General question about floors and speakers

[Barry_Sound]

A basic question, because I've heard contradictory things here.

What is generally the physically preferred floor to place speakers on? Is it rock-hard concrete that does not vibrate at all, or is it soft wooden floorboards that "swing" with the speakers and absorb any cabinet movement?

 

[ahofer]

A basic question, because I've heard contradictory things here.

What is generally the physically preferred floor to place speakers on? Is it rock-hard concrete that does not vibrate at all, or is it soft wooden floorboards that "swing" with the speakers and absorb any cabinet movement?

And after that, couple or isolate? I’ve heard contradictory things here as well, although I don’t spend a lot of time worrying about it.

 

[Barry_Sound]

And after that, couple or isolate? I’ve heard contradictory things here as well, although I don’t spend a lot of time worrying about it.

Lets say brand new speakers out of the box, you dont have any spikes or feet. What floor is better?

 

[ahofer]

So here’s my guess, before someone who has researched it chimes in: A loose coupling with a wooden floor could produce a rattle/resonance, so a carpet or pad might be worth investing in. A wooden floor could also resonate with certain frequencies, in which case isolation again would help, but only with any coupled resonance as opposed to sympathetic.

The rest - movement of the speaker/floor interfering with driver movement, etc., is probably not very important with anything but a super light speaker. Reducing floor bounce may be important, so rugs are good. As always, measurements will reveal a lot and point you in the direction of EQ or room treatment to get the frequency response to something satisfying.

As I said, I haven’t worried about this - I have rugs and take REW measurements and apply EQ. But we’ll see how the better-educated here react.

 

[Deleted member 21114]

Concrete. Changing any aspect of a well designed speaker randomly is almost certain to not improve it. I'm happy to be corrected, but I don't think any designers use wobbly floorboards to support their speakers during anechoic testing / a Klippel run. Will the change be audible? Maybe if the space under the floorboards resonates, rattles etc. The choice of position and shape of room will be far more important.

 

[Justdafactsmaam]

A basic question, because I've heard contradictory things here.

What is generally the physically preferred floor to place speakers on? Is it rock-hard concrete that does not vibrate at all, or is it soft wooden floorboards that "swing" with the speakers and absorb any cabinet movement?

Concrete does vibrate. It transmits a lot of vibrations pretty effectively. Boundaries that flex also act as diaphragmatic absorbers.

For my system decoupling the speakers from the wooden floor was essential because of the rattling of the floor and walls

 

[RayDunzl]

I've only had concrete slab floors, with speakers on spikes, except when I was a child listening to Dad's stuff.

A concrete slab on grade is inert in my experience of four locations.

A suspended concrete floor might vibrate. No expreience with that.

Audio Buddy has wood floors with air space underneath. He's never mentioned a problem, and I don't notice any either.

 

[Purité Audio]

Almost certainly won’t be any difference, if we are discussing a competently designed loudspeaker.
Keith

 

[Mart68]

12 different rooms every possible construction configuration except maybe a tent.

IME concrete is better. But add carpets. Lots of them.

 

[Justdafactsmaam]

Almost certainly won’t be any difference, if we are discussing a competently designed loudspeaker.
Keith

There will certainly be a difference between a suspended wood floor and a concrete slab. Has nothing to do with the competence of the speaker design. You energize a room with bass the rigidity of all the room boundaries has a substantial impact.

 

[Barry_Sound]

For my system decoupling the speakers from the wooden floor was essential because of the rattling of the floor and walls

All right, what did you do if I may ask?

 

[daftcombo]

The best must be to put the speakers in a field full of mud, like they do in rave parties.

 

[AudioJester]

Some speakers are designed to couple with the floor to extend bass output - like my lx521. I lose about 10Hz bass extension if I place on an isolation platform rather than direct floor placement.

 

[Purité Audio]

Concrete does vibrate. It transmits a lot of vibrations pretty effectively. Boundaries that flex also act as diaphragmatic absorbers.

For my system decoupling the speakers from the wooden floor was essential because of the rattling of the floor and walls

So there has to be enough vibration transmitted to create an audible resonance…in a concrete floor?
Secondly even you effectively decouple the structural borne transmission there is still the airborne transmission.
Keith

 

[Purité Audio]

Some speakers are designed to couple with the floor to extend bass output - like my lx521. I lose about 10Hz bass extension if I place on an isolation platform rather than direct floor placement.

Explain the mechanism?
Keith

 

[AudioJester]

Explain the mechanism?
Keith

I dont think i can do the explanation justice. It was explained/described by S Linkwitz on his website - you can look it up. Ground plane reinforcement

 

[izeek]

i have carpeted suspended wood floor. it used to resonate from bass. you could hear it in other rooms easily. it was on the muddy side.
i live in an apartment building and you could hear it thud down to the first floor at 60dbish. felt for my neighbors.
after several experiments, the final solution is my towers naked-footed on a paver with a horsestall mat between it and floor. my subs are on substands on a paver.
i have taken measurements but im dumb when it comes to interpretation.
i will say that this really did a great job decoupling the speakers from the floor.
now, id have to be up to 75db+ to hear it outside my door.
im very thrilled with the results.
i got the idea from a guy with granite plinths. i didn't feel like spending granite money. and they're heavy as.....
different materials, densities, and thicknesses make a difference.
for instance, i started with hardwood boards under the speakers. better, but after a couple of weeks, i realized the wood was adding a tone in. mdf was better but a titch dull.
stock feet sucked. svs feet worked well but i knew i could achieve more.
some cork and sorbothane pads i tried smeared the mids and bottom highs. rubber was dull, etc.
i intend to try a sandtray i saw that supposedly does similar. saw another guy with his entire kit in sandtrays. his stand was essentially a custom sandtray for each component.
and recently, someone mentioned mdf and laminated security glass.
so, i think decoupling is a good idea for folks with suspended wood floor.
just ymwv.

 

[Kal Rubinson]

Some speakers are designed to couple with the floor to extend bass output - like my lx521. I lose about 10Hz bass extension if I place on an isolation platform rather than direct floor placement.

Does that work with any kind of floor covering and structure?

 

[GXAlan]

I dont think i can do the explanation justice. It was explained/described by S Linkwitz on his website - you can look it up. Ground plane reinforcement

Does that work with any kind of floor covering and structure?

Ground plane reinforcement is the reflection of bass off the floor (like putting a subwoofer in a corner). While different materials may have slightly different characteristics, the geometry (flat floor) is what is essential.

The question about “coupling” is different because some people say that listening on the second floor of their home where the floor is plywood is different than listening on the ground or basement where it’s poured concrete.

 

[Deleted member 21114]

I dont think i can do the explanation justice. It was explained/described by S Linkwitz on his website - you can look it up. Ground plane reinforcement

That is dependent on proximity to the floor not actual contact, no?