Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Advice from Axiom Owners Sunfire Signature sobwoofer help

If anyone has found a nice solution to keeping the Sunfire True Subwoofer Signature in place on a hardwood floor, I'd love to hear about it. It's a little distracting to have a 50+ pound box hopping around during explosive movie moments. I have the included larger feet installed, but it's still moving around a bit and is probably going to scare my wife and guests (it already made the dog freak out). Without the big feet, it was moving during loud passages with me standing atop it (good way to make yourself queasy :-)).. Obviously I'd like something that would not destroy the floor (ash planks), but as is it's not going to be good for the floor so I'd take just about suggestion at this point short of something truly hideous-looking.

concrete blocks? oh hedious....I mean designer clean looking concrete blocks.

I'm just tossing out ideas here. Have you considered trying a square of carpet and some spikes?

I'm pretty sure the spikes would work their way through just about anything underneath that wasn't really hard. I just cleaned the floor really well underneath and the bottom of the feet, hopefully it'll be enough to keep it away from the wall for more than a movie viewing until I find a solution. I'm thinking something like industrial-strength double-sided tape under the feet, as long as it doesn't have oils or dyes that'll mark the floor. I remember having some stuff holding the rim of a truckbed liner to the bed a long time ago that from memory would be perfect (thick rubber stuff, sort of like wide and stiff rope caulk) but I haven't found anything like that yet.

I hadn't noticed this was such a big problem with my friend's borrowed Signature, probably because I was moving it around a lot.

two things brought about 99.99% of advancement in human civilizations. Big enough hammers and adhesives. I would
suggest glue in your case ;-) And of course I'm not serious.

What about couple of pounds of lead shot on top of it? Just make sure your dog doesn't eat it.

Last one: Early, big IBM disks looked like
big cupboards with platters rotating and heads moving
in them. There was an urban legend in IBM that a
guy wrote a piece of software that was accessing the
disks in a pattern that caused the head to hit
self-inducing-frequency (or whatever that's called
in english ;-) of the enclosure. So NSA has this
room full of them and it's high security and locked.
The programer runs somehow this software over-night
from a terminal in another room and
the disk walks away from the wall and unplugs itself.
The urban legend further claims that the security
guard that opened the maximum security vault in the
morning got so scared that he went mental ;-)

--- tony

Another crazy idea would be a fitted sand box, cover it with thin carpet and hold the sub's sides with thick rubber moulding.

I'm with prz.
Knit yourself a nice little sack with upholstery matching material and fill it with coarse sand. It would look like a throw pillow, just not on the couch.
You can even lend it to your sleepover guests as an ergonomic, new pillow design.

I don't think anything on top is going to help much, it's the contact with the floor that seems to be the problem. I weigh 165 lbs. and when standing on it, it still moved. But that was before I had put the larger feet on it. But I don't want 100+ lbs. of lead on the top; it's already sort of an ugly critter. :-)

I'm starting to think that just bigger feet (more contact surface) of a tackier material would serve my purpose. Maybe the diameter of a typical amp or receiver's feet (2" or so), and an inch tall. Hmm, the feet on my old Polks are pretty beefy, maybe I could just steal them from there...

When I first starting working in the software industry, there was an IBM mainframe in the machine room by my office which was on the way out but still running a few applications. I had no dealings with that machine, but I knew the IBM repair folks because they were the same people that dealt with our RS/6000 machines. One day one of them pulled me in to the machine room to show me what happens when one of those old mainframe disks goes bad. Pieces of platter everywhere. :-)

Is this problem fairly common when you place a sub on a well-polished hardwood floor? I do not think my Hsu VTF-3 is going nowhere, placed on the stone tile floor. Perhaps, the Sunfire is too powerful or too light (no way!), or its feet are too slippery ???

dwm:

If putting additional weight on top does not help, how about dampening the effects of the sub "hitting" the ground? Maybe you can try replacing the feet with vibrapods or something similar? Don't know how that will affect the sub sonically though.

dwm,
This sub certainly sounds like it is out of control. It weighs in at 57lbs and you are another 165.
Very few subs with a 12" driver should be able to physically move such a device.
Have you contacted the people at Sunfire about this to see if they have any suggestions?

I don't think it's all that common. The EP350 didn't budge, but it also doesn't extend below 20Hz like the Sunfire Signature. I think this problem is specific to the Sunfire... it's fairly heavy, but it's also very powerful and the driver excursion is extreme. All that EMF to do what it does in a small enclosure translates to it wanting to move. The pre-installed feet are definitely too slippery, I don't know how you'd use them effectively on any surface (too slippery for hardwood, way too shallow for carpet). The second set of feet included are much better, but I've still got some movement.

It wouldn't bother me all that much if I weren't about to leave for the Kentucky Derby. Part of the enticement for the house sitter (a good friend) is our A/V system, which he enjoys. I'd be really bummed out if I returned from the Derby to find the subwoofer had gnawed away at my drywall or the driver had been bouncing off of the wall. I've only had it a few days, I want it to still be pristine when I return but I want my house sitter to enjoy himself.

I'd bet that the EP350 feet would work wonderfully on the Sunfire Singature for me. Hmm, I wonder if there's some way for me to order EP350 feet without ordering another EP350... I just need the rubber, not the bolts.

dwm,

Have you considered using a non-slip carpet pad? I have the ones that look like they are made from rubber (from Home Depot) under my rugs on a polished hard wood floor and I have to exert quite a bit of strength to get them to move. You can cut them to size. Essentially you need something to increase the friction between the legs of the sub and wooden floor.

Good luck.

I haven't contacted Sunfire, if only because I'm pressed for time this week. It's only out of control in loud listening, but if my house sitter decides to watch U-571...

Like you, I didn't expect it to move much. I guess I was naive even though I had read of some other people bolting it to patio blocks (which for me would defeat the purpose, i.e. low space consumption).

That's a good idea, and one I should've thought of myself since there's a huge tacky rubber pad under the 8x12 oriental rug in the same room. I guess it's been a long time since I've lifted the rug, not surprising since there's a 300+ lb. travertine table on it (not fun to move).

Thanks!

Another option might be to use an older neoprene type mouse pad if you can find one. They are about 1/4 of an inch thick. You could cut it up into four pieces. That might dampen it enough, assuming it works at all. It would be cheap. Ask around to see if anyone has an old one laying around the house or office.

dwm, beware of the "huge tacky rubber pad" because it may damage the wood floor if it is the wrong material. We had one (9X12) that left a gummy film on the wood that had to be remove with mineral spirits. The pad had been there for about two years before I discovered the "gummy film".

Another option is kitchen drawer non-slip padding (great for large knives/utensils, and woodworking).
It looks something like carpet underpad but is much thinner, "stickier", comes in many colors, readily available almost anywhere, and it's very cheap.
Just my 'two-cents' worth.

hey 1Pha;

If you are talking about that off white rubber material with lots of perforations I used to use it on top of a microwave to prevent slippage on the stainless steel top. After 2 years some of the sticky substance melted and seem to bond rather well to the stainless steel top and to this day the top of the microwave still has many sticky gummy blotches. Even a scouring pad did not help to remove it.

No worries here. Ours has been in place for 4 years and it hasn't caused any problems. I lifted 1/3 of the wool rug (the part without furniture on it :-)) and pad today to check it out. It might be the same material, but our floor planks are of the factory-finished type so it was essentially chemically inert by the time it was laid. Was your floor pre-finished or finished after installation?

Our pad is only rubber on one side (the floor side), the carpet-facing side looks sort of like wool held together with a soft adhesive (very fibrous, multiple colors but mostly medium gray). I don't think I had ever really looked at it before today, the store from which we bought the rug delivered and laid it on the floor while I was at work. The rug wasn't expensive (Karastan machine-woven wool), so I'm glad that it appears that the rug store did the right thing (the floor is worth much more than the rug :-)).

Are you talking about the thick drawer liner stuff? A checkerboard weave kind of pattern? If you want to get that stuff off, try 3M's "Adhesive, Tar and Wax Remover". You'll find it at auto parts stores, and I seem to use it more for miscellany than I do for road tar or anything else on the car. It'll eat just about any adhesive instantly and is a wonderfully gratifying product to use when you think you've run out of less chemically offensive ideas. One small can will last you near a lifetime. Be warned that it has a very powerful scent; don't use it in the kitchen right before dinner unless you like to irritate your cohabitants. :-) Cotton balls seem to work best for application, and you don't need much (just wet one side of the cotton ball). It's safe for most paints, and will be no danger to polished stainless steel.

I thought of that right after the carpet pad suggestion, since I've got a dozen old mouse pads. But I'm shooting for one big piece for all 4 feet; it'll help prevent the dog from thinking about stealing it. :-) I don't have a mouse pad big enough to cover all 4 legs.

1pha,we did change to something similar to what you describe. It came in 6'X 9' sheets from Garden Ridge. It seems to be working out fine. Thanks for the "two-cents" worth.

Glad to hear that your pad hasn't caused any problems. My wood planks are also of the factory pre-finished type. The non skid pad that caused the problem was an older type that apparently isn't used much anymore. As I recall, it was rubber or rubber like on both sides. None the less, it went out with the trash the next day.

Someone over at the Outlaw Audio forum says he has one of these under his sub... might be worth a shot if you haven't found a solution yet.
http://www.auralex.com/sound_isolation_gramma/sound_isolation_gramma.asp

Hi dwm,

Just a thought: try four of those squishy rubber balls that you can get to relieve stress? They have a quality that might effectively decouple the sub from the floor. I used to recommend them for decoupling turntables troubled by feedback and floor bounce in old homes. They worked well in that application.

Regards,

Flex Flooring might be a very inexpensive solution to vibration problems. I used it to solve a vibration problem with an antique oscillating fan.

Flex Gym flooring is available at most sporting goods stores or online. 2-ft x 2-ft squares x 1/2" thick pieces interlock and/or can be cut to fit any shape very easily.

Very, very cheap. Looks good, feels good to the feet as well--I redid my bathroom floors with it.