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Speaker spikes, pads etc. couple or de-couple your speakers
- Thread starter Snarfie
- Start date
digicidal
Major Contributor
Seems like my gut was pretty accurate - i.e. if it's sitting on a poorly coupled shelf in an empty, non-braced entertainment center with brass hardware... decoupling provides some nominal insurance against additional resonances... while doing exactly nothing in regards to the speaker enclosure itself. On the other hand with floor-standers out in the room, spikes don't cause enough harm to justify an exotic seismic solution which likely costs more than my speakers themselves - while somewhat preventing accidental damage. Although I should probably make/buy some cheap outriggers for more stability in that regard.
Also don't listen to music while experiencing an R4+ earthquake... wait until it finishes.
Also don't listen to music while experiencing an R4+ earthquake... wait until it finishes.
Yes, just cones without any idea of how to get a good coupling with the speaker cabinet is just snake oil. It is similar to grounding in electronics. Which by the way is another area where snake oil flows in abundance.
Seems like my gut was pretty accurate - i.e. if it's sitting on a poorly coupled shelf in an empty, non-braced entertainment center with brass hardware... decoupling provides some nominal insurance against additional resonances... while doing exactly nothing in regards to the speaker enclosure itself. On the other hand with floor-standers out in the room, spikes don't cause enough harm to justify an exotic seismic solution which likely costs more than my speakers themselves - while somewhat preventing accidental damage. Although I should probably make/buy some cheap outriggers for more stability in that regard.
Also don't listen to music while experiencing an R4+ earthquake... wait until it finishes.
As I mentioned previously, the same principles will apply also for floor-standers. What soft feet do is to lower the fundamental resonant frequency below the lowest output of the speaker, while with spikes it will be somewhere in the bass region. Above the resonant frequency the speaker will be "free-floating". Enclosures themselves also have vibration but if this is audible the enclosure suffers from poor bracing or damping. I use constrained layer damping in my speakers (2x9 mm MDF+DGA2 glue).
digicidal
Major Contributor
Well my problem stems from the speakers being tall, narrow, and slightly top heavy - but with tiny little feet. So on my thickly padded carpeting, they aren't stable without spikes - so they're a structural solution without a significantly deleterious effect on the sound. That's why I'm considering better outriggers. Then they wouldn't be nearly as "tippy" in my room and I could just use them without spiking.
Sure, I have no problem with solutions that minimize risks for knocking the speaker over. One could imagne to bolt a heavy marble slab as a base under the speaker. Then you would probably not need spikes, just resting directly on the carpet.
digicidal
Major Contributor
I might try that... of course, that will make it even harder to move around when I actually want to. It would make them less likely to tip over however. If I was more equipped tool-wise, I'd make some very heavy outriggers with locking casters... best of both worlds.
eliash
Senior Member
Similar issues here, spiking seems to be a strange thing, I can see no diodes or whatever directional behaviour with them (and if, it would be disastrous on non-linear distortions from my perspective). The only thing I noticed is that there needs to be enough pressure on all spikes to keep them calm (screeching noises, if unbalanced or overloaded, in particular with small coin size pads), when an instable setup with 4 spikes is concerned. That´s why I use ground-attached soft copper shims to balance them. From my perspective, they are not working push-pull, but only push...a problem with narrow stand tower speakers, when accelerated by even decent drive levels. Any true push-pull attachment to a solid base appears better in such case.
I am not questioning tower speaker designs here, they are really advantageous in limited size environments and provide proper tweeter and midrange listening height, but their whole stand issue appears unsolved or unclear to me...
Fantastic idea!
eliash
Senior Member
Fantastic idea!
When trying to get rid of the before mentioned midrangange/higher frequency distortions I also probed of course putting some weight on the enclosure. When listening with decent levels, a heavy metal door stopper with rubber layer on the bottom very slowly moved to the rear edge of the top of the enclosure during listening for an album length of time. Btw., it relieved the distortions a bit, starting point for the shown mods...anyway, they solved the distortion issue for my perception to a degree that I made peace with this setup and enjoy what the speakers are made for...the glass of water test is of course a nice experiment to carry out - I will try later (when the neighbours are awake...)
I see where you're coming from as that would be the absolute ultimate in isolation as the speaker would literally be floating in the air.
But...
You would then need some sort of bracing to hold the speaker in place as the magnets would be continually opposing/repelling each other which in itself would cause stability issues.
Also, if a speaker is floating freely in the air, the movement of the drivers would cause the cabinet to move as the drivers are physically attatched to the cabinet.
Every action has an equal and opposite reaction.
The cabinet MUST be secured in some way for it to work.
Imagine a speaker floating in a weightless environment and you start playing music through it, it would be rotating on its axis like crazy with the sound pressure waves coming from the driver and the air being emitted through the reflex port.....
Of course, if it was a weightless environment like space for example where there is no atmosphere, the the drivers won't play as there is no air to create the pressure in the first place.....
God that's a rabbit hole I didn't think I would be going down this morning...
Just my thoughts on that...
eliash
Senior Member
Never tried one, but their physical behaviour may be comparable to springs. Both don´t seem to be as common as elastic matter with higher velocity damping characteristics...
Yes they will be similar to springs. There are solutions with magnets in tonearm anti-skating mechanisms for example. But I don't see why magnets need to be used; a soft support will do well.
I see where you're coming from as that would be the absolute ultimate in isolation as the speaker would literally be floating in the air.
But...
You would then need some sort of bracing to hold the speaker in place as the magnets would be continually opposing/repelling each other which in itself would cause stability issues.
Also, if a speaker is floating freely in the air, the movement of the drivers would cause the cabinet to move as the drivers are physically attatched to the cabinet.
Every action has an equal and opposite reaction.
The cabinet MUST be secured in some way for it to work.
Imagine a speaker floating in a weightless environment and you start playing music through it, it would be rotating on its axis like crazy with the sound pressure waves coming from the driver and the air being emitted through the reflex port.....
Of course, if it was a weightless environment like space for example where there is no atmosphere, the the drivers won't play as there is no air to create the pressure in the first place.....
God that's a rabbit hole I didn't think I would be going down this morning...
Just my thoughts on that...
Well, if the cabinet is free floating the mass of the cabinet will be well enough to counteract the drivers action. The movement will be in the order of 1000x lower if the driver:cabinet mass is 1:1000. This will be insignificant to affect SQ. If as mentioned previously, the cabinet is attached with "hard" coupling to a floor, you will add a spring that resonates that will be somewhere in the bass region. During resonance the movement of the cabinet will be higher or much higher than the free floating case.Depends on the Q etc. If you put a soft speaker foot, you can lower this resonance to below 10 Hz and you will have no problems with the driver exciting this resonance. You will have a "free floating case".
As demonstrated in my example above, hard coupling may also lead to vibration transfer and excite the surface what it stands on and other objects nearby. Using soft feet will ensure that this does not happen.
maxxevv
Major Contributor
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I see where you're coming from as that would be the absolute ultimate in isolation as the speaker would literally be floating in the air.
But...
You would then need some sort of bracing to hold the speaker in place as the magnets would be continually opposing/repelling each other which in itself would cause stability issues.
Also, if a speaker is floating freely in the air, the movement of the drivers would cause the cabinet to move as the drivers are physically attatched to the cabinet.
Every action has an equal and opposite reaction.
The cabinet MUST be secured in some way for it to work.
Imagine a speaker floating in a weightless environment and you start playing music through it, it would be rotating on its axis like crazy with the sound pressure waves coming from the driver and the air being emitted through the reflex port.....
Of course, if it was a weightless environment like space for example where there is no atmosphere, the the drivers won't play as there is no air to create the pressure in the first place.....
God that's a rabbit hole I didn't think I would be going down this morning...
Just my thoughts on that...
From a physics standpoint, using magnetic floaters, its possible to isolate the vibration transmission to just 1 plane of motion.
From what I have seen of floaters, they are usually encased in cylinder sliders, thus when loaded, the only physical continuous contact between the ground and the speakers / casing is the vertical side sliders lining the cylindrical encasement. Thus any physical force transmission is restricted to only the horizontal plane.
They are not quite the same as springs as springs do provide a physical vertical path of transmission for vibration / force to the ground if these vibrations are small enough in magnitude not to deform the springs any further than their deformed state.
That's just my understanding based on physics. How well that works in reality is not something I have tried, hence my question here.
Exactly.
They must be secured in some way in order to stay stable. The cylinder you mention is the method of securing.
Placing anything on magnets will make it inherently unstable.
The Maglev train works the same way, without the "hooks" at either side underneath, it would just float off its track.
I personally think its a great idea if you can solve the stability aspect.
Isn't the problem with magnetic suspension that it doesn't dissipate the energy in any way as there is no friction?
True but that's what the bass reflex port is for.. The heat and air that flows out of mine is crazy...
True but that's what the bass reflex port is for.. The heat and air that flows out of mine is crazy...
Sure
, but I was thinking of the vibrational energy of the enclosure. Frictionless springs are not a good idea in that kind of application, as it takes very long for any resonating vibrations to die down.
