Concrete slab & speaker spikes?

turnitup

turnitup

No, the stereo won’t break the crystal...Oh CRAP!
My house is built on a concrete slab, and I have hardwood floors installed over the slab. Am I going to get any benefit from using spikes, or can I use rubber feet on my speakers to protect my floor? What's the difference going to likely be in the way of resonance? Thoughts??

I'm thinking that I'm not going to gain much as the floor (being concrete) is not going to interact with the speakers in any discernible way, right?
 
Last edited:
I have Klipsch KG5.5's with rubber feet on hardwoods over concrete and they would slide until I put little pieces of the no-skid stuff that goes under rugs to keep them in place on hardwoods. They don't look very good like that, so I was thinking of swapping out the rubber feet for spikes and putting a hockey puck under each spike with the no skid stuff glued to the bottom of the hockey puck.
 
IF memory serves Spikes were developed Years a method of anchoring speakers by punching through carpet to solid subfloor, be it concrete or Ply, underneath.
Mostly to provide stable footing for the often tippy boxes under heavy uses and minorly to get them coupled to some dampening mass.
But like all things users "expanded' it into a fashion statement.
I have never had actual need of the things and likely never will.
Certainly not at the risk of damaging floors for illusory goals.
FYI: a largish Blob of Blu tack under each corner of a speaker does a better anchoring job on wood floors than do spikes.. sans damage.
 
Coupling the cabinets to the concrete slab would be a great way to get rid of any excess mechanical energy. But since there's a wood floor in the way I don't know how effective spikes would be since it's hard to say where that energy is going to go/do once it's in the wood floor.

Using rubber between the cabinets and floor is a form of isolation and hence the opposite of above.

What kind of speakers do you have?
 
noise gate said:
I just have to ask how hard it is to buy Hockey Pucks in Texas?
Click to expand...

Well, it was thirty years ago.

Reminds me of when I was a kid growing up in the 70's and another kid in the neighborhood somehow got his hands on a hockey puck. He showed it to us and nobody had a clue what it was. When he told us it was a hockey puck we were like "cool....who's got the football". :D

And is hockey such a big deal to you Canucks y'all capitalize "hockey puck". Man....that's hard core. :yes:
 
Last edited:
AudioMayhem said:
Coupling the cabinets to the concrete slab would be a great way to get rid of any excess mechanical energy. But since there's a wood floor in the way I don't know how effective spikes would be since it's hard to say where that energy is going to go/do once it's in the wood floor.

Using rubber between the cabinets and floor is a form of isolation and hence the opposite of above.

What kind of speakers do you have?
Click to expand...

Good to know. I guess I'll just stick with what I have. Since it's not my critical listening rig it's hardly tweak worthy.
 
I thought the main reason for the spikes was to stop any reciprocal motion of the cab by the drivers and secondly for decoupling.
 
Spikes are used to anchor something down by putting the pounds per square inches onto 4 (or 3 in some cases) very small points as opposed to a larger flat surface.

As AudioMeyem stated, rubber, sorbothane, foam, etc. have a different purpose than spikes.
 
A most intriguing paper, AudioMayhem.
I don't know if they teach any meaningful vector "stuff" in High School anymore though.
 
AudioMayhem said:
Here's a nice little paper on speaker coupling/decoupling with graphics from the CEO of Genesis loudspeakers.
Click to expand...

A lot more technical than I imagined this topic. I suppose I can somewhat claim success in removing the boom my two subs were causing by placing them on 2" clay patio stones with three large glass marbles between the stones and the carpet, a vinyl mat between the subs and stones. Much better:)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

W
Dunlavy/Duntech owners..Speaker ..coupling / de-coupling over a concrete slab
Replies
1
Views
375
Descartridge
Descartridge
thedelihaus
Suggestions for Tile for new basement floor (concrete slab underneath)
Replies
19
Views
2K
MeatInStereo
MeatInStereo
Chiliarches
Klipsch Cornwalls - how to steady on hardwood floors?
Replies
14
Views
277
rebellovw
R
DaWoofer
Speakers directly on concrete-good or bad?
Replies
18
Views
8K
usedto
usedto
M
Speaker Isolation
Replies
1
Views
515
Rybeam
Rybeam
Back
Top Bottom