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Speaker spike feet?

I recently acquired a nice older hifi system with Aerial Acoustics 7B tower speakers.I am not an audiophile. The speakers have heavy iron bases on them but there are no feet of any sort on these bases. I emailed the owner/designer at Aerial and he sent me a schematic of the bases which show that they originally had spike feet. He said he could provide the spikes at minimal cost. I was afraid to ask what minimal meant since I seem to remember that these bases cost $400 when new. (I'm still getting accustomed to what things cost in the audiophile world.)

I am wondering if I really need the spikes. These speakers sit on a carpeted floor with hardwood on typical joist construction floor. They sound quite good to me but if spikes would help in any way and I can get them cheap then I will do so.

I'll ask Aerial how much theirs cost but I'm pretty sure that stainless steel tripod (for photography) spikes will fit the 3/8-16 threads in these bases. The cost would be about $40 for those. Maybe the actual Aerial ones wouldn't cost any more but they are longer and look very sharp which makes me wonder about floor/carpet damage since these speakers weigh around 110 pounds each.
n80

Showing 2 responses by ieales

ieales's avatar
ieales
1,201 posts
 
Spikes must pierce the carpet. Position without the spikes and then set once satisfied with location.

Spike geometry, as long as they are sufficiently robust for 100lb speakers, is largely marketing hype / bias confirmation.

Be aware that very sharp spikes will 'eat' into all but the most robust flooring.

Any discontinuity in the flooring such as warp, knots, heart vs sap wood, etc. can cause imbalance. Therefore, adjustment capability is a necessity.


ieales's avatar
ieales
1,201 posts
 
For audio cones, the way the rating of materials vs sound quality works is the HARDER the material the faster energy exits the system.
ROTFLMFAO!  We have a 100 pounds of MDF wobbling about in space and the 1µS delta between a 1 inch aluminum vs beryllium spike is audible?

Spikes couple the speaker to the floor providing a more rigid plane for the drivers.
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