Footers under new speakers


Hi , I’m seeking advice regarding footers and/or platforms under my speakers. I purchased Tekton Double Impact’s and have heavy shag carpet and padding over a cement slab floor. House is 35 years old, cement is thick and well cured. I’m from that old mindset of spikes into cement and I am looking for an improvement. I’ve looked online at Gaia footers and Herbie's Studded Giant Gliders. I emailed Herbie’s and specifically inquired about the studded gliders alone on the DI’s over carpet. I asked about stability and was told the speakers were “ heavy enough “. Unfortunately I just set up the DI’s temporarily to get a little break in time. They are without any footers upright on my carpet. At 115 lbs the speaker does about zero to compress the carpet. I understand weight Vs footprint is abysmal but they won’t even stand straight. I’ll probably put the spikes on for a bit until I formulate a plan. But my first concern is that Herbie’s gliders alone are not enough and due to the minimum cost of the speakers I am struggling with purchasing Gaia’s footers and footer spikes. The seismic stands look exceptional, but I’m trying to be frugal. So I’m looking for suggestions like, gliders or dots with or without spikes on wood / stone plinths spiked to the floor. My goal is to try some sort decoupling (Gliders / Springs / Dots) AND eliminate the need of having to rely on the carpet being compressed. And yes I have cheap speakers and seek a cheap solution, so I get that limitation. Unfortunately I can’t afford Tannoy’s or Fynes to compliment my 180 watt tube mono blocs for at least a year. Cheers , Mike B. 

buellrider97

I'm using the oem spikes which sit on isolation discs.  Basically, two machined discs with carbon ball bearings between them.  My floor is carpet on concrete. I would guess that the discs prevent a lot of bass from going into the floor. 

@sls883 

Ever watched the videos where Max Townshend setup an accelerometer, A/B ing on concrete floor?

If removing vibrations make one's system sound bad, you have another issue.

 

I'm using the oem spikes which sit on isolation discs.  Basically, two machined discs with carbon ball bearings between them.  My floor is carpet on concrete. I would guess that the discs prevent a lot of bass from going into the floor. 

In the test we did at my friend's room, his speakers were on carpet on concrete, in the basement. We tapped on one speaker (left) and saw a jump on the right speaker, about 8 feet away. And this was with the Gaia III footers. After the speakers were on the Townshend podiums, we tapped again – and saw nothing. Really amazing to see how much comes across even a concrete floor!

No matter what you do that 1" of shag carpet and padding is going to impact (sic) stability. How about laying down one or two 24" off-the-shelf concrete patio slabs to act as a base? Then add your springs etc.

Thank you to everyone, I have a lot to consider. My carpet is too thick for anything within reason to totality flatten it. Also an afterthought is I’m on a slab on clay with next to zero drainage. My floors wick moisture year round and if an area with any size can’t breath it will mold. So I’ll need a spiked platform or something with a box footer and a couple hundred pounds of weight. I have a pair of 14”x14”X4” Timber Nation spiked platforms that I bought for my Zu Omens. They didn’t provide any improvement because for whatever reason my Omens loved the back loading the carpet provided Vs every size gap I tried. Even Sean from Zu couldn’t suggest a fix. It was one of those times a tweak was a huge negative. Is there a spike available for the Townsend Podiums ? Thanks, Mike.