Hi-fi speaker stands - to spike or not to spike

[Redlight]

I was given a pair of Epos speaker stands which have (removable) spikes.  I had always assumed that these were designed to stop stands from "floating" if placed on carpet, but I am no hi-fi buff so may be completely wrong. 

As I'm using them  in a room with a solid wooden floor, should I leave the spikes in situ or remove them so that the base of the stand sits directly on the floor?  Or does it not matter either way?

[trekker12]

I believe they are for use on carpet for the reason you describe.

We have hard wood floors and found the spikes dug holes into the boards. We have since removed the spikes and have not found any issues with them floating.

[Sea of vapours]

They're there to isolate the speakers from the mass of the floor, to decouple them. On a wooden floor, for example, a speaker sitting directly on the floor will cause it to resonate to some degree (same with any floor material, but more obvious on a suspended, wooden floor). You can hear the difference pretty clearly with and without spikes. The question is which you prefer, sound-wise, since some people prefer the non-spiked sound. The function of avoiding the speaker 'walking' on carpet is secondary, which isn't to say it's not useful if that's a problem.

[psyclist]

Spike shoes ... little discs with an indent in the middle for the spike to sit in, protecting the wooden floor beneath. I did a quick search and some versions seem to be quite expensive. I can't remember paying too much for mine, and they have served me well for many years.

[Brucey]

the purpose of spikes is widely misunderstood, and is in fact exactly the opposite to what most people assume.

 Spikes are meant to couple the speaker stand to the floor, so that (in stark contrast to a wobbly or perfectly elastic mounting) both  it and the speaker cabinet are less likely to flap about in antiphase to the speaker diaphragm, which will colour and distort the sound.

 [BTW vs (say) being sat on carpet, spikes have measurably reduced the vibrations in a speaker stand by a factor of 100].

However (esp on a suspended floor) you may also excite the floor, too, once it is coupled thus.  So this again may distort the sound.

Usually the bass is noticeably different (usually better) when you have spikes into the floor.

A similar consideration applies to the mounting between the speaker stands and the speaker cabinets.

In all instances if the load is not evenly spread between four feet (e.g. because the surfaces are not perfectly flat) the speaker/speaker stand  can wobble slightly and this will distort the sound.

Rubber mountings of any kind work in a different way; they more easily allow all four feet to share the load. If they have the right properties, they do also decouple the speaker from the speaker stand, the speaker stand from the floor etc. The idea here is that the unwanted antiphase vibrations are moderated by the damping qualities of the rubber; here the devil is in the detail, so not all such mountings work in the same way or as well as one another.

Probably the best way of stopping the antiphase vibrations at source is to make the speaker cabinet as massive as possible; this instantly reduces the capacity for the 'tail to wag the dog'. If you can do it, simply bolting a 1/2" slab of steel to the bottom of each speaker will help, (ideally with an intermediate layer of rubber so that the steel plate cannot 'ring' and colour the sound).

A reasonably well-informed piece to read is this one;
http://www.audioholics.com/loudspeaker-design/speaker-spikes-and-cones-2013-what2019s-the-point

BTW a simple axiom to follow is this; if you can't hear the difference, it probably doesn't matter.

cheers

[Kim]

Phew, that makes sense.  The thread was in peril of turning into audiophile woo.

[caerau]

I just bought a set of floorstanders recently that were conveniently packaged with little rubber pads to stick the spikes into in case of wooden or laminate floor.


Since when did they get so considerate?  Not complaining!

[Jaded]

Phew, that makes sense.  The thread was in peril of turning into audiophile woo.

It is time for those cables...?

[trekker12]

BTW a simple axiom to follow is this; if you can't hear the difference, it probably doesn't matter.

That's the one I follow

[rafletcher]

BTW a simple axiom to follow is this; if you can't hear the difference, it probably doesn't matter.

^This. Though I would argue it's if you can't measure a difference, the human psyche being as suggestible as it is.

[Tim Hall]

Phew, that makes sense.  The thread was in peril of turning into audiophile woo.

It is time for those cables...?

Much better than Those Cables, I read an account t'other day, possibly by following a link on here, of a bloke gutting his capacitors and enclosing them in wooden cases, after encapsulating them in bees wax.

[Valiant]

If you have hardwood floors I find pennies work very well. I always seem to loose the locators.