spikes on the bottom of speakers?

skanky

Ex Member
Joined
Jun 25, 2004
Messages
32
Reaction score
0
Points
12
Age
44
ive a pair of wharfedale 8.3 diamond floorstanders and they come with 4 spikes to attach to the bottom, whats their purpose?

thanks.
 
They're to stop vibrations being transmitted through the floor. Ideally should be used on carpet, but if you've got a wooden floor you can put pennies underneath them to stop them from scratching the floor. Definitely fit them, they can make the bass a lot sharper.
 
They also make the speaker rigid. They do make a big difference.
 
Yes, the other end should screw into the bottom of the speaker
 
thanks, never knew what they were for :)

is it alright to put a plank of wood or something under the spikes as opposed to pennies? (i move stuff about a bit and dont want to forget the pennies are there and put dent in my wooden floor!)

edit: is the bass difference by putting the speakers on spikes that noticeable? i use a yamaha sw215/rx-v450.
 
thinking about it, there should be ones made for people who dont want to damage their wooden floors, should be flat at the end and have those rubber feet on them, or something :)
 
As long as the speakers do not rock or move, you will be fine. The more rigid they are, the better they sound
 
A plank of wook will be fine for them to bite into :)
 
skanky said:
thinking about it, there should be ones made for people who dont want to damage their wooden floors, should be flat at the end and have those rubber feet on them, or something :)
some mission spikes are reversable one end is pointed and the other end is rounded
 
damn shoulda brought mission ;) nah im happy with what i got.

how does putting the spikes on make 'the bass sharper'? also would it make any difference (to bass) if i had the speakers set to small with the subwoofer taking care of anything below 80hz?

fitting these spikes on diamond8.3's is like a mensa challenge! you have a spike, bolt, nut, and washer. fitting the spike+bolt+washer onto bottom of the plinth fits perfectly, but why have the bolt when the spike could be made to fit better?

but then does the nut+washer go between the speaker/plinth? but then the spike by itself screwed right in still shows some of the thread meaning its not in fully..
 
The bass sounds better as the driver will also try to firstly move the cabinet, the more stable or rigid the cabinet is the more the driver can move air. As bass drivers also cover the mid range, this also improves
 
Londondecca said:
the more stable or rigid the cabinet is the more the driver can move air

the stability of the actual cabinet itself or how stable the cabinet is on the floor? if that makes any sense!
 
Both, but in practice I mean how stable the cabinet is. It should feel rock solid.
 
It's about de-coupling the speaker cabinet from the floor to avoid energy transfer.

Ideally, the driver membrane should be the only part of the speaker that moves in order to create the fluctuations in air pressure waves that we perceive as sound.
Unfortunately the energy involved in this driver movement will also cause a certain amount of vibration in the cabinet itself. This will in turn be transferred to the floor.
Therefore a percentage of the energy that was intended to concentrate on moving the driver is ultimately lost/absorbed into the ground. This obviously effects bass frequencies more than high as more driver movement is required to produce the lower freqs.

Spikes simply reduce this effect and the 'tightening' up of the bass is a result of less energy being transferred from the speaker cabinet into the ground, therefore better control over the driver diaphragm.
 
I really can't recommend the use of mass-loading and cabinet isolation enough. The difference it can make to accoustic performance is incredible.

The best upgrade I made to my system was mass-loading the speakers with atabites and putting rubber-coated 10 kilo weights on top of them.

bbbbbaaaaaaaaaasssssssssssss

turned into

BASS

Total cost, about £60. OK it looks a bit ugly but my word, its worth it. :devil: :devil:

DT
 
Putting the extra mass inside the cabinet would not effect the visuals and would lower the centre of gravity greatly
 
Londondecca said:
Putting the extra mass inside the cabinet would not effect the visuals and would lower the centre of gravity greatly

True, but I found mass-loading alone didn't offer enough of an improvement. It's only when I put (ugly gym style) weights on top that things really started to sharpen-up.

Something to note though; my speakers are quite "budget" - they don't have the level of bracing and cabinet strength of more expensive floorstanders. These methods may therefore only garner improvements in budget designs.

DT
 
How about a rubber car mat underneath the speakers....that should stop the sliding and protect the wooden floors. Even better, cut out four neat squares for each spike....

S
 
I have a similar issue. I have spikes on the bottom of my speakers which have a downward base port. I bought some spike shoes to protect my laminate floor. Every time I move the speakers though (which is frequent) I have to reset the positioning of the shoes. Drives me mad. I think the answer is to put them onto a single pad and then drag the pad. Just wondering if the sound quality is better on a hard plate (e.g. a tile with a felt base) or a soft plate (e.g. a carpet sample). I would of thought aforementioned wood would be quite bad as it will vibrate on laminate floor unless it has a felt pad underneath. Am thinking a carpet sample might be best but not sure. Also thinking carpet tile would reduce noise transfer to my next door neighbours as I read on a sound proofing website that noise travels as vibrations through the floor as well as walls. Any views?
 

The latest video from AVForums

Is 4K Blu-ray Worth It?
Subscribe to our YouTube channel
Back
Top Bottom