Stands, spikes and floorboards

fish99

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Hi,

I'm trying to get my stands (Atacama SE24) setup as well as possible. They're sand filled up to about an inch below where the openning on the back is (so a little over three quarters filled roughly). The problem I've been having is getting them steady on my floorboards, and I eventually figured out that the floorboard themselves are loose.

So I took the carpet up to fix the floorboard down better, and found rather significant holes in the floorboards where the spikes have been (several millimetres deep).

So my question is how should the spikes sit on the floorboards? Entirely ontop or is it inevitable that the sharp spikes will sink into the floorboards a little? Do I maybe have too much sand in them, or am I putting too much pressure on when trying to force the spikes through the carpet?

Also any general advice on getting this right? It's proving a big frustration.

Cheers in advance,
Simon :)
 
Just been looking at the holes again and they're more like 5+ mm deep, so pretty deep. If I just sit the stands on the floorboard without any pressure at all, they sink about 2 mm deep just under their own weight.

Are there any other options, like putting something between floorboards and spikes maybe, either above or below the carpet?
 
well i have heard a lot of people swear by using some sort of stone slab as a main base, i suppose you can get quite a choice in the homebases and garden centres of this world.
if this is going to be too unslightly you could use 2 pence pieces like meself....with the carpet side of things,you could put these between the carpet and foorboards as you've suggested?
 
I use 10p pieces - I prefer the shiny silver look!
 
Jammyb said:
Her Majesty's face side down I hope!! :p

Absolutely!

I drilled some shallow holes for the spikes to locate in.
 
I can't afford ten pences :D Think I'll go with two pences. They're going under the carpet anyway so I won't see them.

Cheers everyone:)
 
Try screwing four philips head screws into the floorboards (for each speaker) and sit the spikes into the top of the screws. This allows you to very accurately level the speakers, and with a bit of adjustment get them truly stable.
I did this a while back when I had small stand mounters (Celestion SL6) and there was a noticeable increase in clarity and focus after the tweak.

Worth a try.:)
 
That's a good idea, very good actually, but it'd be very tricky to get the spikes accuractely into the screw heads with the screw heads under the carpet. The screws would have to be accurately placed to nearly the millimetre too. Using 2 pence pieces would give me a much bigger margin for error. I shall use the spikes to adjust for any height differences.

clarky78 said:
If you put them under the carpet how will you find them again to place the stands?

As I'm putting the carpet back down, I can make a mark on the base of the carpet under the pile for each spike, and then I should be able to find them again. I could also probably feel where they were through the carpet.
 
Warpaint said:
Try screwing four philips head screws into the floorboards (for each speaker) and sit the spikes into the top of the screws. This allows you to very accurately level the speakers, and with a bit of adjustment get them truly stable.
I did this a while back when I had small stand mounters (Celestion SL6) and there was a noticeable increase in clarity and focus after the tweak.

Worth a try.:)

On second thoughts, I think I can probably manage this. I can use the stand/spikes to make 4 holes and put the screws straight into them. I can mark on the top of the carpet under the pile where they are roughly as the carpet goes back down and then find them more precisely through feel.

Should work a treat.

I could probably make small holes in the carpet and have the screw heads above the carpet too, which makes adjusting them far easier.
 
I actaully screwed the screws in through the carpet so that only the head was visible. It was slightly below the level of the top of the carpet. I used the previous spike hole as a guide but put the screws in one at a time and inserted the spike into the first screw to line up the second and so on...
That was when I was single. . .
These days I don't think I'd get away with that.:D
 
I'm not having much luck with this. I've nailed the floorboards down a bit better but they still move a bit. Had a go at the screws through the carpet. They really do need to be incredibly accurate. It's very difficult to get them positoned to the very millimetre with this thickness of carpet. I got one of them steady but the other wouldn't play ball, not even after reseating it in a different spot twice, it must be because the floorboard under it is moving.

Even the stand that felt steady, as soon as I put my speaker back on, the extra weight and the top-heavy weight distribution means the stands are as unstable as ever again. Also I can't get the speakers seated securely on the top of the stands either thanks to the stupid feet/spikes/shoes that come with the speakers (details in my other thread - http://www.avforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=315854)

I'm stumped :suicide:
 
For the loose floorboards, use screws, not nails.
 
Ok, will do. I've took the screws up now (the ones for the spikes to rest on) and I've got the stands on 2p coins on top of the carpet, and so far this is the steadiest I've had them.

I'm definitely not getting speakers with built in feet again.
 

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