Spikes for very heavy speakers


Andrea II at 215lbs each - they come with spikes but my question is..... Since I will be placing them in my basement which has concrete slab....should I first get a small piece of thick solid wood...say 1inch think and place them on such a wooden platform or do you think it is OK to have the spikes direct on the concrete.... 
My only concern is of course that under such weight and no normal flexibility like you get with wood floors or even thick carpet - the tips of the spikes may bend slightly or the surface may chip making the speaker unbalanced / uneven...
I am not talking about significant crack or anything like that... but say even 1/16inch "dimple" 

thanks !
ether
Whichever way they bend or wear down or whatever really won't matter because speakers vibrate so much they just keep working their way down until they're good and solid and stable. It can take a while, but it happens. That's not your problem. Your problem is to figure out what will sound the best. Which is something no one here can possibly say. But you can figure it out easily enough for yourself.

The easiest/fastest way of doing this, get yourself some wood, some MDF, acrylic, plastic, sorbothane, whatever. Cut these into circles or squares a couple inches across. Circles work better than squares, but this is another one you can try and hear for yourself. Thickness matters too. A good approach would be compare the materials all in whatever thickness you have. Then when you've found the best maybe fine tune by comparing 1/4" MDF with 1/2" MDF, for example.

If you do this I can just about guarantee you will hear differences between everything you try, that each one will have its strength and its weakness, and even that you'll be able to combine them in layers or by using say two MDF and two acrylic under each speaker to have things average out closer to what you want.

That's what I did. Even bothered to compare the little threaded screw that holds the spikes on the speaker. Stainless sounds better than brass or plain steel. To my ears. Yours, who knows? Which is why no matter what it always comes down to the same thing: go and listen.




I have carpet over pad on a concrete floor. The spikes go all the way through. I wouldn't hesitate to run them directly on concrete. Using the OregonDV xl spikes and the speaker is probably 125 lbs per.
Just to clarify - my current question and concern is around feasibility of spikes "biting" into concrete.
My last speakers were 95lbs....and I had no problem resting them on spikes but now I am just not sure if 4 tiny points holding 215 lbs against concrete was the best approach.
I wouldn't hesitate if I had wooden floors (knowing they will just dig in as far as they can) but with concrete slab I thought I might not be able to provide proper stability via spikes 

I am guessing maybe I am just over-analyzing it ......
@ether, is your entire floor in the room you will be listening to music in all concrete or is part of it carpeted?

only where the equipment rests is bare floor..... rest is carpeted.....I know....I know... this would be some crazy echo chamber if it was all concrete
Audio Points may be an option here. There are a set that can handle upto 450lbs and you can add the coupling disks or APC-D4 invert to protect the spikes from bending. I should add they also make significant improvement to the sound.   Good luck
I think you also have to take into account 215/4= 53lb is aprox what each spike see's (speakers are not evenly weight distributed) not really too much when you look at it like that. 

If it were me I'd get some ISO acoustic footers for your speakers they do wonders I'm my system and they are not that expensive. Just get the ones for your speaker weight as they will need to support that 53lb each. 

If your really concerned and want to go very cheep go to a local machine shop and get them to turn off some metal discs (brass for example) with a dimple in them for under your spikes. that's the lest expensive way to get floor protection. 

I never understood why people here never think to use here local machinist for many of our simpler metal work.  most seem to want to buy some expensive thing with a fancy name, made in another country then use a local shop to make the same thing or better for 1/4 the cost.
In addition to the concerns expressed around using spikes, you may also want to consider some options which allows for an easi(er) mechanism to move them around to better optimize their placement. A friend of mine is utilizing small wheels under his Wilsons on his ceramic tile-over-concrete basement floor with no discernible negative impact on the sound quality.
Since I will be placing them in my basement which has concrete slab ....should I first get a small piece of thick solid wood...say 1inch think and place them on such a wooden platform or do you think it is OK to have the spikes direct on the concrete....
Straight into the concrete slab, the best way.
Adjust the spikes so there's absolutely no back and forward "even minuscule" rocking.

Cheers George