Getting granite tomorrow.

Thanks for the responses all. Doug, indeed my experiments have proved that anything that allows the speaker to move in any plane results in exactly what you and Paul are hearing. Thus far, I've found that rigid spikes allow for the best sound in my application. The Track Audio spikes intrigue me as they are offered in both a coupling and decoupling version; from my reading it seems the decoupling version can be adjusted for various mass loads, and that the degree of compliance is minimal - still as you rightly point out, anything that allows the cabinet as opposed to the air to move is theoretically detrimental. Alas, support from beneath isn't an option since the room is over the garage. Perhaps I should be focusing on better coupling between the speaker cabinet, the spike and the floor. Back to the drawing board.

Adding to my info. above I believe it will depend on the design of your actual speaker for end results, not all being equal.

I set up my TT stand in way descibed by Audiogalore and it works for me. 24X18 X 1 1/4 granite, 1 inch of cork, 1 1/2 inch rubber, 2 pieces 3/4 thick of MDF with sorbethane pucks. Bass deep and tight. No glare from highs. Also of note I turned up the gain from 42 to 52 on phono preamp and ran Adcom preamp in passive. That was a big difference too on the Shure 97xe. Having an SAS stylist come in next week. The Benz L2 was no slouch and conveyed more musical detail but the Shure tracks better and is a very very musical cartridge. The Benz was humming more and more and finally I had enough. Couldnt afford to get a 1K cartridge so I got the Shure for the time being. Some other members wrote they had negative experiences with granite. Maybe it just didnt blend in with their systems or maybe they didnt use enough dampening. Mike

It is only recently that I have experienced good isolation from vibration. I have spent at least 25 years exploring isolation devices, using bladders, spikes, mass, wood, cork, springs, like pole magnets, multiple layer shelves, carbon, and even active phase reversing electronics. I have sought to directly couple speakers with spikes all the way to decoupling them with gel. Everything had some benefits and some liabilities. Most could be heard to make a difference. None of these continued to impress me for very long.

The one device that has continued to impress me is the StillPoints new Ultra Stainless Steels and Ultra Five isolation feet, not the old cone devices. Basically these devices change vertical motion into horizontal motion and heat. The key thing is that you don't have to be concerned with where you want to take it. I no longer have concern with footfalls when playing vinyl and have great clarity and realistic sound stage.

Had problems with my suspended floor in the living room where music listening is done (wood with joists over a basement with carpet over the wood sub-floor). The bass excited the turntable, tonearm, and cartridge. The components are in a good rack with Stillpoints and other such isolation aids under all components. After many false starts with various "fixes", what worked is to allow my speakers' feet (not spikes) to sit on thick ceramic floor tiles with Vibrapods beneath the tiles. I had originally spiked the speakers to the sub-floor both over where the joists are and in between,neither worked. Getting rid of the spikes was key.