qwerter Posted January 17, 2012 Share Posted January 17, 2012 (edited) We moved into the new house with timber floors that are not rock solid. I have a large floor standing speakers. What would be the best and economical way to isolate the speakers from the floor, as the whole room is active at the moment. Thanks in advance, Leo Edited January 17, 2012 by qwerter Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Krispy Audio Posted January 18, 2012 Share Posted January 18, 2012 I'd suggest having a solid plinth made (eg stone) the footprint of your speakers, spiked from the ground, then speaker on top of that (spiked too if it doesn't place them too high). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
qwerter Posted January 18, 2012 Author Share Posted January 18, 2012 Thanks, what about using some firm foam under the speakers? How will it affect the sound? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Krispy Audio Posted January 18, 2012 Share Posted January 18, 2012 It would certainly help and worth trying - assuming they're not floor-firing ports. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arg Posted January 18, 2012 Share Posted January 18, 2012 Get a BMX inner tube for each speaker, put it on the floor under a 600mm square concrete paver, with a speaker on top. Put only enough air in the tube to raise the paver 10-15mm off the floor. Should be no noticable loss in bass output, but check with a SPL meter 100mm in front of the bass cone, just to be sure. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Damien Collins Posted January 18, 2012 Share Posted January 18, 2012 Funny you should ask. I went to Jaycar today with a similar enquiry for a set of Wharfedale 9.1 bookshelves that needed to be vibration free.They have rubber feet you can buy for about $9 for a set of 4. I bought a set of rubber squares that have double sided tape $8. I would guess that your large floorstanders may be too large for that but Jaycar seemed to have a range of solutions. You could also try cutting some squashballs or superballs in two and then a plinth of some sort.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GFuNK Posted January 18, 2012 Share Posted January 18, 2012 (edited) You need the support (floor) to be as stiff as possible, solid plinth was a good suggestion, as long as the floor doesn't flex around it, then use some rubber mounts. Spikes mechanically couple, they do not isolate. Resilient mounts will not work as intended if your floor is flexing too much. If other bits of the room are resonating you need to stiffen them up somehow. Edited January 18, 2012 by GFuNK 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sir Triode Posted January 18, 2012 Share Posted January 18, 2012 I remember when I was living in QLD, someone I knew would use several cinder blocks to prop up the floor of his old Queenslander from underneath to stop if from flexing. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arg Posted January 18, 2012 Share Posted January 18, 2012 You need the support (floor) to be as stiff as possible, solid plinth was a good suggestion, as long as the floor doesn't flex around it, then use some rubber mounts. Spikes mechanically couple, they do not isolate.Resilient mounts will not work as intended if your floor is flexing too much. If other bits of the room are resonating you need to stiffen them up somehow. GFuNK, yours is the BEST solution but I assume it is not quite what the OP has in mind, as it does not "isolate the speakers from the floor". The solid plinth idea is good even though it doesn't isolate, because it is part of a suite of solutions that belong to the heading "let's make the speaker more massive so it doesn't vibrate as much in the first place". This approach also includes other options such as: filling the speaker base with sand or concrete; bolting extra wood or concrete panels to the sides and back of the speaker; and piling bricks or weights on *top* of the speaker. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GFuNK Posted January 18, 2012 Share Posted January 18, 2012 (edited) I'm confused, if you mean to mechanically isolate, ie, reduce vibration transmission to the floor it is simple. 1. Make floor structure as stiff as possible. The plinth suggestion was to stiffen up the floor. Large steel plate would work nicely . Care needs to be taken so that floor does not flex around it. 2. Stick rubber mounts between speaker support structure and speaker. If cabinets still vibrate, get softer mounts or add weight to speaker cabinet. Voila, speakers are mechanically isolated. Other bits of the room however, may still resonate through acoustic excitation. Edited January 18, 2012 by GFuNK Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Juicester Posted January 18, 2012 Share Posted January 18, 2012 in any case I'd say it's best to trial and see. certain speakers and subs can sound worse when they are spiked... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GFuNK Posted January 18, 2012 Share Posted January 18, 2012 Spiking provides a rigid connection to the floor, I'm not sure why you would want to do that... But, trial and error is a good suggestion, see what sounds best... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shmonk Posted January 18, 2012 Share Posted January 18, 2012 I'm confused, if you mean to mechanically isolate, ie, reduce vibration transmission to the floor it is simple.1. Make floor structure as stiff as possible. The plinth suggestion was to stiffen up the floor. Large steel plate would work nicely . Care needs to be taken so that floor does not flex around it. 2. Stick rubber mounts between speaker support structure and speaker. If cabinets still vibrate, get softer mounts or add weight to speaker cabinet. Voila, speakers are mechanically isolated. Other bits of the room however, may still resonate through acoustic excitation. I would have thought that putting some sort of isolating support directly under the speaker would be undesirable because it may allow the speaker box to move and therefore effect the performance of the speaker cones. Best approach might be to couple the speaker with spikes to a massive plinth (the greater the mass, the less the movement) made of a material like stone or concrete (as has been suggested) but then place some form of isolating support (rubber/felt/carpet/etc.) between the floor and the plinth to minimise transmission of vibration to the floor. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NT3 Posted January 18, 2012 Share Posted January 18, 2012 Go to your nearest concrete paver supplier and buy a couple of nice thick pavers. Along with spikes for your speakers will work a treat. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GFuNK Posted January 18, 2012 Share Posted January 18, 2012 As long as the supports are soft enough or the cabinet is heavy enough, the cabinet will have very low levels of vibration. Spiking the cabinet to a plinth and then sticking the plinth on a layer of isolation would add more weight to the structure which is good. This lowers the cabinet's rigid body resonance. Now this may surprise people but you get exactly the same effect by choosing softer isolators! But as I mentioned previously, if your floor is not stiff then it will flex and you loose the effectiveness of the isolation layer. You need a stiff support. I have no idea why people spike all their equipment, you may as well glue them down. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
speedgod66 Posted January 18, 2012 Share Posted January 18, 2012 i would recommend getting a couple of granite or marble blocks cut to slightly bigger than the speaker base an inch or so thick -looks awesome and sounds it as well -by all means spike the speaker as well -you will notice a massive improvement Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Telecine Posted January 18, 2012 Share Posted January 18, 2012 (edited) Just use spikes on your speakers. I don't know why anyone would want to mechanically isolate speakers from a floor. FWIW, I have run largish floosrtanding speakers on suspended wooden floors using spikes to great success. Edited January 18, 2012 by Telecine Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GFuNK Posted January 18, 2012 Share Posted January 18, 2012 Just use spikes on your speakers.I don't know why anyone would want to mechanically isolate speakers from a floor. To reduce excitation of cabinet resonances... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
speedgod66 Posted January 18, 2012 Share Posted January 18, 2012 here is one of my Infinity friends systems and you can see how serious he takes floor isolation http://www.lurcher.org/ukra/mike_g/mike_g.html -serious isolation ! Infinity RS1b mid/treble towers rewired in VdH cable and have been adapted for bi-wiring. The keyword of this system is isolation. Isolation from airborne and structural vibration: * The turntable rests on an Isoplat support which is in turn supported solely on three solid support rods which pass down freely down through the enclosure and floor and locked solidly into three under-floor 50 lb concrete bases. * The preamplifier and power supply are in turn isolated by using two tier support, the lower supported on air courtesy of Max Townsend supports and the upper via six magnetic repulsion units 'Air-Pods' (so effectively also supported 'on-air'). * The two bass towers are isolated from the suspended floor. 'Spiked' to their own below floor concrete block towers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GregWormald Posted January 18, 2012 Share Posted January 18, 2012 I'm with Shmonk. I suggest you want to stop the speakers from moving--either because the floor isn't solid enough to do so, or the floor moves with the music and feeds back into the speakers. A large mass under the speakers to which the speakers are spiked will stabilise the speakers and reduce movement of the cabinet caused by driver movement. If you then need to isolate the speaker+mass system from the floor, some very soft springing--thin, soft rubber foam, or a type of air suspension under the mass. Greg Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
qwerter Posted January 19, 2012 Author Share Posted January 19, 2012 Thanks for some good advices, will have to see what works best for me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Toisich-Jnr Posted January 19, 2012 Share Posted January 19, 2012 I went to a local memorial sculptor, bought a black granite headstone & got him to cut it into two. Looked cool. This was when we lived in a converted warehouse - had suspended ceilngs underneath the floor so lots of room to reesonate. Surplus to requirements at the moment but still got them. In this place I had to get a turntable shelf to isolate the tt & what a difference it made. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mashley Posted January 19, 2012 Share Posted January 19, 2012 FWIW I used these soundcare jupiter spikes with Infinity Ref. 50 floorstanders on a carpeted floor, and the improvement in bass clarity was quite noticeable. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guru Posted January 19, 2012 Share Posted January 19, 2012 not the most economical compared to $9 at jaycar but certainly the most effective device i have ever used under speakers is the aurios pro max coupling platforms. 3 under each speaker and you would think you were listening to a whole different system. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
emesbee Posted January 20, 2012 Share Posted January 20, 2012 Some spikes come with rubber feet, which you can optionally use. Is that isolating or coupling? Not sure. Maybe try spikes first and see if you have any floor resonance. Next step might be to mount the speakers on a solid plinth using spikes with rubber feet. I have a pair of large floor standing speakers sitting on a carpeted timber floor using spikes (without using the rubber feet). I haven't noticed any obvious resonance effects, and the spikes do provide some stability and protection against the speakers getting knocked over, seeing as they are somewhat top-heavy and on carpet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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