Hifi setup - reducing noise transferred through the floor

[egomeister]

I'm having a bit of a play with my setup at the moment to try to improve the sound, but I'd also like to see if I can reduce the amount of noise transferred through the floor (so I can crank it up a little louder without annoying the neighbours - the joy of living in a flat!)

I currently have some small bookshelf speakers sitting directly on carpet. If I was to put these on spikes or stands would this reduce how much is transferred to the floor? Is there anything else I should be considering?

[JustinP1]

egomeister said:

I currently have some small bookshelf speakers sitting directly on carpet. If I was to put these on spikes or stands would this reduce how much is transferred to the floor? Is there anything else I should be considering?

Yes, hugely.

With your speakers on the floor they are effectively using the floor as a rather large soundboard.

Putting them on stands will reduce 3/4 of the sound transferred.

In addition, they will perform a lot better!

[LeoSayer]

Give the spikes something solid to sit on, like a concrete slab.

[PJ S]

There's not much you can do to prevent the neighbours below from hearing your music if you crank it up, short of sound absorption.
Whilst the suggestions above will make the sound better for you at your listening position - stands being the obvious answer as indicated - the bulk of "noise" your neighbours will hear, will be the lower end of the spectrum, the bass and lower mids.

Spiked stands on concrete, on a carpeted wooden floor, will help you, but transmit plenty of energy at louder volumes into your floor, acting as a pseudo ceiling speaker for your neighbours.

Like I said, not much you can do for your neighbours sake, but plenty to get better sound from your perspective.

[DavidY]

As much isolation from the room is prefable then all the speaker is doing is exciting the romm content (ie air) rather than the fabric of the room.

Stands on spikes will help, but so will replacing the spikes with industrial machine mounts (and there are anti vibration ones available). Also Blu-Tac between speaker and stand can halp.

If you want to play loud, then invest in a decent set of headphones (or be like me, live in the middle of nowhere!)

davidy

[egomeister]

I guess I'm on the lookout for some stands then!

The setup is far from good at the moment, so I think there is a lot to come from just getting it set up right (from the point of view of my sound quality anyway)

[GingerWizard]

egomeister said:

I guess I'm on the lookout for some stands then!

The setup is far from good at the moment, so I think there is a lot to come from just getting it set up right (from the point of view of my sound quality anyway)

my brother in law bought some stands but very very small ones..... Basically they are a 1/2" square cross sectional frames with 3" spikes that sit on the carpet. They are very heavy for the size so i imagine they are made of lead/iron. They work like a dream, low base contact/ so less noise transfer and they eliminate using the floor as a sound board. Where he bought them i dont now? but if you see something similar, give them a punt.

[Zod]

http://www.superspikes.com/

These do a very good job on my wooden floors.