good experience with replacement footers for a floor stander (like the R7’s) to share.

Thank you.
rbschauman
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dbphd
1,630 posts
 
I recently installed Auralex SubDudes under my KEF Reference 104.2s to replace spiked hardwood planks, the spikes of which penetrated fairly thick carpet covering a second story floor. The bass seems tighter and extended a bit, and for some reason, the depth of sound stage is increased. The SubDude under the Velodyne HGS-15 is very effective in eliminating the boom and extending the bass, so I thought I'd give a pair a try under the mains even though they had no boom. I'm pleased with the result.

The SubDude under my sub is larger and industrial looking whereas the units under the mains are 15" square and covered with a black material so they look attractive.

db
peterayer
1,382 posts
 
I recently went from four cones to three under my speaker bases. The bases have three threaded inserts in the back for this reason. I use rounded cones instead of spikes, both of which came with the speakers, because I have soft pine floors and the sharp spike would go right through the wood.

The three cones couple the base to the floor much more effectively by increasing the load on each point, but also because three support points are always self-leveling whereas four points could rock slightly. It is less stable with three than with four because the overall footprint or contact area is smaller, but that does not worry me because the speakers are very heavy. The result is that the bass became more focused and articulate. Extension also increased slightly. I found it to be a very worthwhile improvement which did not cost me anything.
inpieces's avatar
inpieces
199 posts
 
Feets alone might do a change, but did i understand this correct - i read draining also?

I use feets that are simply sounding like mixture of spikes and smooth damping.
Same company sell drain devices. They refer to these as "Vibb eaters".

When you use their feets + drain devices it simply drain chassis extremely much. No one doubts the audible benefit or that it works once they've heard it.
Simply lay the hand at the drain device, and you feel how aggressive it is activated.
If you buy and try Vibb eaters, please notice they are in different weights and for the optical option, they are in two versions.
Mice or Cone (works the same).

I think you can check this for your self.

Why not mail them.

Vibb eaters:
http://www.entreq.com/default.asp?PageId=1924

Feets (Cat feets):
http://www.entreq.com/default.asp?PageId=1923

I use jumbo sized cones (1 per speaker) and 4 Cat feets under one speaker.
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