Stillpoints Ultra SS vs spikes on concrete

Like the SS Ultras, have a set under my speakers, and they were a real improvement coming from spikes on a suspended wooden floor (with granite in between). That said, a good solid spike into concrete is a real solid (pun intended) solution. I'd be a lot less quick to assume that the Stillpoints would be an improvement under your circumstances (and, personally, I likely wouldn't have bothered had I concrete to spike to in the first place). At root, they provide a fundamentally different approach -- coupling and mass-loading v. isolation -- and which might work better in your particular setup may be unknowable absent some experimentation. If you're really itching to find out, try a set from an outfit with a lending or return policy (used The Cable Co for mine, ended up keeping them) and send'em back if they don't do it for you. The ultras are mighty spendy for a footer, makes good sense to try them out first if you can. If they can't convince you, consider yourself lucky and spike away with confidence and abandon. No?

Ultra a little better than cones/ risers. A very big dissapoimtment for me. Another mk2/SE marketing BS.

Spend $$$ on source.

A surprise for me...I have Vandersteen 5A's which have spikes designed for them...my speakers were on the spikes with brass floor protectors under the spikes. I moved into a new house with Travertine tile over congrete. Much to my surprise, on some frequencies, the whole speaker which is VERY heavy resonated uncontrolably...I could feel the speaker jumping up and down at these resonating frequencies. I fixed the problem after lots of experimentation by simply putting a bit of Gorilla tape under the floor protectors of the spikes and the speakers are sitting pretty. You never know what you bump into with this hobby.

I have been tempted by the Ultra's too. If you are looking to dissipate vibration as the Ultras are designed to do, you might try Herbie's Cone/Spike Decoupling Gliders under your spikes. $14.89 X 8 = $127.12, compared to about $1,800 for the Ultra's. Jim Smith of the book Get Better Sound likes them on wood and carpet over concrete.

After moving house a couple of years ago, I'm now in an (overall better sounding) upstairs room with hardwood floors and a good, solid sub-floor. I came from the basement with 6" fiberglass reinforced concrete floors (which offered excellent low frequency resolution and power).

I'm still working on a suitable footer for my speakers as the suspended floor tends to sink a lot of LF energy. The Herbie's decoupling gliders were absolutely awful for me (YMMV). Yes, they got rid of some vibrations, but they also left me with a tall 200+ lb speaker that wobbled worryingly, and a sound that could only be described as dead and uninvolving, like someone threw a heavy quilt over both speakers...Herbie makes some good products, but these just didn't work in my application. Currently, I'm back to the stock brass spikes on brass discs. There are other so-called 'decoupling' contenders, but none of them come cheap: The Wave Kinetics 2NS (around $1600 for the set) and the Track Audio spike kits (around $1250). I would welcome thoughts on either design.