On 21 Aug, 11:32, James Harris wrote:

My speakers have four spikes beneath them which makes it a pain to
move the speakers even slightly as the length of at least one spike
has to be adjusted to make all four rest on/in the floor. (The floor
is solid - maybe concrete - and not wood.)


Anyone heard of a kit to convert four spikes to three? It would have
to fit beneath the existing arrangement as I don't want to modify the
speakers (which are Dynaudio Audience 62 floorstanders).


I'm thinking of something like a heavy duty plate with four solid
fittings above and three below. I suppose an alteration to the sound
is inevitable but would avoid scrap the idea if it has too much
effect.


An alternative is to put paving slabs on top of the carpet beneath the
speakers. They should be heavy enough to not move and also present a
more uniform surface for the speakers though even that would not be
perfect. The slight problem here is the slabs sold by the local stores
are fairly lightweight.


Any ideas?

Widening the net a little....

James

In article
,
James
Harris wrote:
On 21 Aug, 11:32, James Harris wrote:

My speakers have four spikes beneath them which makes it a pain to
move the speakers even slightly as the length of at least one spike
has to be adjusted to make all four rest on/in the floor. (The floor
is solid - maybe concrete - and not wood.)

I'd agree that three spikes are rather more practical than four. But afraid
I don't know of any kits for the below.

I'm thinking of something like a heavy duty plate with four solid
fittings above and three below. I suppose an alteration to the sound
is inevitable but would avoid scrap the idea if it has too much effect.


An alternative is to put paving slabs on top of the carpet beneath the
speakers. They should be heavy enough to not move and also present a
more uniform surface for the speakers though even that would not be
perfect. The slight problem here is the slabs sold by the local stores
are fairly lightweight.

TBH I have my doubts about such 'slabs' under 'spikes' being of much use.
Have a look at http://www.audiomisc.co.uk/cones/speak.html to see why I
have doubts about that. You might be better with a layer of something
squidgy like 'Blu Tak' between speaker and a heavy slab. Or just don't
bother. I've missed the previous parts of the thread is this is the first
posting on this thread I've seen, so I wonder why you think the 'spikes'
are desirable at all...


Any ideas?

Widening the net a little....

Open the window wider and.... :-)

Slainte,

Jim

--
Electronics http://www.st-and.ac.uk/~www_pa/Scot...o/electron.htm
Armstrong Audio http://www.audiomisc.co.uk/Armstrong/armstrong.html
Audio Misc http://www.audiomisc.co.uk/index.html

On Mon, 24 Aug 2009 01:34:32 -0700 (PDT), James Harris
wrote:

My speakers have four spikes beneath them which makes it a pain to
move the speakers even slightly as the length of at least one spike
has to be adjusted to make all four rest on/in the floor. (The floor
is solid - maybe concrete - and not wood.)


Anyone heard of a kit to convert four spikes to three? It would have
to fit beneath the existing arrangement as I don't want to modify the
speakers (which are Dynaudio Audience 62 floorstanders).

I don't understand spikes. Audiophiles talk about coupling and
arrange heavy lumps of stone to couple to. But then they minimise
that coupling by restricting it to three or four points!

Perhaps the spikes are merely so you CAN adjust the speaker to stand
level on a concrete floor?

My practical experience of large speakers - some much larger than
anything found in a domestic setup - is that they generally sound MUCH
better mounted at least a small distance away from any flat surface,
wall or floor.

In article , Laurence Payne wrote:
On Mon, 24 Aug 2009 01:34:32 -0700 (PDT), James Harris
wrote:

My speakers have four spikes beneath them which makes it a pain to
move the speakers even slightly as the length of at least one spike
has to be adjusted to make all four rest on/in the floor. (The floor
is solid - maybe concrete - and not wood.)


Anyone heard of a kit to convert four spikes to three? It would have
to fit beneath the existing arrangement as I don't want to modify the
speakers (which are Dynaudio Audience 62 floorstanders).

I don't understand spikes. Audiophiles talk about coupling and
arrange heavy lumps of stone to couple to. But then they minimise
that coupling by restricting it to three or four points!

I first heard of spikes and it had solid reasoning as used on rugs on wood floors.
For cement, you need another medium to convert, like using a piece
of soft pine under each spike on top of the cement. The spike will auto level,
and provide a better impedance match of the mechanical system
That would not work either for some speakers at loud volume, and the speaker
will start to walk. Some rubber would healp that scenereo.


greg



Perhaps the spikes are merely so you CAN adjust the speaker to stand
level on a concrete floor?

My practical experience of large speakers - some much larger than
anything found in a domestic setup - is that they generally sound MUCH
better mounted at least a small distance away from any flat surface,
wall or floor.

"Laurence Payne" wrote in message
...

My practical experience of large speakers - some much larger than
anything found in a domestic setup - is that they generally sound MUCH
better mounted at least a small distance away from any flat surface,
wall or floor.

At one time there was a fad for mounting speakers as far into room corners
as possible. My granddad, who was something of a "HiFi" enthusiast in the
1950s built a speaker cabinet which used the walls and floor as part of the
cabinet. I seem to remember that a barrow-load of sand was part of it as
well.

David.

On Mon, 24 Aug 2009 16:49:28 +0100, "David Looser"
wrote:


At one time there was a fad for mounting speakers as far into room corners
as possible. My granddad, who was something of a "HiFi" enthusiast in the
1950s built a speaker cabinet which used the walls and floor as part of the
cabinet. I seem to remember that a barrow-load of sand was part of it as
well.

Yup. And it probably got very loud with only a few watts input. If
we were prepared to let our speakers take up rather more space,
speaker design (and amp. power) could be very different :-)

"Laurence Payne" wrote in message
...
On Mon, 24 Aug 2009 16:49:28 +0100, "David Looser"
wrote:


At one time there was a fad for mounting speakers as far into room corners
as possible. My granddad, who was something of a "HiFi" enthusiast in the
1950s built a speaker cabinet which used the walls and floor as part of
the
cabinet. I seem to remember that a barrow-load of sand was part of it as
well.

Yup. And it probably got very loud with only a few watts input. If
we were prepared to let our speakers take up rather more space,
speaker design (and amp. power) could be very different :-)


Still is for a lot of people who prefer low power amp+efficient speakers to
*powerhouse* arcwelder+ironing board setups....

David Looser wrote:
"Laurence Payne" wrote in message

My practical experience of large speakers - some much larger than
anything found in a domestic setup - is that they generally sound MUCH
better mounted at least a small distance away from any flat surface,
wall or floor.

At one time there was a fad for mounting speakers as far into room corners
as possible. My granddad, who was something of a "HiFi" enthusiast in the
1950s built a speaker cabinet which used the walls and floor as part of the
cabinet. I seem to remember that a barrow-load of sand was part of it as
well.

The corner horn had some advantages: first of all it meant that you could
take advantage of the edge effects of the corner to provide increased bass
response, and secondly that bass boost was predictable because everyone would
put the speaker in the same place in every room, rather than have it an
unknown distance from the rear and side walls.

It made sense back in the fifties when loaded horns were essential for high
efficiency at low frequencies, in an era of low amplifier power. Back then,
systems were mono and so the inability to place the speaker for good imaging
was a non-issue.

When stereo came in, corner horns went away.
--scott


--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

"Scott Dorsey" wrote in message
...
David Looser wrote:
"Laurence Payne" wrote in message

My practical experience of large speakers - some much larger than
anything found in a domestic setup - is that they generally sound MUCH
better mounted at least a small distance away from any flat surface,
wall or floor.

At one time there was a fad for mounting speakers as far into room corners
as possible. My granddad, who was something of a "HiFi" enthusiast in the
1950s built a speaker cabinet which used the walls and floor as part of
the
cabinet. I seem to remember that a barrow-load of sand was part of it as
well.

The corner horn had some advantages: first of all it meant that you could
take advantage of the edge effects of the corner to provide increased bass
response, and secondly that bass boost was predictable because everyone
would
put the speaker in the same place in every room, rather than have it an
unknown distance from the rear and side walls.

It made sense back in the fifties when loaded horns were essential for
high
efficiency at low frequencies, in an era of low amplifier power. Back
then,
systems were mono and so the inability to place the speaker for good
imaging
was a non-issue.

When stereo came in, corner horns went away.

It wasn't a horn, it was a bass-reflex.

David.

David Looser wrote:

When stereo came in, corner horns went away.

It wasn't a horn, it was a bass-reflex.

There's a lot less benefit in putting a bass-reflex design in a corner,
but you do still get that edge effect and the matter of consistency.
--scott
--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."