Spikes on carpet.

hello guys,

this is probably a really naive question but I have always had wooden floors till now.

just moved and my new flat has fluffy carpet in the living room. the spikes of the speaker stands disappear in it.

any idea of what is the best approach to have spikes on a fluffy carpet floor? (best sounding, rather than best for the floor, although i don't want to make wholes in the carpet)

my options are:
a) leave spikes directly on the carpet
b) put coins under the spikes (i tried this and it is rather hard to move them as they get quite wobbly - it is rather fluffy the carpet! )
c) get a slab of granite or marble to go between the spikes and the carpet.

your experiences and advice very appreciated. thanks a lot!

:beer:
Jack

 

As far as I'm concerned the sole point of spikes (rather than bigger non-spiked feet) on speakers is to pass through carpet to give the speakers a solid base on the wood/concrete underneath. Balancing the spikes on coins always sounds daft to me, unless you're worried about damaging the carpet. The pile on virtually any carpet will close up any holes once the speakers are removed though I don't really think that's an issue (I've used spikes in two rented flats without issue).

 

Put the spikes directly on to the carpet. Leave for 5 years. Move and hoover. You won't see any holes believe me. Done it.

Bob

 

spikes on a wooden floor as opossed to spikes on a solid floor can have two totally different effects to speakers and the sound they creat.
im no expert but i do believe that spikes on a wooden floor will cause the wooden floor to absorb vibrations whereas spikes on a solid floor will reflect vibrations keeping them in the cabinate.
anyone care to comment on this as this is only a theory and i may be speaking from the anus.

 

You want the best sounding solution? Get rid of the spikes altogether and sit your speakers directly on those granite slabs.

 

The benefit of having adjustable height feet (whether spiked or not) is you can adjust these to give a stable support, reducing the effect of any micro-rocking resulting from a non-perfectly flat floor meeting a non-perfectly flat speaker base. If I was using granite slabs (as I do actually) I would still use spikes for precisely this reason.

 

Seems that I was overly worried about the carpet.
I will put the speakers straight on the carpet and go on your advice. Hopefully the wholes will disappear once I hoover it.

I was always told that a carpeted room was acoustically better than a wooden floored room because of sound reflections, so I am quite pleased to have carpet now.

The system sounds better to my ears already, but it is hard to tell if it is room geometry/different furniture arrangement or the floor itself. Probably a bit of both.

As for wood vs. solid/concrete slabs underneath I can't say I've tried both, and as I am no expert my guess is as good as yours, but unless wood has more absorbing capabilities than concrete or marble than the reflections should be the same. Perhaps the key is in the materials used then... Cork would be better?

Cheers!
Jack

 

You'll get reflections from boundaries of materials of differing acoustic impedence, which depends on both the materials density and the speed of sound propagation within it. How much energy is transmitted and how much reflected depends on how big the impedence mismatch is. So yes it does depend on the materials used.

 

I see. That's very interesting. I don't suppose it is easy to measure this impedance... are these values available? It would be interesting to see which materials have the best absorbing capabilities... and therefore the least reflective of the sound around them.

cheers!
Jack

 

ive found mdf to be very good over marble and glass.
but one mans poison is another mans meat....

 

Rob.... those milk bubbles are soooooooooooooooo distracting..... i sit and watch them for ages.......

 

these are quite nice as well.

 

but not good for those of us viewing at work.

 

why's that penance , i can get rid of em if their causing any prob's.

 

well most companies dont appreciate staff viewing anything vaguely porn related.
Sackable offence where i work.

 

no worry's fella , i'll sort it.