Spikes

[BWLover]

Hey guys. What exactly do speaker spikes do? Is there any sonic benefit or are they just to pierce thru carpet to support them better?

[htsteve]

BWLover,

I've had tower speakers for awhile now, and I always use spikes or stands (once I discovered the benefits).

The spikes or stands (I use Sounds Anchors on my 804S's in the rear) isolate the speaker. It provides a better foundation for the speaker to operate from.

Think also of your subwoofer or bass from other speakers. Those vibrations will leak into the speakers. Vibration is the enemy of sound.

In ALL cases, I've noticed an improvement in going to spikes or stands.

Even the 802D's, which have nice base on them, I noticed a nice improvement across the board when I installed the optional spikes. Also, even as heavy as 802d's are, there was a little wiggle to them. There is none once the spikes went on.


Hope this helps.

[PewterTA]

Spikes do both of the things you said. They help to pierce the carpet and provide more support as well as help isolate the cabinet from the floor. This causes (normally) much tighter bass from the speaker as the energy from the drivers does not go into the floor and vibrate the floor or walls as easily which messes with the the bass response. I found that best solution for me was to put a piece of wood down on the carpet (would like to get maple, but that's another story), then put the speakers on spikes on top of the wood. In between the bottom of the spike and the wood I used 8 quarters so the spikes would not drive into the wood. This has given me the best bass response I've ever had...nice and tight and full and just really something to hear over what it had been.

I definitely suggest trying it if you have not, I think you'll be pretty surprised by the improvements!

[BWLover]

Currently I have the speakers on the spikes directly onto the tile floor that is adhered to the concrete floor.

[bigburner]

Spikes do a great job of damaging your timber floor so if you have a timber floor as I do then I can strongly recommend the rubber feet that B&W supplies for people like me.

Nigel.

[madmac]

My speakers came with spikes with optional rubber covers for the tips. I have hard wood floors so I use the rubber tip covers. It's true that these spikes reduce and pretty much eliminate floor vibrations.....which of course are bad!!. The only sound you want to hear is what comes out of the speakers, NOT rattling floors and windows!!.

[BWLover]

Ya I should be using the rubber feet. But I looked at the damage they did to my floor (waxed tile) it was barely noticeable. My landlord won't notice that should I move out. Plus it looks pretty cool / slick being able to see the entire spike.

[audioqueso]

The point of spikes is not to prevent external factors from vibrating (floors, etc). The point is to prevent any vibrating from affecting the speakers.
How does a traditional speaker work? Vibrations from coils, correct? The slightest of any outside vibration does effect the accuracy of the sound waves produced.

Think if an archer was aiming for the perfect target, but vibrations on the floor were causing the archer to move in the slightest form, but enough to make the archer lose focus.

Much simpler explanation, but same idea.

[Kal Rubinson]

The point of spikes is not to prevent external factors from vibrating (floors, etc). The point is to prevent any vibrating from affecting the speakers.
How does a traditional speaker work? Vibrations from coils, correct? The slightest of any outside vibration does effect the accuracy of the sound waves produced.

Think if an archer was aiming for the perfect target, but vibrations on the floor were causing the archer to move in the slightest form, but enough to make the archer lose focus.

Much simpler explanation, but same idea.

I didn't know that. :roll:
My understanding is that spiking has two goals.

One is to provide a really stiff fixation for the speaker box to the floor so that the internally generated movement of the drivers do not cause the box to move and generate spurious sound.

The other is to isolate any such internally-generated low frequency energy from being passed to the floor which, in many cases, is flexible and resonant and, thereby, prevent the floor from generating spurious sound.

[mickster1972]

My understanding is that speaker spikes help to couple the loudspeaker to the floor, not isolate it. I agree with the explanation given at audioholics.com, based on my own experience with using spikes:


"By having spikes on the base of the stand .... we allow the speaker stand to ‘grip’ the floor under the carpet. As a result, we can expect the spikes to reduce how much the speaker and stand wobble around, particularly at low frequencies. Unwanted vibrations or shaking of the speaker box and stand at low frequencies could then be reduced. By holding the speaker more firmly we may alter or assist its ability to radiate low frequencies. In addition, the floor may now act as a secondary radiator or medium to convey sound vibrations to the listener. Hence spikes under a stand may well have an effect we can sense, not because they “isolate” vibrations, but for precisely the opposite reason! To do so, however, they need to effectively penetrate through the carpet so the stand can grip the floor underneath. "

From "Speaker Spikes and Cones - What's the Point?" by Jim Lesurf, found at http://www.audioholics.com/education...019s-the-point

Personally, I used speaker spikes on both my HT subwoofer and my 2-channel system's full range speakers and have noticed a tighter bass response in both systems. It's not miraculously different, but it is definitely an improvement. of course, you may still have other bass issues due to room nodes that you will need to deal with via bass traps or filtering. Hope that helps.

-Sean