Speaker cabinets - spikes v feet

[Berty bass]

As a bass player of some years it occurs to me that there are similarities between my requirements as a bassist and my requirements as a hi fi enthusiast - basically, the amplification of a source (bass guitar, CD or LP in my case) as faithfully/neutrally as possible through a speaker capable of similarly faithful/neutral reproduction. It's the differences therefore that fascinate me - why do we tend to use spikes to isolate hi fi speakers but (usually rubber) feet to do the same job for guitar cabs when they both perform the same function? Is it simply tradition or is there a technical reason? Feet seem so much more practical and less potentially damaging than spikes.

[Latteman]

Often wondered the same and run felt pads on my speaker stands with no difference in sound detected from spikes- interesting experiment

[Daniel Quinn]

There is no right or wrong answer. Only your answer.

It's like a wife . Individual and your choice isn't going to be someone else's.

[Vinyl-ant]

Spikes dont isolate the speaker they couple the speaker to the surface it is stood on. This gives the vibration of the cabinet a path out of the cabinet and into the surface. A drain if you like.

A compliant foot such as a rubber foot or a soft felt pad decouples (isolates) the speaker from the surface it is stood on so there is not a path for cabinet vibration to leave the cab and travel into the surface it is stood on.

Different cabinets will behave differently, some will be better with spikes, some with feet.

There is a big difference between isolating and coupling, spikes do not isolate anything. They do the opposite

[Berty bass]

Interesting - why would we want to couple a hi-fi speaker to a surface then, but isolate a guitar cabinet? Surely we essentially want the speaker in both cases to do the same thing - reproduce the signal as faithfully as possible? You wouldn't to couple any speaker to a wooden or hollow floor...would you?

[Stemcor1990]

I have thought about this in the past.

As a former bass player, my attitude was always “stack the speakers, plug in the amp and get playing”. When it came to hifi, I was as anal as anybody else about spikes and rigidity. Now I have cube 3s on stands that move a little bit and I couldn’t care less. The music is wonderful and I’m happy. I suppose that it’s another horses for courses situation but don’t get paranoid about spikes v feet. Whatever works for you is the right solution.

My gut feeling is that musicians don’t really care about coupling or decoupling. The sound pressure from a 15” and 8” speaker stack is never going to be reproduced by a domestic speaker. I think that we just have to accept that a “stereo” is never going to be as good as live music.

[Vinyl-ant]

If it is coupled to a surface the mass of that surface adds to the mass of the cabinet and has its own vibration absorption characteristics. Spiking a cabinet into a concrete floor means that the cab vibration is dissipated into the mass of the floor. Into a wooden suspended floor does the same, but the floor itsself can add undesirable noises.
The cab vibration will eventually find its way down the joists and out into the house foundations but it is not nearly as efficient. As a concrete floor is a solid mass it just swallows up cab vibrations.
Alot of mags used to say to stand speakers on a paving slab, there is some merit to this as it couples the cab into a large mass. But not all speakers will work with this approach and will respond better to using compliant feet. Its impractical to spike a guitar amp cab, not many venue owners are likely to be impressed with their stages getting carved up by spikes, and it is potentially dangerous to people moving kit about. Bands are nothing if not practical when it comes to setting up.

It wouldnt do for someone to carve their hand foot leg whatever up chucking an amp in a van.

[Berty bass]

Fair comment!

[_D_S_J_R_]

I think it depends on the speaker itself, its rigidity and mass and so on and so on. I still remember the severe cabinet damage done to dem stock when they were sat on double-spiked stands (top into the speaker and bottom into the floor). Isobariks, which weigh about a hundredweight each, used to sit on 'top spikes' and after a few months, the spikes pushed their way up to their shoulders into the cabinets. My ATC's weighed 85Kg each and didn't need spikes at all, as they just didn't move! The crap I currently use downstairs isn't spiked and frankly, it makes no bloody difference to these...

I think it's reasonable to suggest the speakers shouldn't wobble all over the place, but to use common sense. Spikes can help with floors covered in carpet and underlay, but contemporary floors with bare floors and a rug or two probably don't need this as much as long as the speaker and/or stand is stable.

I still sit my speaker boxes on clear 12mm diameter (3mm approx high) bump-on feet which offer grip and no sonic degradation that I could ever hear. made ex-dem speakers more sellable too I remember... Blu-tac gets into wood grain and you can't get it out I found.

[davjam13]

For what it's worth I have my speakers sat on sorbothane disks about 35mm thick to decouple from the stands, and the stands in turn spiked into the wooden floor through the carpet, without the spikes the stands swayed about to much for my liking. Speakers are now Cubettes.