Speaker stands - A potentially silly question!

[MitchT]

I want to buy some speaker stands and I notice that they have spikes on them. My speakers are a plain, flat, hard wood underneath, so the speakers will be sitting directly on the spikes with nothing in-between. Is that right? If it is, then fine, I just wondered!

[headcase]

The spikes go at the other end (the floor end), most stands come with spikes or rubber feet and you choose which ones you fit.

[deeen]

Some speakers sound better if the base is free to vibrate, easy way to test is just put a bit of blu-tac under each corner of the speaker.

[MitchT]

headcase said:

The spikes go at the other end (the floor end), most stands come with spikes or rubber feet and you choose which ones you fit.

I know what you mean about the floor spikes, but these have spikes in the top too.

[telecat]

The Answer is that the spikes can be used on both the Floor and the Speakers. Some speakers do like been "mounted" on spikes most prefer Blu tack. If you don't want to use the spikes take them off.

[The_Burg]

May sound silly but stands do sound different too. Open frame types offer lighter base, heavy solid types boost the base. Was very sceptical till i had a home demo by a dealer.
Also weighting the stands makes a huge difference.
Another 'tweak' check all your driver and connectors are tightened up. If you do it whilst playing musice you can even hear the sound change. (This is dependant on speaker config, much bigger difference on sealed box speakers).

[MitchT]

It doesn't sound silly at all. I'm acutely aware of the subtle changes that can influence how music sounds. I'm looking to mount monitor speakers for my studio on the stands, so I guess I'm looking for a construction that influences the sounds as little as possible as I want to mix my music to sound as "neutral" as possible.

[grumbledoak]

Spikes are good on the base into carpet, though obviously they would damage a wooden floor. If the stands are heavy enough (e.g. fill them with sand) I doubt the addition of spikes really makes much difference.

For the top, I'd spare your speakers the damage and use BluTack - the vibration over time suits it. After a few years getting the two apart is really quite difficult.

Edited by grumbledoak on Friday 2nd April 21:44

[Hoover.]

The answer is yes ..... some speaker stands (like my old ones sitting in spare room) are spilked at the bottom, and top. However the top ones are not sharp, and rounded on the top.

Yep fill them with sand, lead what ever to suit.

To protect flooring you can buy "spike feet" from the likes of Stands Unique, or a cheaper option is to put a small coin under the spike.