should speakers be coupled or decoupled?

Markphd, I admire your immense patience. Of course spikes are the correct way to 'de-couple' speakers from the floor upon which they sit and I have answered many posts about placing squash balls beneath and timber platforms etc until I now just ignore the posts which continue to pop up every 2 months or so.
Your explanation of Newton's laws which explain why is again patiently put and your philosophical example of the earth being flat is a very good one.
I'm somewhat surprised at Stanwal who in the past has seemed to contribute intelligently to these discussions. Oh well, now I know. Thank you once again Markphd but, as you will quickly learn, the geese will continue to reinvent physics on every occasion in the belief that this is a 'subjective' hobby and not bound by the precepts of science.

I can claim to have some knowledge of the working of science, I did my PhD research in it's history. I reiterate that what you are describing is not science. Quoting theory will not tell you in advance how something will sound, just how it MAY sound. If our ears are not the final arbiter of sound what is? In the old days there were stories of those who never actually listened to their systems, just watched them on oscilloscopes . Maybe the stories were true. As to cones, they COUPLE components, not DECOUPLE them. The makers of the ones I use, and sell, are very specific on this point and it should be obvious with a little thought. The purpose of the cone is to transfer vibrations as rapidly as possible [ ground, as they put it] to the floor. Decoupling the components involves PREVENTING the transfer of vibrations between the component and what it is resting on. How do you think a cone does this? See Star Sound site for their discussion. Decoupling is a totally different approach; Its leading exponent is probably Barry Diament, a prominent recording engineer, he has a web site. I have debated him on this point in the past. He also can produce elegant theory as to why his approach is better. As I really believe in science I am just at the point of ordering some FIM isolators which use the principals he espouses. I intend to see for myself which sounds better. I think I am right but I would like to know for sure. That, my friends, is science, all else is hand waving.

The technical description of the Star Sound approach can be found here. http://www.starsoundtechnologies.com/coulomb.html

Interesting responses. Thank you very much. Mark, I particularly appreciate the time you took to explain the physics/mechanics of this situation.