Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Home Theater Do I hv to put the spike on when the spk sit on

Do I hv to put the spike on when the spk sit on carpit? is there any benefits?

I think I understand your question if I read it correctly, and there have been many posts on this subject if you use the search tool.

Anyway, I don't believe you have to use the spikes on carpet, but I believe the purpose is to help the speakers stay in position, so when you play RAP music they won't slide around.....

I have also heard that the spikes help to seperate the speakers from the floor making them sound cleaner. I guess that there is some negative sound impact by having them "sunk" into the carpet (even if it is only a 1/8 of an inch)....

My father-in-law has a pair of nice tower speakers (can't remember the name off the top of my head) and he said that he could hear a slight difference when he put the spikes under them to lift them off of the carpet.

Maybe someone that has done it could give a first hand perspective.

Actually, I think the spikes help the speakers connect with the floor so they sound better. Supposedly if they just sit directly on the carpet, the bass might not be as tight because the speaker is able to vibrate against the threads of the carpet. With spikes, the speakers have a solid base and the bottoms won't shift at all.

By "connect" I assume that you mean to become more solidly placed, and not to be able to resonate through it. The sound can actually resonate the carpet and flooring, or become muffled if the floor/carpet "hold" the speaker too much.

Non-Expert Idea:
Take a speaker, and feel it with your hand while playing something. The resonation and "vibration" you feel is designed into the speaker. If you prevent the speaker itself from resonating by muffling it with carpeting or whatever, it will inpact sound. Now take the same speaker, and put it on spikes, your have "isolated" to some degree the speaker from the muffling of the carpet/flooring, and it can resonate better (improves clarity, stereo imaging, and bass response), but at the same time, the spikes provide grip to hold the speaker from moving around when you crank them up.

I dunno, like I said, this is just what I have read and not personally experienced. From several "sales" sites on the internet, they talk about these points of keeping them solidly in placeas well as seperating from the floor (less sound bleed into other rooms throught the floor and getting better sound.)

I hope others can respond with first hand experience because from the marketing stuff on the internet, it sounds like they are a great tweak for speakers, and if that is true, I may end up wanting some for my M60ti's when the come in...

Nick, M60's come with both spikes and rubber feet.

Your hypothesis about the spikes is basically correct, I think. It's like what Peter said. Using the spikes "couples" the speaker to the mass of the floor, instead of it being "uncoupled" by the isolation membrane that is the carpet. I don't know that I could hear a difference (don't care don't care don't care). However, it also raises the speaker an inch or so, which could be audible and desirable. Most of all, it keeps them in one place - you cannot slide the speakers at all after putting them into the carpet with spikes.

Plus, spikes are just cool. Metal pointy things. Oooh.

I dont remember for sure, but it seems like Alan or Joe said there was no audible difference between spike or rubber feet.
I just put the rubber feet on mine and they stay put quite well.

It's all about coupling. A speaker is a device that moves air to make sound, so it's subject to Newton's laws of motion. If there is movement of the speaker cabinet in addition to the movement of the speaker's drivers, some critical energy is lost. Thus, in theory, at least, the more rigid the speaker's platform, the more accurately the speaker can reproduce sound. Consider this - how would firing a cannon on solid ground compare to firing a cannon mounted on a canoe?

Empirically speaking, the improvement can be significant. Years ago, I bought a pair of Arcici Rigid Risers. I noticed the difference immediately. Even my tin-eared ex-wife noticed the difference.

BTW, if you use spikes on carpet, you must push them through the carpet so that they make solid contact with the solid flooring underneath.

tomtuttle said: "...spikes are just cool. Metal pointy things. Oooh."

But are they SHINY metal pointy things? Oooh, sparkly...

Damn Straight!!