Best treatment for speaker feet????


Looking for input on best way to handle speaker feet. Couple or decouple? Spikes or rubbber? Granite or no granite?

My situation is, 80lb floorstanding speakers on carpet over plywood decking on second floor.

Opinions appreciated!
jaxwired
I would also consider contacting Herbie's Audio. They're not extremely expensive and they have a nice wide variety of solutions. If something doesn't work for you, they would take it back in trade for something else to try. Most importantly, if you tell them your situation, they will provide answers backed by a warranty. I'm about to place and order for Big Fat Dots to put my monitor stands on.

Nice to see you on Agon Jaxwired.
Hey Don,

I've used herbies dots myself for stand mounted speakers. Work great! I also like plain old museum putty for that.

I am going to try outriggers as a solution. I'm willing to spend $200, but not $800. I'm placing and order with loudspeakerstands . net today.

Now I've got to find the right bolts. Off to home depot...
My preference for my room/speakers...
(flooring is padded carpeting over poured cement basement floor)
18" x 18" Travertine tile, 2" thick maple plinth from Timber Nation on that, then Totem Ball & Claw supporting Totem Forests on the maple plinth.

Ball & Claw being sort of unique to Totem, I'd go w/spikes in their place.

I didn't like the sound when using rubbery sort of stuff under the speakers.
Try making a platform of cinder blocks. They are cheap and might really improve things. I would also put spikes under the speakers. I am using Vandersteen 5A's that come with spikes. In my last home in New Jersey, my listening room was on the second floor the flooring itself was oak. When I moved to Scottsdale, Arizona with Travertine tile floors and no basement, the speakers sounded so much better, I couldn't believe the difference. My other suggestion is to move.
I would not recommend spiking speakers to a suspended wood floor. That will transmit energy from the speaker to the floor and end up shaking the floor and walls. I can easily hear this with my speakers on a suspended wood floor. And I can fell it as well. The LF energy moves along the floor and shakes the chair. I like the rigidity of spiking, but not what a shaking room does to frequencies.

I found decoupling (with large Herbie audio dots) works better than spiking, but it's still not perfect.

The best I've tried to date is using Nordost Pulsar points. I feel no bass from the floor. It is amazing how much bass can be transmitted to the floor and conversely how you can reduce it significantly. And the sound is very good. I think any product along the lines of bearings in a cup would work well.

Wish I had a concrete pad but I get pretty good results with the Pulsar Points.