Speaker spikes

Tony M

concealer404 wrote: »

Verdict?

HOLY CRAP this is the best mod/tweak/anything i've done to this system yet. The bass tightened up, and there's a lot more "slam," percussiveness, just all around more powerful, even through the whole range. It takes a LOT more volume now before the sound starts to break up.

If you're on the fence about spiking, JUST DO IT. For $7 for two sets, you CANNOT go wrong.

I have to agree 100% with concealers' descriptions.UNBELIEVABLE...:eek:
I have never heard SADEs' music sound so good except maybe on my RT3000ps.Now I have to relisten to my cd collection again....

I thought they were awsome before and now I'm ashamed I demonstrated these SDA-SRS2s at less than their potential, ASHAMED I AM..:(.

Thanks for the push Jessie...I did it and here are some shots NJPolker.

I took a pic of my wire connector replacements too.
I only had 7 of each kind of brass spikes so I put 4 new ones in front and yes they are the same height.

Also notice the quality Polk audio used compared to the new smaller Parts Express inserts.

I thought I quoted concealers words into a grey block...I've got to practice that alot more!

bigaudiofanatic

When I got my infinity's they did not come with spikes. I took the tower speaker to the hardware store and found some bolts that fit in the holes. Than a little later I just put a piece of MDF under the speaker instead of using the spikes.

Tony M

Carrying that speaker must have looked funny at the store.
I tell you what, I don't know why spikes help so much except the speaker must not be able to move from the woofers impacts on the air. My speakers were on rollers so that must have been a double faulting negative for the bass.The midrange even sounds cleaner at higher levels now.

My SDAs sound especially amazing now.Really.
Next comes the CAP upgrades.;)

Krazyz1

There is a web company called ADONA. Make very large selection of spikes. Multiple lengths , thread pitch, colors ect. Also make some KILLER audio racks.

packetjones

Krazyz1 wrote: »

There is a web company called ADONA. Make very large selection of spikes. Multiple lengths , thread pitch, colors ect. Also make some KILLER audio racks.

you posted this exact thing in another thread about stands... If you did not have so many posts i would think this was spam. anyways.....

I saw that this thread was bumped up and thought i would comment on adding my spikes. The other night I added the spikes to my A5's and also replaced the jumper with a small piece of speaker wire. Since I did both at the same time I am not sure which had the bigger effect but it definitely was noticeable. Everything sounds a little crisper and a little tighter. I like it.

Are there 3rd party spikes that are better than the ones that came with the speakers? I am sure there are some pricey ones available but this is a rather cheap tweak and do not want to spend much at all. Are the ones that Polk provided adequate?

dorokusai

I've had an Adona rack since Paul started his business back in 2003 or so....slackers.

hearingimpared

packetjones wrote: »

you posted this exact thing in another thread about stands... If you did not have so many posts i would think this was spam. anyways.....

I saw that this thread was bumped up and thought i would comment on adding my spikes. The other night I added the spikes to my A5's and also replaced the jumper with a small piece of speaker wire. Since I did both at the same time I am not sure which had the bigger effect but it definitely was noticeable. Everything sounds a little crisper and a little tighter. I like it.

Are there 3rd party spikes that are better than the ones that came with the speakers? I am sure there are some pricey ones available but this is a rather cheap tweak and do not want to spend much at all. Are the ones that Polk provided adequate?

I these are the best in the business.

https://myesound.com/Points_n_pads.html

I use them on my 1.2TLs and know that quite a few others here have used them and have the same opinion.

allstock

Alright, I have a question. if the purpose of spikes is to "connect" the speaker to the floor, why would you install spikes, and sit them on top of a section of wood,tile,cement, etc. Would that not defeat the purpose?

packetjones

hearingimpared wrote: »

I these are the best in the business.

https://myesound.com/Points_n_pads.html

I use them on my 1.2TLs and know that quite a few others here have used them and have the same opinion.

Just a question about these. Are the say $10 per spike or $10 for one speaker worth (4)? If they are per spike then that would $40 per speaker or $80 for a pair.

Also the shipping seems crazy... are they missing a decimal point?

packetjones

I am unable to edit my previous post any longer.

I realised that the pricing was for the speaker stands they make not the spikes.

hearingimpared

packetjones wrote: »

Just a question about these. Are the say $10 per spike or $10 for one speaker worth (4)? If they are per spike then that would $40 per speaker or $80 for a pair.

Also the shipping seems crazy... are they missing a decimal point?

I saw your edit below but wanted to comment anyway. Brass is very heavy and it's coming for Canada so the shipping costs might be a little higher than you'd expect.

superjunior

allstock wrote: »

Alright, I have a question. if the purpose of spikes is to "connect" the speaker to the floor, why would you install spikes, and sit them on top of a section of wood,tile,cement, etc. Would that not defeat the purpose?

I was hoping someone would have answered this for you as I was wondering the same thing. I'm reluctant to install my spikes as I really don't want holes in my carpet. having them on tiles on the other hand would be fine but is there really a benefit to this approach?

hearingimpared

superjunior wrote: »

I was hoping someone would have answered this for you as I was wondering the same thing. I'm reluctant to install my spikes as I really don't want holes in my carpet. having them on tiles on the other hand would be fine but is there really a benefit to this approach?

Those holes close up by themselves. I have moved my 1.2 TLs several times and there are no signs of the holes the spikes made.

Yes there is a benefit. They solidly couple the speaker cabinet to the solid surface below the carpet thus taking out the cabinet resonance.

superjunior

hearingimpared wrote: »

Those holes close up by themselves. I have moved my 1.2 TLs several times and there are no signs of the holes the spikes made.

Yes there is a benefit. They solidly couple the speaker cabinet to the solid surface below the carpet thus taking out the cabinet resonance.

sounds good. I was thinking tiles or granite would look cool under the spiked speakers but which do you think would sound better, spikes strait to carpet or some kind of base between the two?

hearingimpared

superjunior wrote: »

sounds good. I was thinking tiles or granite would look cool under the spiked speakers but which do you think would sound better, spikes strait to carpet or some kind of base between the two?

IMHO placing a hard surface over carpet with the spiked speakers on top would still cause the softness of the carpet & mat beneath it to cause resonance. I could be wrong but I think it best to get the speakers coupled to the foundation under the carpet.

superjunior

hearingimpared wrote: »

IMHO placing a hard surface over carpet with the spiked speakers on top would still cause the softness of the carpet & mat beneath it to cause resonance. I could be wrong but I think it best to get the speakers coupled to the foundation under the carpet.

that seems to make the most sense
thanks

F1nut

Mye Sound spikes. 'Nuff said.

allstock

superjunior wrote: »

that seems to make the most sense
thanks

+1. I'm gonna spike everything in sight!

BlueFox

You guys have a lot to learn about speaker spikes/footers.

This is the place to get educated.

"BRASS FOOTERS: ESSENTIAL FOR GREAT SOUND

Using Mapleshade’s brass footers will transform the sound of each of your stereo components —your speakers, CD/DVD player, amp, receiver, turntable, power conditioner. I guarantee exactly that.

Expect music to sound strikingly more live, more gripping. Listening to Kind Of Blue, I hear deep into Miles’ soulful, subtle, breathy note-bending. Paul Chamber’s bass sounds deeper, more articulated, giving it more real gut impact. Jimmy Cobb’s Gretsch drums are crisper, his cymbals sound brassier and ring more brilliantly.

Here’s the physics: electrical currents, the music signals that drive your speakers, also create unwanted vibrations inside every electronic component and speaker cabinet. A simple experiment I conducted 15 years ago (which you can repeat at home) proves these internal vibes—not the external room vibrations—are the bad actors muddying the music signal. So standard isolating devices like springs, rubber feet, sand, magnetic suspensions, or air bladders don’t help. These products trap the vibes inside the component, exacerbating muddying of the signals, especially in the bass frequencies.

By design, our footers do the opposite. Rigid and massive, they lock the component to the shelf below using single-point contact. That’s the most effective way to drain vibration. Nevertheless, our experiments show that the wrong footer material (or too little mass, or the wrong shape) can reflect distorted vibrations back into the equipment. That’s why improperly designed footers can yield sound that is dulled and lifeless or piercing and shrill. I’ve tested every promising high-tech material: ceramics were too bright; titanium, carbon fiber, stainless steel, aluminum and ebony were relatively dead and smeared. Brass was by far the best: much more dynamic, vibrantly warm and more detailed. Our 30-day moneyback lets you make your own comparisons.

We normally offer unattached footers in sets of three. Using four unattached footers requires shimming the height of one to compensate for the inevitable slight unevenness of the surface below. Using three requires no compensation and there’s no sonic advantage to using four. For threaded footers under very narrow tower speakers, we recommend four only to add stability. Of course, use four when replacing four threaded factory feet."

http://shop.mapleshadestore.com/departments.asp?dept=96

You also need to get your speakers off the floor and onto maple platforms.

"MAPLE STANDS FOR FLOORSTANDING SPEAKERS

Concrete and plywood floors cripple the sound of your speakers. They muddy the bass, smear the midrange, and suck the life out of the treble. In fact, 90% of “room problems” are caused by bad-sounding floors. Instead of spending thousands on room treatments that address the wrong problem, here is a direct, evidence-based cure: drain the speakers’ vibrational energy, not into the problem floor, but into heavy maple bases rigidly mounted on the floor via massive brass feet.

Our 2" or 4" maple bases make a far cleaner sink for receiving and dissipating the speakers’ vibrations than flimsy, resonant ½" plywood flooring or, worst of all, concrete. Instead of accepting these vibrations, concrete, tile, and stone strongly reflect back almost all the vibrational energy out of phase and distorted. Equally toxic to good speaker sound are modern “engineered” wood floors, particularly floating floors that rest on rubbery insulating sheets. Carpet over concrete or plywood just worsens the situation.

To double the sonic upgrade of our maple stands, replace your speakers’ spikes or composite feet with our much more rigid brass Threaded Heavyfeet, Triplepoints, MegaMounts or Threaded Megafeet."

http://shop.mapleshadestore.com/departments.asp?dept=62

allstock

BlueFox wrote: »

You guys have a lot to learn about speaker spikes/footers.

This is the place to get educated.

"BRASS FOOTERS: ESSENTIAL FOR GREAT SOUND

Using Mapleshade’s brass footers will transform the sound of each of your stereo components —your speakers, CD/DVD player, amp, receiver, turntable, power conditioner. I guarantee exactly that.

Expect music to sound strikingly more live, more gripping. Listening to Kind Of Blue, I hear deep into Miles’ soulful, subtle, breathy note-bending. Paul Chamber’s bass sounds deeper, more articulated, giving it more real gut impact. Jimmy Cobb’s Gretsch drums are crisper, his cymbals sound brassier and ring more brilliantly.

Here’s the physics: electrical currents, the music signals that drive your speakers, also create unwanted vibrations inside every electronic component and speaker cabinet. A simple experiment I conducted 15 years ago (which you can repeat at home) proves these internal vibes—not the external room vibrations—are the bad actors muddying the music signal. So standard isolating devices like springs, rubber feet, sand, magnetic suspensions, or air bladders don’t help. These products trap the vibes inside the component, exacerbating muddying of the signals, especially in the bass frequencies.

By design, our footers do the opposite. Rigid and massive, they lock the component to the shelf below using single-point contact. That’s the most effective way to drain vibration. Nevertheless, our experiments show that the wrong footer material (or too little mass, or the wrong shape) can reflect distorted vibrations back into the equipment. That’s why improperly designed footers can yield sound that is dulled and lifeless or piercing and shrill. I’ve tested every promising high-tech material: ceramics were too bright; titanium, carbon fiber, stainless steel, aluminum and ebony were relatively dead and smeared. Brass was by far the best: much more dynamic, vibrantly warm and more detailed. Our 30-day moneyback lets you make your own comparisons.

We normally offer unattached footers in sets of three. Using four unattached footers requires shimming the height of one to compensate for the inevitable slight unevenness of the surface below. Using three requires no compensation and there’s no sonic advantage to using four. For threaded footers under very narrow tower speakers, we recommend four only to add stability. Of course, use four when replacing four threaded factory feet."

http://shop.mapleshadestore.com/departments.asp?dept=96

You also need to get your speakers off the floor and onto maple platforms.

"MAPLE STANDS FOR FLOORSTANDING SPEAKERS

Concrete and plywood floors cripple the sound of your speakers. They muddy the bass, smear the midrange, and suck the life out of the treble. In fact, 90% of “room problems” are caused by bad-sounding floors. Instead of spending thousands on room treatments that address the wrong problem, here is a direct, evidence-based cure: drain the speakers’ vibrational energy, not into the problem floor, but into heavy maple bases rigidly mounted on the floor via massive brass feet.

Our 2" or 4" maple bases make a far cleaner sink for receiving and dissipating the speakers’ vibrations than flimsy, resonant ½" plywood flooring or, worst of all, concrete. Instead of accepting these vibrations, concrete, tile, and stone strongly reflect back almost all the vibrational energy out of phase and distorted. Equally toxic to good speaker sound are modern “engineered” wood floors, particularly floating floors that rest on rubbery insulating sheets. Carpet over concrete or plywood just worsens the situation.

To double the sonic upgrade of our maple stands, replace your speakers’ spikes or composite feet with our much more rigid brass Threaded Heavyfeet, Triplepoints, MegaMounts or Threaded Megafeet."

http://shop.mapleshadestore.com/departments.asp?dept=62

Alrighty then, I 'll go buy some brass bar stock and get the lathe a'spinnin. I've got a huge maple in the back that is kind of an eyesore too, off to the mill it goes. I'll try most any tweak, but the prices they want for "special" brass feet (sorry, "footers") is kind of crazy. I'm sure my 1.2tl's don't need the extra weight of brass under them to couple them to whatever is under them. 1/4"-20 threaded rod chucked in the drill and ground to a spike against the bench grinder works just fine. Maybe with the leftover brass I'll start sitting it on top of my amps to deaden those dreaded "electrical current vibrations" that are muddying up my sound.



BTW, I wasn't kidding about the brass bar stock, or the maple tree...

hearingimpared

I've had those footers from Mapleshade on my hit list for quite awhile. They are just too damned expensive right now for me to get them under all my gear. I'm also interested in the ones that go on top of the gear too.

superjunior

wish I had the space in my rack to give those a try - too tight as it is

BlueFox

hearingimpared wrote: »

I've had those footers from Mapleshade on my hit list for quite awhile. They are just too damned expensive right now for me to get them under all my gear. I'm also interested in the ones that go on top of the gear too.

True. I have Micropoints under the SACD/CD, DAC, Pre-amp, and power conditioner, and TriplePoints under both amps. Standalone brass weights are on the Wadia dock, and the upgraded Wadia power supply. The speakers are on 4" maple platforms, but I am still using stock speaker spikes. However, the spikes rest in brass Sonic Saucers from Audio Advisor.

Just doing that was an expense, but I really feel it made a positive effect. The last set of footers I added was to the power conditioner, and I swear it seemed as if the treble became more pronounced. Not bright, just more detailed.

Conradicles

This may sound silly but I put some ceramic cones Russman sent me under my PS3 and I swear the picture looks sharper.

bikerboy

Hi,
I have a concrete floor without carpet. So I made 3 wood blocks for each speaker and removed the mdf base on the sda-2a speakers. Made a huge difference in impact and blackness of the sound. I will have to try the spikes, but I dont think the 2.3s that I have now can use them. I will have to look. I know I need to reattach the base plate because they are loose. Would I be able to tighten the base plate if I remove the passive driver?

hearingimpared

bikerboy wrote: »

Hi,
I have a concrete floor without carpet. So I made 3 wood blocks for each speaker and removed the mdf base on the sda-2a speakers. Made a huge difference in impact and blackness of the sound. I will have to try the spikes, but I dont think the 2.3s that I have now can use them. I will have to look. I know I need to reattach the base plate because they are loose. Would I be able to tighten the base plate if I remove the passive driver?

Jeff, if you are referring to the passive radiator at the bottom of the cabinet, then the answer would be yes. Just remove the PR and you will be able to get your whole hand and arm into the cabinet.

When you do get around to spiking your speakers, the Mye Sound points are the way to go. You could use the smaller spikes on the 2As and the larger spikes on the 2.3s. Make sure you tell Grant you are a member of this forum.

https://myesound.com/Points_n_pads.html

hearingimpared

Conradicles wrote: »

This may sound silly but I put some ceramic cones Russman sent me under my PS3 and I swear the picture looks sharper.

Doesn't sound silly at all. I use Black Diamond Racing cones, made from carbon fiber, under my turntable and the results are nothing short of stunning.

adam2434

You guys have inspired me to spike my LS90s. I'm currently using the stock round feet.

These should thread right in to the existing inserts, being 1/4-20, right?

http://www.madisound.com/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=404_121&products_id=1047

They seem to be a pretty good deal for those that don't want to spend $10 per spike.

RyanJoz

www.oregondv.com has spikes of different thread patterns available. I got the 1.375" spikes because they fit in the holes in my a9's (with a little effort).

hearingimpared

adam2434 wrote: »

You guys have inspired me to spike my LS90s. I'm currently using the stock round feet.

These should thread right in to the existing inserts, being 1/4-20, right?

http://www.madisound.com/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=404_121&products_id=1047

They seem to be a pretty good deal for those that don't want to spend $10 per spike.

Not to burst your bubble but those look a little flimsy and not much mass but for the price go for it they may present a surprise.

Keep us posted.:)