Speaker Feet for Newbies

[Arsonistic]

I'm fairly new to the Hi-Fi audio world and I'm curious if there's any good info on what to look for in speaker feet.
I'm guessing they don't make a large difference as long as your stuff isn't reverberating from the vibrations, but I figured I'd ask just in case.

 

[Chrispy]

What surface are your speakers on? Bare wood? Tile? Carpeted? Any feet provided with them?

ps Probably not an issue.

 

[beefkabob]

I got the SVS soundpath feet for my sub. I think they reduced the wood floor's vibration. I also got Isolate It sorbothan feet for the speakers and equipment. Does it help? I dunno. I figure if I'm going to have the electronics sitting on top of the sub, they need a little protection.

 

[Arsonistic]

What surface are your speakers on? Any feet provided with them?

Standard colored wood(-ish?) ikea desk.
Speakers(Yamaha HS5) did not come with feet.

 

[Berwhale]

Have a read of this... https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...s-etc-couple-or-de-couple-your-speakers.8636/

I removed the spikes from my own speaker and replaced with adjustable feet and foam pads. There's some pictures on this thread... https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...-or-not-to-couple-that-is-the-question.11796/

 

[Berwhale]

Standard colored wood(-ish?) ikea desk.
Speakers(Yamaha HS5) did not come with feet.

Are you using these near field? i.e. whist seated at the desk. If so, you should consider raising the speakers so that the tweaters are close to ear height. You can kill two birds with one stone (lift and isolate) by using stands similar to the Fluid Audio ones I use myself...

https://www.fluidaudio.com/products/desktop-stands/ds5.html

The DS5's come with a selection of isolating feet which allow you have the speakers level and at 6 and 12 degrees tilt.

My Tannoy monitors look like this on the stands...

 

[Prana Ferox]

For my little speakers I just use stick-on rubber feet from Amazon. That's really to keep the desk and speakers from scratching each other. Seconding that you want to get the speakers off the desk and as close to ear level as possible.

 

[Ron Texas]

Stands on thick carpet/pad probably have to be spiked or they are likely to tip over or move around excessively while playing.

 

[AudioEnthusiast]

Stands on thick carpet/pad probably have to be spiked or they are likely to tip over or move around excessively while playing.

Also could get accidentally pushed out of position when vacuuming the carpet or cleaning the room in general.

 

[Arsonistic]

Have a read of this...

Cheers. Had a fairly thorough read of the thread and the gist seems to be kind of what I expected: Feet and isolation doesn't matter much for well-constructed speakers. It's mainly for the practical benefit of making them stand securely.

Are you using these near field? i.e. whist seated at the desk. If so, you should consider raising the speakers so that the tweaters are close to ear height. You can kill two birds with one stone (lift and isolate) by using stands similar to the Fluid Audio [DS5] I use myself...

Yes, near-field.
That's not a bad-looking stand. And at about half the price of the IsoAcoustics stands, which seem quite overpriced at ~120$ for roughly the same size.
Their website is rather thick in snake-oil BS, but the product itself looks solid.
How stable are they?

 

[Berwhale]

How stable are they?

They seem stable, they've not fallen over yet!. The speakers are allowed some lateral movement, but I think this is by design.

 

[Arsonistic]

They seem stable, they've not fallen over yet!. The speakers are allowed some lateral movement, but I think this is by design.

How much movement are we talking here? Would you feel safe putting something on top of the speaker?

 

[Lavawood]

Try 3 or 4 m&m size balls of Blu Tack on each.

 

[Zek]

Would you feel safe putting something on top of the speaker?

Why would you do that?

 

[Berwhale]

How much movement are we talking here? Would you feel safe putting something on top of the speaker?

No, because I have them tilted up 3 degrees. But I wouldn't put anything on top of a speaker anyway.

 

[Arsonistic]

Why would you do that?

Cuz I'm craaaaaazy :3

The speakers are allowed some lateral movement, but I think this is by design.

Could you clarify what you mean by lateral movement? How much?

 

[Berwhale]

Could you clarify what you mean by lateral movement? How much?

If I grab the top plate of the stand, I can move it a few millimeters side to side with out the base plate moving. I cannot move the top plate back and forwards in the same way. The structure of the supporting legs is quite elaborate; so I am assuming that the lateral movement is by design (e.g. to improve isolation). Note that the speakers remain firmly planted on the stands even when I wobble them side to side.