PS audio explain how spike at bottom of the speaker works

[bodhi]

A few decades ago I was advised by a non-technical friend that it was to stop the cabs moving laterally and thereby nullifying the movement of the cones.

One would think that if the benefits would be clear, there wouldn't this many suggested reasons for why they work. Come to think of it, this applies to a few other questionable audiophile tweaks...

 

[Thomas_A]

Spikes or hard coupling are snake oil. They do not make the speakers more fixed due to speaker action-reaction forces.

Speaker enclosure vibrations - a few measurements with accelerometer

There are been quite a number of threads dealing with vibrations in speaker cabinets, both in relation to "speaker feet" and vibrations in enclosures themselves. I recently took out my ACH01 accelerometer to do some measurements, both speaker feet and enclosures. There was some initial...

www.audiosciencereview.com

 

[Purité Audio]

I remember a dealer colleague having a spike pierce his big toe through his shoe ( heavy speaker lift went wrong) I don’t think that is there primary purpose though.
Keith

 

[Galliardist]

I have a vague memory of a letter to Hi-Fi Answers magazine from a reader who moved into a system built flat somewhere in London, and could not get any bass out of a pair of large floorstanders that had previously provided more. After a couple of months, the missing bass was supposedly discovered five flats along - the speakers were effectively spiked to a beam that ran between the two, and the other end was vibrated via coupling. But the magazine staff described spikes as isolating in some later articles. We really should be able to learn from examples.

 

[DSJR]

Back in the 80's, everything told us by Linn was regarded as gospel! Isobariks definitely had a 'better' bass when spiked to the floor but simply jamming a cassette case between cabinet top and the wall behind wasn't enough - it seemed to sharpen the highs a little (near field listening) but did nothing for the bass, but getting the speaker solidly coupled to the floor seemed to improve everything from bass upwards (we listened to rock/new wave music exclusively then - Linn speakers were hopeless generally on acoustic and chamber works ). As a result, 'we' all screwed cross head screws into wooden floors to better anchor the spikes (we really did!) and it wasn't until years later than clients could afford nice solid flooring, on which case spike shoes became the norm (Linn's version was called the 'Skeet' from memory).

Since those times, I owned and sold speakers that were so heavy they didn't need spikes to stay still - you plonked 'em down and left them to crush any carpet pile under them - and other speakers with deliberate 'thin-wall' almost 'talking' boxes that spiking the stands made absolutely no difference whatsoever. I feel now that it's still not wise to have a speaker wobbling all over the place, but I'm certainly not anal about it any more and my Harbeths on custom 'lamp stands' sit on the carpet and not rigidly coupled at all (I did try once, absolutely no difference).

One chap with large Harbeths lives in a converted old house on the first floor I believe and has suspended wooden floors. He had to buy a set of not cheap fancy-foo 'isolators' to stop bass leaking to the flat/apartment below and these work very well for him (and the elderly neighbour).

So very belatedly as regards age of this thread, PLEASE don't close your minds to all this. SOME speakers do like to be set up so they don't wobble around (spikes or adjustable flat-bottomed 'cabinet' feet) and others just don't care at all (many ported types it seems). Common sense is the order of the day I feel these days and the excesses of my 1980's audio career are fading into the background now - thankfully

 

[Multicore]

Anyone know what actually was the original purpose of spikes?

It's a way of installing speakers/stands on a wood floor that's covered in carpet and perhaps underlay. It can be quite practical for that purpose.

 

[Multicore]

Back in the 80's, everything told us by Linn was regarded as gospel!

I know. It's amazing to think back on that. I talked about Linn's significance back then in our podcast episode on The Blue Nile's first album, A Walk Across The Rooftops. I mention the Linn Rekursiv, their move into computers, which had an interesting design but was doomed by Linn's typical arrogance.

 

[DSJR]

I love that Blue Nile album and was very privileged to hear three of the tracks (Tinseltown, Heatwave (I think) but it could have been 'Stay' now I think about it and Rags To Riches) played off the 30IPS 1/2" tape on an ATR102 straight into the preamp with no need for noise reduction. A few years later, I witnessed and did a full comparison (master - acetate - 12" single and LP) of Tinseltown and B side 'Regret,' this latter song absolutely tear jerking in its agony when played from the master and even a coloured LP12/Ittok/Troika didn't destroy that vibe playing the acetate (I've 'been' in that mood, so maybe it associates with the desolation one can feel in the music?)

...And of course, now I'm back in that frame of mind, it leads me on to this one which I've also 'been to so many times' - no need for a fancy foo stereo either for me here, as the vibe and lyrics of these songs is more than enough to bring it all back.

Oh crap, I'm back there again and all but howling with many tears in my eyes - things became happier, eventually... So sorry - normal service will be resumed as soon as possible...

 

[Spkrdctr]

As an official old codger around here, I can tell you that spikes back in the day many decades ago were initially made to stop transmitting the vibrations to the floor as the vibrating cement, wood or carpet floor had a terrible influence on the speakers sound. You guys haven't heard anything till you hear a 4 inch slab of cement playing your favorite tunes. I considered it snake oil and still do. Fairly old and super refined pure snake oil. It was only heard by people with ears that were more sensitive than an oscilloscope.

 

[Tangband]

Back in the 80's, everything told us by Linn was regarded as gospel! Isobariks definitely had a 'better' bass when spiked to the floor but simply jamming a cassette case between cabinet top and the wall behind wasn't enough - it seemed to sharpen the highs a little (near field listening) but did nothing for the bass, but getting the speaker solidly coupled to the floor seemed to improve everything from bass upwards (we listened to rock/new wave music exclusively then - Linn speakers were hopeless generally on acoustic and chamber works ). As a result, 'we' all screwed cross head screws into wooden floors to better anchor the spikes (we really did!) and it wasn't until years later than clients could afford nice solid flooring, on which case spike shoes became the norm (Linn's version was called the 'Skeet' from memory).

Since those times, I owned and sold speakers that were so heavy they didn't need spikes to stay still - you plonked 'em down and left them to crush any carpet pile under them - and other speakers with deliberate 'thin-wall' almost 'talking' boxes that spiking the stands made absolutely no difference whatsoever. I feel now that it's still not wise to have a speaker wobbling all over the place, but I'm certainly not anal about it any more and my Harbeths on custom 'lamp stands' sit on the carpet and not rigidly coupled at all (I did try once, absolutely no difference).

One chap with large Harbeths lives in a converted old house on the first floor I believe and has suspended wooden floors. He had to buy a set of not cheap fancy-foo 'isolators' to stop bass leaking to the flat/apartment below and these work very well for him (and the elderly neighbour).

So very belatedly as regards age of this thread, PLEASE don't close your minds to all this. SOME speakers do like to be set up so they don't wobble around (spikes or adjustable flat-bottomed 'cabinet' feet) and others just don't care at all (many ported types it seems). Common sense is the order of the day I feel these days and the excesses of my 1980's audio career are fading into the background now - thankfully

Those were the days.

Music is ordered frequencies in the time domain. Its also vibrations in the air .

With spikes or soft feets under the speaker you are moving resonances In different ways. Linn still uses spikes on all their speakers because it makes the perceived pitch of bass tunes slightly clearer to follow. Im not saying it works by lessen the vibrations , its quite the opposite infact. The 2 channel stereo system is a very flawed system and Linn approach to this is to allow certain colorations and vibrations If one can proove by listening that the pitch of each tone can be better defined.

This is not controversal at all.

Some people uses valve amplifiers, LP records or taperecorders because sometimes the perceived experience of music with this gear can be bigger, in certain cases and with some records.

 

[fpitas]

Hi folks,

PS audio Paul McGowan release the video explaining how spike at bottom of the speaker works.
Honest speaking, I don't buy it.
My living room has a solid concrete floor and how can a speaker shake the floor and been isolated when the spikes are used.
For me, the speaker shall stick firmly on the solid floor to avoid any vibration or cabinet sounding.
Does anyone use spike for tower speaker and find difference with/without spike?
@amirm , this is an interesting topic!!

Thanks for posting this. Now any suspicions I had that spikes were merely audiophile nonsense has been fully vindicated.

 

[Thomas_A]

Linn needed more foot tapping of customers, thereby spikes.

 

[DSJR]

Surely it's ALWAYS better to have the speaker cabinet as non-moving as possible rather than (in the UK) wobbling around on a carpet? I suppose these days with minimalist decor, bare or sparsely fitted rugs and basically a bathroom acoustic in many rooms, it doesn't matter Back then, it subjectively helped to tighten up the perceived image between the speakers and yes, the bass did seem somewhat clearer.

For those of us who had suspended floors on joists, the recommendation was to re-enforce the flooring where the speakers were placed. If a ground floor room, building up in the void to the floor-boards under the speakers helped some users. if the decor didn't mind, making an MDF 'island' each side screwed through to the joists was another option (my final dealer employment had a huge MDF slab across the dem room floor the speakers could sit on) and my favourite, done by a reviewer pal in the 80's, was to get a pair of concrete paving slabs, topped off with some decorative tiles and place the spiked speakers on these (Sonus Faber did a version of this with the dinky floor standing 'Grand Piano' models in the 90's).

So no, I can't totally dismiss this. It did no harm to the sound even if nice floors risked damage initially in the days before 'spike shoes.' My current speakers do seem immune from all this though and the four 1" oak legs sit flat on our carpet, but then a totally rigid enclosure was never ever part of the design with these.