Spikes versus wall coupling

With your speakers I'm afraid the mass would compress the felt so much that it would just become another mudium for transmission of vibrations. Cork could work and those dense rubber mats sold at Home Depot combined with some felt so you can push the speakers about could also work. Not necessarily elegant solutions but probably as good as most. IMHO most of the vibes from speakers that are really destructive are air borne.

Rushton Your point is well taken:)
But I looked at the prices on Walker - yikes! Any lower cost points that you like, perhaps mapleshade? I think that I will try both points and cork (or cork-pucks) and see what sounds best

There is a product which might serve your needs. They are called "Superspikes". It's a spike which fits on top of a flat disk. However, it's all integrated into a single unit. I don't know who manufactures them. However, you can see them at www.uhfmag.com Just link to "The Audiophile Store" when you get to their homepage.

The purpose of spikes is to decouple the speakers from the floor. The tiny point creates an impedence mismatch (mechanical, not electrical impedence) It makes it more difficult for sound waves to pass through to the floor and shake, rattle and roll the rest of the house.

If you couple a speaker to wall studs, the objective is the same as using a heavy equipment stand. You want to use the mass of the wall and attached structure to absorb any vibrations from the component and disspipate gradually. It also works theother way. It absorbs and dissipates any vibrations in the environment from travelling into the component.

A properly designed point or spike will provide a geometric path way for resonant energy to exit thru the point and into the larger mass it is direct coupled with. There are discs on the market which when placed under the coupling point increase the surface area of the point and provide surface protection of wooden materials. Your wooden floor is much more massive than your speaker so you should direct couple your Polks. The force generated by the massive radiator will only modulate the cabinet over and over again unless the speaker is properly grounded or coupled to the floor..Tom

Thanks you all for your input. I get the impression that it has never been fully settled whether it is better to isolate or couple speakers. Am I correct that here are two schools of thought? Is the same true for components (some folks isolate and some couple :)