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Interesting discovery when my carpets were cleaned yesterday!

I have some bookshelf speakers that sitting on some Dynaudio Stand 20 speakers stands. They are each filled with 50lbs of lead shot and my speakers are attached using some blue tack stuff (it helps hold them in place kind of like mounting them with screws). 

Anyways, while having the carpets cleaned I removed the Dynaudio spikes that came with the stands so that the speakers would be easier to move around as a whole because they weight 110lbs-ish each. 
When the carpet guy was done we put the speakers stands on some foam blocks to keeps them off the wet carpet until it dried. 
Later that night after getting the speakers dialed back in (I have certain measurements to get them back to where they were), I kept the foam blocks on the stands until I know they were right. 
Well, it actually sounds better with the foam blocks than the spikes. So now I’m on the hunt for something to actually use instead of the spikes. 
My room is carpeted  with carpet padding underneath on a second floor (a wood sub floor). So I need the ability to lock them down so they won’t get knocked over as I have a five year old. 
I’m not sure which type of feet I should use. Should I isolate or what what?
I don’t think I’d spend tons of money on something like this but I want to see what you guys would say. I’ve looked at the Gaia II feet and although they seem to come recommend I would prefer not to see them being silver in color...don’t know. 
Ideas?
todd1010
mitch2
4,086 posts
 
@team212 
Stand Mount speakers do not seem to benefit from Footers /Isolators/etc.
You cannot lump all stand mount speakers together.  Some are small light boxes on lightweight stands, others like Harbeth 40 series speakers are even heavier but have somewhat resonant cabinets, while others like my Aerial LR5s have cabinets as solid a brick and weigh quite a bit - 175 pounds for speakers and stands.  My experience has been either Herbies Giant Fat Dots/Gliders or properly sized individual springs (not so different from what Townshend uses) result in a better sound than when the stands are spiked to the concrete floor.
jtcf's avatar
jtcf
1,620 posts
 
Harbeths have resonate cabinets, just the way they're designed to contribute to the midrange fullness. Mine sound cleaner and more dynamic with the addition of IsoAcoustic pucks between speaker and stand.
I agree with optimize about filling the stands partially for better stability.
jeffrey75's avatar
jeffrey75
110 posts
 
+1 todd1010,
Cork or cork board(if you can find it) - granite tile -1/4" to 1/2" layer closed cell polyethylene foam - granite tile, this makes a excellent layered sandwich base for wood floors.
mijostyn's avatar
mijostyn
8,570 posts
 
1+ djones, Just changing the height of the speaker can make a significant change is sonic quality. You can actually measure this. If a floor is really bad decoupling the speaker physically from the floor will not stop it's resonation. Whether or not a move makes a system sound better or worse is a judgement call. You can certainly say it sounds different. This is particularly true in terms of bass. 
Having a calibrated microphone and measurement program is very useful when it comes to setting up speakers. IMHO, thinking your ears are accurate measurement devices is a mistake. 
hshifi
572 posts
 
Hello, 
I used to be a carpet cleaner so this spiked my attention. One thing that came to mind is the blocks changed the height of your speaker which changed the height of your speaker to your ear. Sometimes even a fraction of an inch can make all the difference. It could be the decoupling too and/ or both. Be careful about dropping money on something that might be fixed with a blue foam block which do hold more weight than the traditional white styrofoam blocks. Try putting a coaster under each spike and see if that does the trick. Also put an older copper penny under each spike. What are you out .08 cents? I hope you get it sorted out. Now I am going to try the foam block test. 
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