My very heavy speakers came with 3 spikes per speaker....the floor is travertine tiles. Use or not use? (not for floor protection, but for sound improvement)
You can't easily get Herbie's products here in the UK so I make do with sorbothane or similar.
However, everything I've read about them seems to make straightforward sense. On a solid floor like yours they may be less effective than say on a suspended floor, but it will still depend largely upon the way your speakers have been constructed.
I use them with my Vandy Treo’s. I use them to protect my wood floors. I can’t say that they either help or hinder, as I would not put spike marks in my floor. They also help with moving and adjusting the speaker as they glide easily. FWIW, I’d be worried if those spikes could put a chip or make a crack in travertine. Bob
Use Herbie's cone/spike decoupling gliders. They work very well in isolating the speakers so they don't vibrate the floors. I also use them under my rack to isolate from floor borne vibrations. They will also protect your tile.
I added the Decoupling Gliders in brass a few months back to ride under the 3 spikes per speaker. I felt that they brought a nice touch fullness in the lower registers without losing musical definition, and the mids up seem a bit clearer, too. And they make moving my speakers a breeze, so for the money they are a great addition to my TAD CR-1's (which like getting more fullness down there).
I am curious to try the IsoAcoustic's Gaia's for comparison to see if they take these musical qualities further.
as I recall OP has 5a. I have used the Vandersteen spike shoes with five A, 7’s and the amps which are also spiked on both tile and hardwood to good effect. they are machined w felt and fit your cones, reasonable for made in USa, available thru your Vandersteen dealer
You guys will laugh,but I have little carriage bolts from the hardware store screwed in instead of spikes with felt pads on the bottom.Cheapo adjustable gliders:)
I use Herbie's gliders under my Wilson MAXX speakers to be able to move them on a hardwood floor. The use of the gliders did not change the sound at all. If I place my hand on the bottom of the speaker when played loud, I don't feel any vibration whatsoever due to the cabinet material and their weight, so that may be the reason they did not change sound. I really like them and recommend you give them a try; my guess is you won't send them back.
I use Herbie’s titanium Cone/Spike Puckies on three sets of speakers. They add a noticeable improvement to the sound quality. Tighter bass with better micro-dynamics.
In regard to JTCF's post above: I temporally used 8M carriage bolts with my Focal 726-floor standing speakers (two months) while I waited to receive my custom 8M spikes. As soon as I installed the spikes I noticed an immediate improvement with dynamics, sound stage, and bass. I believe you don't know what works until you try it.
I still have some gliders. They didn’t do much for me under equipment rack nor Sound Anchors for my speakers (laminate floor), but they protect the flooring fine :D
Put Herbie's giant pucks under spikes of Legacy Signature SE on suspended hardwood (parquet) floor. Sound appears more open than when on rubber feet, though this is preliminary and more positioning experiments are needed. Fortunately the pucks allow this to be done with no more effort than using frosted silicone mats, which looked a bit strange. On on the other hand, given Legacy's inexplicable indentation of the feet from the speaker corners, the flared Herbies produce the visual effect of refined cabinetry on silly little duck feet, ready to waddle off at any moment. Final judgment reserved until one of my candid and witty friends gets a hard look at this setup. (Herbie wanted a photo, but I can't upload to their response form).
You must have a verified phone number and physical address in order to post in the Audiogon Forums. Please return to Audiogon.com and complete this step. If you have any questions please contact Support.
