Avalon Speakers... To Spike or Not To Spike

Thanks guys. I’ve looked at the Herbies website and frankly can’t imagine how the products designed for carpeting would work for me. My carpeting and pad has to be a little over 1.25” thick. It’s literally like walking on a cloud. When we got that carpeting, I had monitor speakers on four post Sound Anchor stands. Looking back on it now, I wish we had gone with something like a Berber carpet. Not that anyone has ever bumped into my speakers, but with 5 granddaughters and a big dog that wants to play catch all the time, I sleep better when my speakers are solidly locked in.

Wig… I had the Sound O City outriggers on Acoustic Zen Adagio’s and they worked really well. That was before installing the stupidly thick carpeting. They’re also on my short list. One thing I really liked about the outriggers is that the longer very pointy spikes easily get through carpeting. However, because I have an OCD complex with having to have my speakers at the exact some angle, speaker placement with the outriggers is a little difficult.

What I like about the platforms is that after I determine the speaker placement, I can accurately position the platforms before placing the speakers on them. I’m going to E-mail Herbies asking if something between the platform and the speakers would be to my advantage.

I use stainless steel Soler Points on my speakers. I know Ed Soler and he can make them custom for you. The ones he made for my speakers are 2" wide at the top and about 2.25" tall. I gave him one of the original speaker spikes and he made sure the threads matched on the new spikes. He also makes the pucks to use along with the spikes on hardwood floors if ever needed.

Ed can make them out of brass if you prefer, but the stainless steel ones are the way to go.

What I would suggest is that you measure from the center of the hole where the spikes go out to about 1/8" or 1/4" shy of the edge of the speaker. Mine are 1/4". Then, just decide how tall you want them.

Ed is one of the regulars at the stereo shop here in town and you can place an order through them. My custom spikes are pretty big, though not the biggest he's made for some of the systems I've seen. My spikes were $60 each - again, stainless steel. Ed puts a very sharp point on them, so there is no issue with them penetrating carpet.

Please send me an email if you would like me to help with this, and I can take a picture of my spikes and email them to anyone interested.

And on the question of whether to spike or not, I prefer the tightened bass I get with my speakers spiked.

JBS

Raks,

My carpet and pad is also over 2" thick and that's why I the stock couplers didn't work for me. The Sound O City outriggers are easy to use and are adjustable for tilt and level. In fact, I had been listening to my Ascendants way below the axis so I bought a cheap laser and placed on top of the speaker and measured the distance from the tweeter to the bottom of the leveler which I believed was 4". I leveled both speakers and took my laser and placed tape at the level position. My listening height is 40" and the Tweeter distance from the floor is 35" so I just tilted the speakers back until I have reached 4" above my original level where I placed tape.

This made a substantial difference in midrange coherence, treble extension and overall soundstage/imaging.

My speakers are extremely rigid on these outriggers with no chance of accidentily knocking over...

Wig:

Thanks for your advice. How did you attach your outriggers… with the threaded mounting inserts… or straight in with heavy duty wood screws? I’ve never been a big fan of the mounting inserts. Also your System pictures show you made a perfect choice on the length of your outriggers. What size did you get?

Thanks

Raks,

Sorry for the tardy reply. My outriggers are 14 1/2" long and 1 1/2 " wide and I believe my spikes are 1 1/2 " long.

I tape the holes a little smaller than the insert and screwed them in without glue.