Coupling or isolating floorstan. to the floor?

awdeeofyle: ya got me how the aurio's work (or even IF they work). I'm actually a skeptic of many of the tweaks on the market, including most isolation devices. Of course, I can respect someone's differing opinion. Having said that, I certainly do believe in SPIKING speakers for the reasons said. I can also imagine a theory as to how the Aurio's work although I cannot believe they work as well as spikes, particularly when efficiency is at issue.

Here's my theory: when speakers are flush on the floor, the cabinets move slightly in reaction to the cones moving. If the friction coefficient is not exactly the same for each speaker, each speaker will be affected slightly differently, causing a slight phase shift. Because the Aurio's are ultra low friction, and because they are machined with such low tolerances, any two speakers are more likely to vibrate in phase with eachother. How's that?

With the speakers on top of the Vibrapods, instead of the speakers moving in reaction to the cones, that energy is transfered to the Vibrapods which then dissipate that energy.

How's this for a theory on why bearings might work? Speaker cabinets flex, which is a bad thing. A cabinet might flex more if speaker excursions make it want to move but one of its surfaces is tied down than if the whole speaker is floating and free to move as a whole. In the latter case, you may be trading some inefficient movement of the speaker for lower cabinet distortion.

That is strictly for-fun armchair theorizing, but I think it's probably worth as much as all the other generalizations of why spikes, cones, V-pods, bladders, etc. work that I've heard. I think there are complex tradeoffs involved no matter what method you try, so you just have to see what works with your particular piece of equipment. Trying to decide which theory to believe in just ignores the reality of numerous interacting factors, and therefore doesn't seem productive -- that's the only conclusion I've been able to arrive at. I myself haven't tried bearings but would be happy to when time and $ allow.

Stuff the theory. Having tried spikes, cones, roller-bearings, Vibrapods extensively, the best answer IMO is to use brass spikes. With a hard floor you can use brass cups under the spikes. Steel spikes into brass cups is OK.

There have been times when I have thought Vibrapods were potentially beneficial, but eventually concluded that they were unmusical over a period of time, and usually created a narrow resonant peak depending on the weight of speaker and grade/no. of Vibrapod.

Vibrapods can sound beneficial if your system is otherwise tending to the harsh and shrill. Roller bearings can sound beneficial if your system is sounding muddy.

Just my experience and my ears.