maybe a fun and useful tweak.

Esreuter

Hey forum,

first off, let me say this, i am loving my polk setup more and more each day.

i keep learning stuff from you guys here on what to do to make the most out of your system and i thank you all for your experience.

i recently read up on speaker position, distance from wall, placement angles ect. so i followed the guide lines and took out the old protractor, well bought a new on i should say. Side note, are the kids not using protractors any more in school? or is this a archaic device? it took me forever to find one in walmart and i asked one young gentleman and he gave me a what it that?(the circle thingie that measures degrees of angles, i replied.) finally a aged lady helped me out and said she hasent used or seem them in years. Anyways, i ramble, i got my protractor, followed guidelines, and readings from you all and set my system up as best i can in my space.

let me say this, holy ****, what a difference proper distance and aiming does. i even dont have to turn it as loud as used to. And finally i got to be "wrapped" in the sound and this is running 5.0, i cant wait to hear 7.0. eventually be .1, but we got PCS orders so my wife forbade me to purchase anything new. So, my overall point is this, placement is very important and really makes a difference.

what i wanted to talk about with you all is the use, and the purpose of the floor spikes or some of the rubber pads to raise your speakers up a little off the floor.

i noticed some people use cinder blocks, brass spikes, and expensive systems to raise and separate the speaker.

what i understand the purpose of these things is to raise the speaker and stop vibrations.

i got bored, the lady is away at a conference, so i figured i would dab into some experimentation, i might be totally way off on what the footpads are for but meh, i learned something along the way.

i bought me a 7$ walmart rubber kitchen mat and then took out my sewing kit and cut up some squares to take the feet of the monitor 70's.

so my idea is, this foam rubber will separate the speaker from the solid floor, hopefully ending unwanted vibrations. Also i choose the rubber because it is a little bit softer than the welcome mats, i had figured this would provide the best vibration absorption.

i stitched 2 squares together, because one would buckle to the pressure from the point on the feet of the monitors.

so far, i am pleased with the results. not the most eye appealing solution but i am just trying to learn a lil bit as a i go.

the only problem i have is i did soo much at one time it is hard to tell what has impacted the sound the most. Although i am very sure it is the proper aiming and placement that was the largest benefit.

Soon i will remove the pads and hear the difference to see what they are doing.

i would like to ask all you out there what is the idea and science behind the concept of spikes and pads like such. do you use them? whats better soft absorption material or the solid metal?

hopefully my time and idea was worth wile and maybe other people can improve on the idea. let me know your thoughts, is this useful or just smoke and mirrors?

thank you all for your input and reads!
ESR

skrol

I thought I was the only one using a protractor to aim my speakers.

Aiming and positioning from the walls certainly helps a lot. However, I am not too sure about the foam pads under the feet. The idea of spikes is to prevent the speaker from moving by coupling the speaker to the hard floor beneath carpet. It may be hard to believe but the bass will rock the speaker if sitting on carpet and rob the sound of some of the impact and clarity. Adding the foam pads seems counter to this idea.
Stan

VR3

There is a far better solution to getting your speakers off the tile...

Get a large 18x18 tile - take felt pads - 8 of them is my preferred and put them on the bottom of the tile...

Set the speaker on the tile - solid mount and it decouples it from the floor.

What you have done from what I can see is create an unstable platform for your speakers....

Other than that - have fun!!

Almadacr

You can go from a single mat`s to spikes even saw hockey pucks :biggrin: you should also do a sub riser or you can buy one , i built mines yes 2 of them , and what a difference Do you want another funny project as DIY .....acoustic panels and bass traps . The good thing is you are enjoying your speakers

steveinaz

Picking between "hard" or "soft" isolation depends on your setup, the room (are your floors subject to vibration, or is it concrete slab?). I have personally found that just spiking my speakers works just right for my setup, but I have concrete slab construction, so vibration is almost zero---sans airborn vibrations. All of my components are on their stock feet. I have had success with mass loading the top of transports however.

I think vibration prone rooms (wood floors/basement) can definitely benefit from experimenting with isolation---I would spike the speakers, and "soft" isolate (sorbathane or vibrapods?) my transport/cd player as a start. If I had a turntable in a "soft" room, I'd spike the plinth to a platform that was soft isolated at its base as a start--especially Rega's which have no isolation. With concrete sub-floor, I doubt anything more would be needed than the stock setup, unless the table is near the speakers.

aviator

"PCS orders" sounds military to me.

Thank you.

Freedom ain't free - Somebody Paid.

steveinaz

Couple of other observations; I find it's always best to err on the side of too much distance between speakers, than too little. Also, I personally never cared for the speakers beaming straight at me, but prefer about a 1/2" (minimal) of toe-in.

Esreuter

Ahh yes. I always forget when i talk. Duur. PCS= permanent change of station, moving, relocating, all the same.

I must be clear to you all though, so as not to get a bad rep, I am the civilian, my wife is the one whom works for the DOD. I will pass your thanks along to her. I keep trying to join but she wont let me. She says one of us is enough. But from our family to yours thank you for the acknowledgement.

I am gathering from this discussion that the pads are more to separate the floor from the speaker. By such i mean the speaker will vibrate the floor and affect its placement and other things on the floor. I was under the impression that the vibrations would shake through the speaker cabinet and hit the solid surface and some how resonate back into unwanted sounds.

I noticed that until the speaker settled into the foam it was a bit unstable, but now it has set in so i is pretty firm, but not 100%, Ill have to look into some other material that will provide better stability.

I will comment about the affects of speakers in the corner of the room. I cant believe how much it affects the sound. While reading this forum about speaker placement I noticed the great word compromise. Unfortunately my right channel is in a corner, as you can see from the photo, i was playing with some sound tests, and what no,t and did a separate L\R test and noticed how boom boom the right side was. At first i was convinced i had dead woofers in the 70 on the left channel. I must have sweated for an hour checking channels on the AVR, watching the drivers move. Finally moving the right channel out of the corner to find it was simply corner resonance. What an adventure.

My point is, I am shocked at how much the geometry of a room affects the sound. So I know i posted about floor pads and spikes and the conversation is changing a little, sorry, I would like to know what is the optimal, or dream, type of room for acoustic purposes. Sphere? Trapazoid? ect. Just would like to know.

Switching gears again, Steve, you mentioned a Plith, i looked at a few photos of them, are they nothing more than a nice looking way to separate components from vibrations or is there a deeper purpose in mind?

Thank you all again,.

ESR

steveinaz

The plinth is the chasis of a turntable. Sometimes spiking the turntable to a wood base (such as a cutting board or other platform) then using soft isolation between this platform and the cabinet the TT is sitting on, will greatly reduce vibration thru the pickup (needle/cartridge).

cnh

Protractor? Really? What's wrong with 'eyeing' it and sitting in the sweet spot to confirm it with your ears?

Interesting solutions proposed above. I have a half inch pad under a 1/2 inch rug over a hardwood floor so I think I'm good. But I can see where tile would present a problem.

cnh