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I’d have to imagine rubber feet produce a different sound than spikes and each has their uses, and then there’s always personal taste. I always thought these Gliders from Herbie’s were a neat alternative to spikes as they allow for easy movement and also provide some meaningful isolation, and users give them high marks for both convenience and sonic improvements. That they’re relatively cheap is an added bonus. |
I tend to agree that isolation pucks and spikes are generally worthless, except for turntables obviously. There is a good benefit to put in cushions under the feet of your subwoofers to avoid vibrating things in your room indirectly through the floor. And maybe some cushy feet under your main speakers for the same rationale. But to say there is discernible sonic improvement from all this isolation crap especially on components is just insane. Quintessential snake oil. Positive reinforcement benefits, most likely. I guess there is some value to that. If it makes you feel better go ahead and buy it. |
@emergingsoul There’s not one thing you said that I agree with. Not one. |
Interesting thread in that you first asked the question almost three years ago and based on your post today it seems you maybe tried some stuff and came to your own conclusions since first posting. Related to your comment about "cushions under the feet of your subwoofers...and speakers...to avoid vibrating things in your room indirectly through the floor", some here believe springs and/or elastomeric materials do a good job of that. I have had good luck with springs, Herbie’s products, and with these elastomer footers (for a lot less money than the other options) that can be sized for anything from large/heavy speakers or subwoofers to electronics and peripherals. |
I buy lots of stuff and even after trying it I’m willing to concede that it’s not a good idea to buy some of the stuff. I use sliders underneath my bookshelf speakers and under Center channel amplifier feet, because it’s easier to move them around. I also use acoustical tiles underneath my speaker feet so I can move them around more easier. Only 10 bucks a game changer for the tiles. Impresses people when it’s so easy to move around the speaker. Yes it's simply genius |
Clearly, based upon the thread above, aside from all the marketing rhetoric, spikes have limited value in an audio set up. Putting spikes underneath an amplifier is nuts and provides no discernible sonic change. Isolating a turntable makes sense for obvious reasons. Using spikes versus rubber feet underneath speakers provides questionable benefit. Isolation pucks can be obtained fairly cheaply for about 40 bucks so not a big deal to do it. glorified overpriced isolation stuff is generally A waste of money and provides no sonic benefit that's discernible. Positive reinforcement clearly runs rampant in this area. |
"glorified overpriced isolation stuff is generally A waste of money and provides no sonic benefit that's discernible. Positive reinforcement clearly runs rampant in this area." I really don't know if you are serious when you say blatantly ignorant things, (this isn't the first time) or you're trying to be provocative. It has been clearly said by myself and others who are far more experienced that vibration control products from companies like Townshend, Live Vibe and many others make a profound difference in the performance of speakers as well as electronics. Why don't you try one or more of them instead of making uninformed statements?
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+1 @roxy54 I’m at the point where I’m just gonna ignore future emergingsoul threads — dude’s out of it and just way just out there, and where that is I have no idea and I don’t wanna know. Had enough of this nonsense. Peace out. |
I’m not debating the quantum level effects of what spikes do. Clearly you can measure anything to death and confuse an issue. I read the article referred to above and it’s another one of these articles that is incredibly confusing and difficult to follow. At the end it does say ‘isolation is easy to perceive’ so I guess it must be true. It all boils down to this single comment, which really needs a lot more clarification I think in light of everything that was said in this article. I believe the article does say spikes are pretty senseless. I am failing to see anyone who has ever really said there are discernible sonic benefits to using isolatIon peripheral equipment. |
Some loudspeakers benefit substantially from spikes. If the manufacturer has a good reputation and has supplied spikes, they should at least be tried. My Spendor D7.2's sound better in my room with the supplied spikes than with Gaia’s. I have hardwood floors and assumed the Gaia’s would best the spikes. Nope. Take a look at the latest S’Phile and the review of the Focals on the cover. The reviewer tried Gaia’s that I believe, conversely, were supplied by Focal but the reviewer, in his room, found the sound clearly more focused with spikes. It is a complete head-scratcher that so many of the folk on this forum accept as Gospel that an inert enclosure a la Magico is superior to an intentionally resonant enclosure such as utilized by Harbeth, and yet various methods of coupling the loudspeaker to the floor are considered snake oil. As time goes on I find less and less motivation to express my opinions on this Board. I look at your virtual systems and you have expensive loudspeakers like Magico’s pushed right up agains the wall with a huge TV panel on the wall in the middle and I think of the kids in my neighborhood who pop-rivet huge spoilers on their aging Honda Civics with obnoxious straight-pass mufflers. My analogy is flawed but my point, I hope is made.To a few of you. |
For my speakers i used damping with concrete plates ... 😁 Then i used for each box speakers two tunable set of springs ( by varying the damping load over them all ) one under the speakers and one set under the tunable load of concrete +varying load in grams for fine tuning by ears the timbre perception ... It is not practical to do this in a living room ...But as i already said the most important component is a dedicated room not a costly amplifier...😊 But the results were stunning ...Not only vibrations decrease but resonance change for the best ... To this add a sandwich set of various platforms under the set of speakers of mixed materials including sorbothane between granite plates , bamboo plate and cork plate and quartz feet in the bottom ( quartz sand in a box will be better but more costly ) ...This was very efficient as it was anyway ... All components being on my very large desk ...No comparison in clarity and timbre between before and after .... Costs : 16 chineese small cylinders set of 7 springs in each.... low cost +peanuts for the various plates and sorb ... Way less than most well known isolation product sold and better results than most especially with the tuning damping load of the speakers and springs asymmetrical in relation to the load ... i dont think any spikes at any cost could do the job i did for less money than some...As demonstrated in the very good article above... I never used spikes ... For my actual very smaller speakers, i used damping too and concrete plate with bamboo plate, shungite plate with sorbothane ... Vibrations is less destructive with them...😊
All my devices are experimented homemade... for me audio is about the ratio S.Q. versus price then audio is about learning and experiments not about price tag ... Creating our own solutions cost less , is more gratifying, it is more fun to think and experiment and at the end we learn how to confide in ourself more than in marketing for many things related to mechanical, electrical and acoustical embeddings control... I cannot design a dac or speakers or amplifiers but i can embed them optimally and even modifying them and i did with my headphones and speakers... Those who said that you cannot trust your ears said in fact that it is useless to train them by experiments and that the only way is "plug and play" always costlier components by upgrades... I will qualify these peoples by a name i will let you imagine... 😉😊 I say that to motivate beginners in fun experiments and learnings... No necessary upgrades BEFORE understanding why and how...
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