Speaker footers – Ugh



I’m exhausted in my search for the truth. I have a pair of Rega’s R7 floor standing speakers (about 40” tall) and feel that I can improve their sound by changing out the 4 stock spikes each speaker came with.

I’ve read where spikes can be a “bad thing” by exacerbating vibration within the speaker. Mapleshade has a philosophy that vibration needs to be drained from speakers. They sell heavy brass footers (3” tall, 3” diameter) that are supposed to accomplish that. However, they cost a few bucks and cosmetically are not exactly what I’m looking for.

I’ve spent hours trying to identify footers that will make a difference and am at the point of exhaustion. I could research more, but feel I’ll get no closer to the truth of what would be a good solution. I encourage anyone who has had a good experience with replacement footers for a floor stander (like the R7’s) to share.

Thank you.
rbschauman
I use, first, a two inch thick cutting board from Home Depot, which is spiked with carpet piercing spikes,
to a concrete floor, then, my speakers rest on a combination
of DH Labs ceramic cones, one large one in the front, and
one small one at each corner in the rear. I like the sound of ceramic.
Thanks Gentlemen,

I should have noted that my Rega R7’s are on a hardwood floor.

Rhljazz – You raise a point that I have pondered: wouldn’t the manufacturer provide a pretty good solution to begin with? They show their stuff without swapping out various parts at a most important time; the time when their trying to make a sale. However, I’ve seen so much put forth about “improvement to be had” by tweak manufacturers that I’m left exhausted but curious…
I have used a variety of footers under speakers. The ones I got the best results from were Outriggers and the various Black Diamond Racing cones/pits.

Unfortunately, there is only so much that can be learned from reading about these kinds of products, since their effects on the sound are very system/room dependent. So, experimentation is the only real way to know. Good luck.
I had cut 1" granite slabs for my floor standers over a hardwood floor..much better results than the mapleshade platforms which I then sold,much cheaper as well.