Speakers moving with the floor. Is it okay ?

[SHDK]

There will be no harm, meaning no damage will happen. To make them move less during play, soft feet should be used. But then it is more risk of knocking them over.

As far as I can tell. There is no moving while playing at all(unless you walk by and stomp on the floor)

 

[Thomas_A]

As far as I can tell. There is no moving while playing at all(unless you walk by and stomp on the floor)

There will always be movement of the speakers during play, more so if there are resonances in the speaker-floor interface. But your main worries seem to be footfalls and walking around, with the risk knocking it over.

 

[SHDK]

There will always be movement of the speakers during play, more so if there are resonances in the speaker-floor interface. But your main worries seem to be footfalls and walking around, with the risk knocking it over.

Im not worried about the speaker being knocked over. Its more if years of movement from the flexing floor can cause damage to the speakers.

 

[Thomas_A]

Im not worried about the speaker being knocked over. Its more if years of movement from the flexing floor can cause damage to the speakers.

Nope no damage will be done.

 

[MarkS]

Sounds good. But just out of curiosity, what makes you so sure ?

First, because as @antcollinet noted above, the woofer motion is already exerting far greater force on the speaker cabinet.

Second, because speakers get shipped and are subject to far greater forces in shipping. They are packaged for shipping to prevent damage from sudden drops and hard bangs, but still are subject to much greater forces than your floor is capable of.

If your floor motion could damage the speaker, it would never have made it to your home intact in the first place.

 

[mlankton]

 

[sceptical1]

The people in the downstairs apartment may have something to say about that.

 

[mlankton]

The people in the downstairs apartment may have something to say about that.

lol no one in an apartment would should have floorstanders

 

[SHDK]

First, because as @antcollinet noted above, the woofer motion is already exerting far greater force on the speaker cabinet.

Second, because speakers get shipped and are subject to far greater forces in shipping. They are packaged for shipping to prevent damage from sudden drops and hard bangs, but still are subject to much greater forces than your floor is capable of.

If your floor motion could damage the speaker, it would never have made it to your home intact in the first place.

Makes sense. Thanks

 

[SHDK]

lol no one in an apartment would should have floorstanders

Luckily. That ain't a problem but it is actually pretty rare I play loud.

 

[JSmith]

flexing floor can cause damage to the speakers

As other have said, movement won't damage anything and you say they don't seem prone to falling over from the floor movement.

However, you might want to look at something like the below that will increase the depth and width of the speaker base, making them more stable and possibly assisting to absorb some of the movement from the floor;

https://www.amazon.com/Subwoofer-Isolation-Platform-Stabilizer-Standard/dp/B0BRB7FKQL/

... then again centre of gravity will be higher though.


JSmith

 

[respice finem]

As other have said, movement won't damage anything and you say they don't seem prone to falling over from the floor movement.

However, you might want to look at something like the below that will increase the depth and width of the speaker base, making them more stable and possibly assisting to absorb some of the movement from the floor;

https://www.amazon.com/Subwoofer-Isolation-Platform-Stabilizer-Standard/dp/B0BRB7FKQL/

... then again centre of gravity will be higher though.


JSmith

Captain Obvious: if the floor is instable, fix the floor. Sometimes it's just a relatively minor repair (at least with the old massive hardwood floors).

 

[antcollinet]

Captain Obvious: if the floor is instable, fix the floor. Sometimes it's just a relatively minor repair (at least with the old massive hardwood floors).

Seems quite a drastic action to take though if it is only to stop a speaker rocking a mere 5mm at the top.

 

[respice finem]

Seems quite a drastic action to take though if it is only to stop a speaker rocking a mere 5mm at the top.

But effective. And, sooner or later it must be done anyway, so potentially more cost effective than "curing syphilis with baby powder" (Polish saying).
Sometimes feasible as DIY, at almost zero cost. Wood floors are not quantum computers

 

[SHDK]

No doubt the solution is to properly stabilise the floor. But the thing is that we just moved in. And sooner or later. New floor will be out in. The money is just not there right now. Neither is the time to empty the living room again to do it.

 

[SHDK]

As other have said, movement won't damage anything and you say they don't seem prone to falling over from the floor movement.

However, you might want to look at something like the below that will increase the depth and width of the speaker base, making them more stable and possibly assisting to absorb some of the movement from the floor;

https://www.amazon.com/Subwoofer-Isolation-Platform-Stabilizer-Standard/dp/B0BRB7FKQL/

... then again centre of gravity will be higher though.


JSmith

Those could be a solution. It would take some convincing with the wife though. And the feet in my focals are already pretty wide already.

But seems like a good bid.

 

[Pareto Pragmatic]

There is no safety issue. Not short or long term. If there was, my 100 year old floor would have done some damage to my speakers by now.

There is likely a sound issue. Drivers will go into and out of alignment between speakers at the resonant frequency of the floor, for one factor.

Sound is also coming out of the floor, with a delay. That might, or might not, be audible.

In my experience, with pretty much a worse case situation, the problem with movement in floors shows up as phase issues in measurements.

 

[SHDK]

There is no safety issue. Not short or long term. If there was, my 100 year old floor would have done some damage to my speakers by now.

There is likely a sound issue. Drivers will go into and out of alignment between speakers at the resonant frequency of the floor, for one factor.

Sound is also coming out of the floor, with a delay. That might, or might not, be audible.

In my experience, with pretty much a worse case situation, the problem with movement in floors shows up as phase issues in measurements.

I haven't experienced any sound issues because off the soft floor. The movement was what bothered me the most.

Maybe I will notice a difference the day I get the floor fixed. But I rarely play very loud.

 

[AnalogSteph]

I hope you are not a vinyl enthusiast - otherwise a stable wall-mounted shelf for the turntable would be in order to keep feedback at bay. An unstable floor like that would be prone to (sub)bass resonances, so I would want to decouple the speakers by all means possible... get some thick concrete slabs (or stack multiple as needed) or the like as a solid base for your speakers, and place on halved tennis balls or similar (as many as needed to not squish them overly much). You can obviously get fancy with polished granite or even marble if you insist, or perhaps polished concrete as a compromise.

 

[Vladimir Filevski]

The floor will flex a bit. Causing the speaker to move a bit. Maybe 3-5 mm at the top of the speaker.

The speaker is not rocking. Simply following the movement of the floor. But my worry is. Will the movement harm my speaker. Or can i assume the Cabinet is stiff enough to handle the movement caused be the flexing floor?

No harm at all. Just put some Blu Tack beneath cabinets to stop "dancing".