[Closed] Isolating Hi Fi Speakers from Wooden Floor

Four blobs of blutack.

Blutack or sorbothane pods/pads should do the trick

I can sell you some hand cut butyl hemispheres with 78% audiophile grade nitrogen fill for £700, they really open up the soundstage and timing. I use them under my artisan made oriented natural wood fibre stands filled with natural silicon dioxide particles and they do a pretty good job, they're not pretty but I can't see them. I've also heard of people using blu tack for their monitors but I can't be bothered coming up with an audiophile description for that.

That’d work.  My subwoofer used to sit on spikes on a cheap stone tile (i think sold as a chopping board).  That had half a squash ball on each corner.

Made a huge difference to the sound on a suspended wooden floor (but it was a downward firing sub)

As bigjim says, two tennis balls cut in half, set underneath a square of granite or slate, then blobs of blutac under each corner of the speaker, isolates and keeps things in place, for not many pennies.

Squash balls cut in half always used to be the recommended feet.

No reason you can't cut them down further into 'O' rings so they don't look so obvious, and don't stand as tall.

Or you could get something like 'dynamat' or similar which is like a denser version of blutak.

Looks like it's a couple of slate paving slabs, a box of squash balls and a packet of blu tack then.

Yep.

You say there were stands? That suggests these speakers are intended to be on stands. If they are sitting on the floor the sound won't be great irrespective of slabs, spikes or blutac.

This might be a neater solution, you can cut it to size to form feet, and layer it up as necessary

http://www.halfords.com/technology/car-audio/head-unit-accessories/vibe-sound-deadening-material

You may be right slowoldman but they sound markedly better if I just take them off the floor and stick them on a chair so any isolation will help.

It's a circa 1980 Technics system so the sound will never be high end but it does look pretty.

Mine sit on a couple of faux stone concrete slabs. I replaced the 40+ year old perished rubber feet with fresh soft rubber ones and that did the trick. I would have used blue track if it wasn’t for the fact the speakers probably weight the same as me...

ideally smallest vibration deadening contact point you can get to a solid surface.

You may be right slowoldman but they sound markedly better if I just take them off the floor and stick them on a chair so any isolation will help.

I would suggest it's not just the isolation that is helping, it's the height.

I realise that's part of the equation, the original stands didn't raise them a huge amount, maybe eight or ten inches, fugly too.

Not DIY, but my speakers sit on a set of Soundcare Superspikes - the name's misleading, the spikes are captive inside. They're on a wooden floor, sound good and don't damage the floor, plus no issues with moving the speakers around. Much more convenient than the spike shoe type things.

Hmmm.... they seem to be more expensive than I remember though.

I may nick some of my son's lego tyres...

Those little rubbery dots that you use on kitchen doors to stop them banging when being closed.

I think you can get bigger sizes which might be better.

Stick them underneath the speakers.

I've got 2 speakers on spiked stands but the speaker itself has the rubbery feet between them and the stand.

no blutak or it will mess up your wooden floor...

Spikes is best, and if you don't want to damage the wooden floor, put some 2p pieces between the spikes and the floor.

how do spikes isolate?  I thought they were for carpets, to ground the speakers to concrete floor below?

(IANAA)

I can sell you some hand cut butyl hemispheres with 78% audiophile grade nitrogen fill for £700, they really open up the soundstage and timing. I use them under my artisan made oriented natural wood fibre stands filled with natural silicon dioxide particles and they do a pretty good job, they’re not pretty but I can’t see them. I’ve also heard of people using blu tack for their monitors but I can’t be bothered coming up with an audiophile description for that.

Yawn

Spikes are the worst thing for suspended wooden floors.

You want to isolate, not couple.

Here is a great article from Ethan Winer on speaker isolation:

http://ethanwiner.com/speaker_isolation.htm

I'm convinced that the measured changes are too small to account for the "obvious" improvements so many people claim to hear after floating their speakers on isolation pads. Most of the response differences are less than 1 or 2 dB, with the biggest differences at the 155 Hz "floor bounce" null frequency due to slightly different heights. An obvious change, to me, is at least a 3 dB response difference over a wide range of frequencies, or a 30 percent change in decay times. It's possible some people have even poorer tables than the one I used, though I doubt it! So why do people swear that adding isolation improved the sound of their loudspeakers? The frequency response varied less than 2 dB for all these products, which I believe is due to different speaker placements. Further, the impulses barely vary, and the waterfalls vary even less.

<div class="bbp-reply-author">Rusty Spanner
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Spikes are the worst thing for suspended wooden floors.

You want to isolate, not couple.

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Cross-head screws in the floor, spikes in the screw heads...

PS: I wish the technicians would sort out this bluddy website's editing problems.

I’m convinced that the measured changes are too small to account for the “obvious” improvements so many people claim to hear after floating their speakers on isolation pads.

i think it very much depends on your floor.  Old floorboards with a bit space underneath and a subwoofer firing at it was a horrible boomy mess.  Isolation if your floor is already solid concrete probably negligible.

Personally I'd use something denser than slate.  Concrete paving slabs being probably being the chepest of the cheap option.

Cross-head screws in the floor, spikes in the screw heads…

how does that help?  You've just got travelling through another bit of small bit ofmetal before it gets to the wooden floor?

Hang them from the ceiling.

That couples Woppit.

Turning a suspended floor into a huge subwoofer isn't a good idea.

You need something inert at audio frequencies, like Sorbothane.

how does that help?

It minimises the transfer, and therefore the feed back of, audio vibrations into the floor.

Best method of cutting tennis balls in half whilst keeping your thumbs?

No it doesn't. It maximises it.

You have tried both, haven't you?

It minimises the transfer, and therefore the feed back of, audio vibrations into the floor

Please do explain the physics behind your theory?

Spikes don't isolate, they couple. Unfortunately the Hifi world is full of bullshit like this (see also Cable Risers, exotic power cables etc.). This advice is not Hifi voodoo but physics/acoustics based (I work in music studios):

The main improvement you can get is by getting the speakers in the right position (height and width). I'd invest in some decent stands that put the tweeter at ear height. Try to arrange the speakers and listener in an equilateral triangle converging about a foot behind your head (ears are on the side you see). Distance to walls will change the sound - contrary to popular opinion, in small rooms it is often best to put the speakers very close to the front wall.

Sorbothane spheres are probably the best option for isolation and are relatively cheap. Make sure you get the right size for the weight of your speakers. This is just icing on the cake though really - speaker cabinets don't really move that much in use. If you really want to improve the sound think about investing in some acoustic treatment.

This guide has some solid advice on speaker setup if you want to know more (studio focussed, but the physics is the same):

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ good advice and bang on too. Seeing as you didn't say what type of speakers you have (bookshelf or stand mount) that will have a huge say on where they should be positioned/mounted. But being honest seeing as you said it's an 80's Technics system the gains will be very small anyway.

Spikes into screw heads decouples very efficiently. The metal of the screws transmits vibration from the floor much less than without, and the point of the spike provides a minimal transfer interface

Tried it. Worked.

Mind you, my current setup is on a tile-on-concrete floor. Spikes are useless. Blutack works like dream...

Happy days.

Spikes into screw heads decouples very efficiently. The metal of the screws transmits vibration from the floor much less than without, and the point of the spike provides a minimal transfer interface

Caveat...

I mean,  I would imagine that this is what's happening...

Hey Involver,

Good advice. I have a small music studio. Any advice on subwoofer placement? At the moment it's just on the floor, pushed up a couple of inches from the wall, and in the middle of my nearfields which are mounted on the wall at standing ear-level and about 2m apart.

Cheers

I'm not able to put them on stands due to the layout of the room, they'd block the telly from the couch in the bay window, I wanted to but Mrs C said no.

I've put them on limestone slabs with lego tyres underneath (temp solution) and large rubber washers between the slab and the speaker, they sound much better, to my ears at least, Plastikman is on the go at tho moment and sounds much clearer than before when it sounded like it was being played through a blanket. The tweeters only sit about a foot below ear level as our couch is very low, not ideal but not too bad.

Thanks for thoughts and advice folks, much appreciated.

You might want to consider wall brackets. ..

@jambourgie

The Genelec guide above gives the basics - looks like you're doing OK. Slightly off-centre might work better for the sub. Changing the listener and speaker positions by a matter of inches can make big improvements. Ideally you'd use a measurement mic and software to test different locations and find the best compromise (e.g. UMIK-1 and REW or Fuzzmeasure - doesn't have to be too expensive). Acoustic treatment is one of the best upgrades for most studios in my experience.

@catfood

You could try angling the speakers up so that the tweeter points towards your ears. Sorbothane is better for reducing vibration - its also used for this in industrial applications (factories etc). Probably under £20.

Involver I'm thinking of doing just that, already a very marked improvement I must say.

Thanks Involver.

Just reading the Genelec PDF now.

Inspired by this thread, I've also just put the sub on a paving slab supported by tennis-ball halfs. The isolation has really helped. It's cut out all the resonating going on in the fabric of the building.

Sorry for the thread hijack OP 😉

You could try angling the speakers up so that the tweeter points towards your ears.

I did that years ago with a pair of speakers that had to live on the floor. Made an amazing (positive) difference

Just imagine the difference a £3400 power cable could make 😉

https://www.audiosanctuary.co.uk/audioquest-nrg-wel-signature-series-mains-power-cable.html

Or maybe some Hifi pebbles.

http://www.machinadynamica.com/machina31.htm

I was on the Linn site the other day and realised if I didn't spend the £7 I did today on slabs and washers I'd be in for £80K, close call.