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Spikes between speakers & stands, up or down?

Okay so I am curious, I might try a set of spikes between a speaker and stand for a friend of mine. We are looking to replace the rubber stopper type pads to see how it sounds.

Coupling - Decoupling?

So I have seen both orientations of spikes, with them sticking "POINT UP" into the bottom of the speaker, which means installing the spike into the stand top plate, yes easier and less modification to messing with the speaker bottom.

Or "Point Down" which I assume is to drain the energy from the speaker down into the stand…

The bottom of the stands also already have nice solid brass spikes pointing into the floor of course, but I have just seen them again done both ways for the Stand to speaker but never reversed to the floor.

Another option which honestly might be the best is to try something that is NOT a spike device but rather a hard material of a metal flat foot or like Brass puck between the stand and speaker to transfer the energy vs. damping it and maybe loosing some resolution with the current Rubber pads?

Just looking for experience and what is suggested.. I think we rather stay away from spikes just due to the damage to the "spiked surface" and also due to drilling one or the other out to install them..

Also I have some Myrtle wood blocks which might even be a better Idea to give a shot? Keep it in the wood family and maybe get a solid energy transfer to the floor thru the stand that way?

Or maybe taking away the rubber will cause worse results who knows without experimentation right? I would assume the rubber is acting as a De coupler and any other hard material would work more as a Coupler.. So which would be better I guess?

Just don't want to buy anything till' there is a clear concensus on which is the correct direction to go with this.

Thanks      
undertow
cytocycle
1,034 posts
 
Get some BluTack if this is for monitors on speaker stands. This will couple the speakers to the stand, fill the stand with sand and lead and make sure the stand is spiked to the floor.

http://www.blu-tack.co.uk/ available anywhere it's used to hold up posters on the wall.. Sounds like the "moongel" mentioned above also.

If you use spikes facing up from the stand to the bottom of the speaker, make sure to mass load the speaker with a bag of lead shot or sand.
jj2468
280 posts
 
I'm not good at physics, so feel free to tear down this hypothesis (only for speakers on stands).

For every action there is an opposite and equal reaction. So, when the speaker cone moves back and forth, some of its energy may get spent moving the speaker cabinet in addition to moving air.

Setting the speaker cabinet directly on a heavy stand couples it to the stand and thereby provides more mass to resist movement of the speaker cabinet. Spikes would seem to de-couple the cabinet from the heavy stand, thereby defeating the mass advantage of the heavy stand. So, spikes allow some energy that could go into moving air to go into moving the cabinet.

Also, sitting the speaker on spikes seems to encourage more movement of the speaker cabinet versus the speaker cone by reducing the drag or friction between the speaker and its stand.

It seems like one would want the speaker coupled to a heavy stand (either in direct contact or, if the stand top is slick, on something with a lot of friction such as rubber) and the stand on spikes. OK, fire away. Jeff
shadorne's avatar
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shadorne
7,333 posts
 
I'm with Jeff and Cytocycle, I prefer blu tak or rubber...so that less vibrations travel to the stand and floor...to me any vibration that is not coming from the speaker or through the air is unwanted. My exception is when you have thin-walled speakers (such as Harbeth) where the box itself is acting like a speaker cone and intended to add to the sound itself as the cabinet waffles like a wooden instrument - in this case, depending on the room/placement, it may help to allow the cabinet to "resonate" freely, as it is designed this way - so spikes may be better than damping material.
rhljazz
1,117 posts
 
Ji2468,I would say the coupling pressure (pounds per square inch) would be much greater at the tip of a point than on a flat metal/wood plate.
jj2468
280 posts
 
Rhljazz, excellent point. I wonder if seating the speaker spike in a concave bowl or cone would reduce or eliminate any loss of energy due to friction between the speaker cones and the stand surface (or vice versa). Jeff
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