Spikes - On speaker or speaker stand???

[all4music]

slightly OT:
spikes on the speaker stand help me level the stands since the floor in the living room is not flat. but after placing my speakers on stand, they sound kinda 'thin' when compared to them being placed on a particle board table with metal cross legs.
also, is it best to 'suspend' speakers with a wire if it's all about isolating the vibrations from speakers?

 

[keith_correa]

well keith
this is something i DONT agree with

polymers UNDER a speaker stand do not sound good and have hardly wroked well for me
they infact push virations back into the speaker
NOR to the effectively drain them

That was meant as a joke, Ali.

BTW, sorbothane is supposed to be very effective in draining vibrations by turning them into heat. Right next to the source and inexpensive to implement too! Better than the vibrations travelling down the stand [with or without spikes et al] and then draining away or in the case of concrete floors - attempting to drain away.

 

[Thad E Ginathom]

Speaker Spikes and Cones Whats the point? | Audioholics

...says it all.

No, spikes do not isolate. If you wanted to isolate a thing, would you nail it to its support? But they may serve other purposes as described in that excellent article.

Like making holes in your floor

And no, they don't isolate speakers from European wooden-boards-on-joists floors either. Very much not. I miss the bass through the backside experience that that combination provides, which is entirely absent from our Indian ceramic-on-concrete floors.

 

[keith_correa]

No, spikes do not isolate.<snip>

Absolutely correct! They transmit/funnel energy!

 

[panditji]

Hmmm...hope they even out the speaker stands then and also make them look good...

 

[magma]

That was meant as a joke, Ali.

BTW, sorbothane is supposed to be very effective in draining vibrations by turning them into heat. Right next to the source and inexpensive to implement too!

possibly correct and debatable in case of placing under equipment ( other than stands and racks )

Better than the vibrations travelling down the stand [with or without spikes et al] and then draining away or in the case of concrete floors - attempting to drain away.

hmm...
now this ...
i dont belong to this school of thought though

 

[keith_correa]

<snip>next to the source<snip>

When I said "source", I meant the source of the vibration [speakers, in this case] and not the audio term - "source".

 

[ravi_d]

My speaker stands have cones on the bottom and have provision for spikes on the top. Not a fan of spikes between speakers and stand as they damage the bottom surface where the speakers come in contact with the spikes. I use the cones though to level the stands on the floor.

For the top part I use blu tack between the speakers and the stand. I take a pack of blue tack cut them and make into eight equal balls. I place those blue tack balls on four corners of the stand and place the speakers on them and apply pressure firmly using elbow/forearms on the speakers till the blue tack crushes and the gap between the speaker and the stand becomes about half. Then at that point the speakers gets stuck to the stand and both behave as a single unit and if you try to tilt the speaker alone then the stand also tilts along to some point as if the stand is bolted to it. At times I manage to lift the stands (about 6-7 kg each) too just holding and lifting the speakers alone.

Blu tack never dries and they work for me, I mean at least the speaker sits firmly on the stand without any damage to the base and you don't have to worry to some extent about tipping the speakers off the stands. And you can remove the speakers easily by holding the stand base firmly with your foot and moving the speaker side to side. You can reuse blu tack again and again for few years.