Advice for tippy speaker stands

dromunds
dromunds Posts: 9,969
A friend of mine and his wife bought some bookshelf speakers from me and they have carpet. I tried several different brands of speaker stands and they were both very tippy, one was a Skylan-type filled with shot, the other had a round weighted disc bottom that resembles a smooth free-weight. I suppose the floor under their carpet is not flat or something, but even carpet spikes didn't seem to help, although the spikes on the Skylan-type stands were not adjustable. Any advice for a different approach? I have little experience with carpet but in my limited experience with carpet I've never had a problem with stands especially with spikes. Let me know if more info is needed. thanks in advance for any suggestions.

Comments

  • Jimbo18
    Jimbo18 Posts: 2,310
    Heavy granite tile underneath? Flattens out the carpet and stops the rocking, maybe.
  • pitdogg2
    pitdogg2 Posts: 24,474
    Spikes need to get through the carpet into the floor beneath, did they do that? A lot of spikes are too rounded and not pointy enough to make it through both carpet and padding so they end up floating. I had to step on the base to get them into and pass the carpet and padding, but i also tossed the brass set and made my own from steel bolts to get a very sharp long point to work on the thick carpet and padding once.

    Jimbo also makes a valid point sometimes you just need a lot more weight to stabilize the weight up above.
  • F1nut
    F1nut Posts: 49,707
    ^ THIS ^

    Also, you have to make sure the spikes are long enough to reach the solid foundation.
    Political Correctness'.........defined

    "A doctrine fostered by a delusional, illogical minority and rabidly promoted by an unscrupulous mainstream media, which holds forth the proposition that it is entirely possible to pick up a t-u-r-d by the clean end."


    President of Club Polk

  • dromunds
    dromunds Posts: 9,969
    I believe the spikes that came with the stands may be too rounded and not pointy enough. Where is the place to order better spikes, preferably adjustable ones? Thanks guys.
  • F1nut
    F1nut Posts: 49,707
    All spikes are adjustable to one degree or the other. It may involve adding a nut on the threads.

    How thick is the carpet? What is the flooring under the carpet?
    Political Correctness'.........defined

    "A doctrine fostered by a delusional, illogical minority and rabidly promoted by an unscrupulous mainstream media, which holds forth the proposition that it is entirely possible to pick up a t-u-r-d by the clean end."


    President of Club Polk

  • DaveHo
    DaveHo Posts: 3,471
    I've frequently used the cheap black oxide finished spikes from parts express. Less than $10 for a set. Not pretty, but they are sharp, and not seen anyway.
  • F1nut
    F1nut Posts: 49,707
    Here's a nice selection of spikes.

    http://www.adonacorporation.com/tweaks.html
    Political Correctness'.........defined

    "A doctrine fostered by a delusional, illogical minority and rabidly promoted by an unscrupulous mainstream media, which holds forth the proposition that it is entirely possible to pick up a t-u-r-d by the clean end."


    President of Club Polk

  • dromunds
    dromunds Posts: 9,969
    Thanks for the help. The carpet is thick with a pad underneath and I assume an old hardwood tongue and groove under it all, as its an older home. I have little experience with spikes but I can see I need to get some sharper longer points. Lol.
  • pitdogg2
    pitdogg2 Posts: 24,474
    you'll need to know if they are a metric pitch or standard English T.P.I. (threads per inch)
  • arekon
    arekon Posts: 77
    dromunds wrote: »
    A friend of mine and his wife bought some bookshelf speakers from me....
    (CLIPPED)

    Not trying to be sexist here but in 90- something percent of households, the wife or old-lady is not involved or unaware with home audio recon.

    for example in my shack, i either get a 'adda boy' or a 'are you kidding me?'

  • dromunds
    dromunds Posts: 9,969
    Actually, in this case my friend's wife, who was also my friend in college, so I've known them both for many years, told me she wanted to get her turntable going again so she could play "rekkids." Somebody had taken the cartridge off the headshell and so I put a better cart on and aligned it and then I took a look at their speakers, which had no surrounds left whatsoever, and mentioned that I had some speakers I could move their way. She was up for it and was on cloud nine that she could play vinyl again not to mention the tuner and CD's actually sounded decent. However, she wasn't happy with the tipsy nature of the stands on her carpet so I'm trying to make that all good. She has quite an album collection, well "they" do, but actually she is buying new stuff because her daughter is in three bands in Austin. I give her credit, she likes her music and I'll support that all day long....
  • arekon
    arekon Posts: 77
    ^^ shoot. my fault. didnt mean to make you throw all of that out there... ill take a mulligan, i was being sexist.
  • Nightfall
    Nightfall Posts: 10,042
    What's a Skylan type stand, just out of curiosity?
    afterburnt wrote: »
    They didn't speak a word of English, they were from South Carolina.

    Village Idiot of Club Polk
  • dromunds
    dromunds Posts: 9,969
    Ha, I'll probably have trouble describing this, but it's a pretty substantial metal stand with hollow tubes that have been filled with shot, and a flat metal top. base plate has spikes although as I mentioned the spikes are too round and don't make contact with the floor. I think they are generic stands sort of copied after Skylans or another popular brand. They are solid but tippy on this carpet, I think it's the crummy spikes.
  • pitdogg2
    pitdogg2 Posts: 24,474
    Nightfall wrote: »
    What's a Skylan type stand, just out of curiosity?

    maybe like these? maybe

    http://www.skylanstands.com/stands.htm
  • dromunds
    dromunds Posts: 9,969
    Yeah resembling top photo.
  • txcoastal1
    txcoastal1 Posts: 13,124
    Yeah, those with good spikes, especially loaded shouldn't be tippy IMHO
    2-channel: Modwright KWI-200 Integrated, Dynaudio C1-II Signatures
    Desktop rig: LSi7, Polk 110sub, Dayens Ampino amp, W4S DAC/pre, Sonos, JRiver
    Gear on standby: Melody 101 tube pre, Unison Research Simply Italy Integrated
    Gone to new homes: (Matt Polk's)Threshold Stasis SA12e monoblocks, Pass XA30.5 amp, Usher MD2 speakers, Dynaudio C4 platinum speakers, Modwright LS100 (voltz), Simaudio 780D DAC

    erat interfectorem cesar et **** dictatorem dicere a
  • pearsall001
    pearsall001 Posts: 4,981
    These plum bob's work great for speaker stands & amp stands...I picked mine up at Home Depot. No trouble at all piercing carpets.
    "2 Channel & 11.2 HT "Two Channel:Magnepan LRSSchiit Audio Freya S - SS preConsonance Ref 50 - Tube preParasound HALO A21+ 2 channel ampBluesound NODE 2i streameriFi NEO iDSD DAC Oppo BDP-93KEF KC62 sub Home Theater:Full blown 11.2 set up.
  • pitdogg2
    pitdogg2 Posts: 24,474
    These plum bob's work great for speaker stands & amp stands...I picked mine up at Home Depot. No trouble at all piercing carpets.

    Never thought about those will file that in the memory banks....
  • F1nut
    F1nut Posts: 49,707
    Skylan stands are not metal. The top and bottom plates are MDF and the posts are PVC.
    Political Correctness'.........defined

    "A doctrine fostered by a delusional, illogical minority and rabidly promoted by an unscrupulous mainstream media, which holds forth the proposition that it is entirely possible to pick up a t-u-r-d by the clean end."


    President of Club Polk

  • dromunds
    dromunds Posts: 9,969
    The ones I have aren't Skylan they just resemble them in looks sort of, but mine are metal with metal top and base plates. There's no discernible name on them. I got them one time in a deal but never used them. They are substantial and I think using proper spikes they're going to work okay.