To spike or not to spike tis the question
Joshwest90
Posts: 109
I have a pair of SDA-1A I am currently rebuilding. The bottoms are destroyed so I will be rebuilding and reattaching these. My question revolves around coupling and de-coupling.
These will sit on wood floors and I understand they have cups for the spikes, but would a guy have similar benefits from say, placing dynamat around the areas of the cabinet that will contact the floor? Is there serious sound quality changes in putting spikes on these heavy speakers? I have already placed dynamat on the driver and PR baskets. I added more acoustastuff behind the drivers as well as acoustic sound deadening panels behind the drivers cut into 2” wide X 2.5” deep X 12” strips.
I would be interested in everyone’s thoughts on this matter.
These will sit on wood floors and I understand they have cups for the spikes, but would a guy have similar benefits from say, placing dynamat around the areas of the cabinet that will contact the floor? Is there serious sound quality changes in putting spikes on these heavy speakers? I have already placed dynamat on the driver and PR baskets. I added more acoustastuff behind the drivers as well as acoustic sound deadening panels behind the drivers cut into 2” wide X 2.5” deep X 12” strips.
I would be interested in everyone’s thoughts on this matter.
Comments
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Dynamat has no business on the bottom of a speaker cabinet. Spike them!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 -
Will the spikes from partsexpress handle the weight of the SDA-1’s?Dynamat has no business on the bottom of a speaker cabinet. Spike them!
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They sell many different spikes, which ones?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 -
Which spikes from PE?
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Bottom set yes I've used them. Can't speak on the first set.
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25 cent threaded studs will hold the weight. Wait, 25 cent? Get a box of 100 for $10: https://www.ebay.com/itm/Remington-100766-Threaded-Studs-1-Shank-Qty-100-1-4-20-FREE-SHIPPING/273778102791?epid=1272471818&hash=item3fbe725207:g:YzkAAOSwGDNcmRm2. Use a nut for security if you want. I made a thread about it once and people got so excited about it, it got closed
my 3.1TLs
I will fix your shifted magnets for free.
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Joshwest90 wrote: »
The bottom spikes will work very well. One thing I do with them is apply red Loctite to the threads of the tip section because I don't like two part spikes.
You can get whatever thread pattern you want as your speakers did not come with inserts.25 cent threaded studs
Steel makes for a lousy spike. Brass is best.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 -
Steel makes for a good spike. my 3.1TLs
I will fix your shifted magnets for free. -
I've used both, brass is much better.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 -
Yes PE only carries the 6mm threaded stud. They will not work well on the riser part, chances it will split if there is any side weight on them. The two choices are remove the riser or make one like I did out of 2x4 hardwood. Mine were Oak and I drilled half way through the with a 3/4" spade bit then drilled the stud size the rest of the way and bolted from the inside through to the spike.
So my risers were 3-3/4 tall. -
These risers are destroyed so I was just going to make my own.
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I've also used both brass and mild steel (and stainless steel), there's no difference.
@Joshwest90 whatever blows your hair back. Brass is prettier. Brass in a dark stained walnut maybe - that'd look sharp.
Editing with some fun technical reading - hopefully definitively answering whether or not you should spike (yes!) and @F1nut acknowledging the theory that brass could be incrementally better suited for the job because of its material properties - one Stereophile article (https://www.stereophile.com/content/listening-153) mentioning how spikes act as "mechanical diodes" to direct energy away from something (through the pointy end) but not towards something (back up the pointy end) and another, older article (https://www.stereophile.com/features/806/index.html) getting into the science with measurements. Based on this science, a speaker spike made of material that is more dense with a low damping capacity may be more efficient at conducting mechanical vibration (lattice properties to be damned) away from the speaker cabinets, thereby reducing cabinet vibration and improving sound.
In sum, spike vs. no spike, definitely spike. Steel vs. brass v. X material, up to you! my 3.1TLs
I will fix your shifted magnets for free. -
Joshwest90 wrote: »These risers are destroyed so I was just going to make my own.
Or just spike to the bottom. With tall spikes like these.
https://www.madisoundspeakerstore.com/tiptoes/feet/feet-yung-yblc-black-chrome-tiptoe-2.15/
Search feet or tiptoe to see more. Even come with discs -
I took the risers off my Studio 2BTL's and installed 2" tall spikes making the tweeter closer to ear height. Highly recommended.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 -
Just from a general speaker perspective, I found that spiking the speakers focused the sound, and revealed more detail to the music. These are Magico spikes that appear to be steel, based on color.Lumin X1 file player, Westminster Labs interconnect cable
Sony XA-5400ES SACD; Pass XP-22 pre; X600.5 amps
Magico S5 MKII Mcast Rose speakers; SPOD spikes
Shunyata Triton v3/Typhon QR on source, Denali 2000 (2) on amps
Shunyata Sigma XLR analog ICs, Sigma speaker cables
Shunyata Sigma HC (2), Sigma Analog, Sigma Digital, Z Anaconda (3) power cables
Mapleshade Samson V.3 four shelf solid maple rack, Micropoint brass footers
Three 20 amp circuits. -
I've used both, brass is much better.
You gotta lotta brass talking about steel like that... -
I took the risers off my Studio 2BTL's and installed 2" tall spikes making the tweeter closer to ear height. Highly recommended.
I’m trying to figure out the best direction to go for the best results. Taking the risers off completely would save me about 60.00 in hardwood for the risers haha, but I like how they look with the risers. I would like the best sound quality possible out of them with the money I’ve spent so far.
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You can always fashion some outriggers and spike those. They be pretty.Just a dude doing dude-ly things
"Temptation is the manifestation of desire which equals necessity." - Mikey081057
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"Those that don't know, don't know that they don't know." - heiney9
"Audiophiles are the male equivalent of cat ladies." - Audiokarma Member -
The spikes on my 1Bs are Grade 8 bolts with the heads sawed off, then sharpened on a bench grinder. Screwed into a T-nut embedded in the speaker base, secured with a jam nut. Works great.
Spikes make the most difference when the speaker is placed on thick carpet with a carpet pad underneath. 90% of the spike's usefulness comes from the pointy end piercing the carpet and pad, linking (coupling) the speaker cabinet to the hard surface of the "real" floor. If the "real" floor is concrete, so much the better.
Spikes on wood floors offer less improvement because there's no thick, squishy carpet/pad "gasket" between cabinet and the "real" (wood) floor. Wood floors tend to be way more flexible than concrete. Wood joists are just big sloppy springs--but still better than a thick, squishy gasket. Wood as an overlay on top of concrete would still be very rigid. -
Yeah if you don't want to say lattice properties (etc.) be damned as I mentioned above, and you DO want to consider those material properties, it's a whole nother bag of fun.
What do you think the % increase in sound quality is as a function of % increase in cost of the material? my 3.1TLs
I will fix your shifted magnets for free. -
+1 on what Skip said here. I was not a believer until I was in Skip's room and heard the difference first hand. Not just on the speakers, but the actual components themselves! Skip did not just put it all in all at the same time. He did piece by piece. If someone had a camera with the look on our faces just from putting it under the amp, I think it would resemble a old cartoon with the eyes popping out of their head.
Because I got to witness this with my own ears, I am a big believer in Star Sound.
Klipsch The Nines, Audioquest Thunderbird Interconnect, Innuos Zen MK3 W4S recovery, Revolution Audio Labs USB & Ethernet, Border Patrol SE-I, Audioquest Niagara 5000 & Thunder, Cullen Crossover II PC's. -
I put some spikes on mine. Seemed to be alright.
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I couldn't believe the difference when I spiked mine.Polk Audio SDA SRS 2.3 TL
Polk Audio SDA 2B TL mod
Carver M 1.0 MK2 Opt 2 x2
Carver CT Seven Preamp
Bluesound Node 2i -
Spike them and don't look back. It's the cheapest bang for the buck you can do for your speakers.
