paving slabs under speakers

I have a pair of rega elas (mark 1's - floorstanders) which stand on spikes. They are in a carpeted room - floorboards underneath.

Will I gain anything by placing them on a stone slab? A friend of mine has a pair of b&w's which are so placed - just wondering!

I am a relative newcomer to all this but loving it!!

 

I don't know about the acoustics of floorboards...but would suggest try it and see!

If it was me I would put loads of bubble wrap under the slabs or better still equip them with spikes to go through the carpet and onto the boards below.....you could protect with coins between spike and boards.

I would emphasise though that I have no experience of this type of room.

I am sure soem one will put me right!

 

David, you would put bubble wrap or spikes, Isn't this rather like saying 'chalk or cheese'?

 

Sorry, that was what I meant......






I started out a bit ago doing the bubble wrrap....now the spikes etc.

Unfortunatley its is more work.....but (IMO) the results......

 

If you have a problem with bass boom ...try to decouple the speakers from the floor ....

a slab sat on big bubble, bubble wrap will help prevent dirrect vibration getting into the flloor and prevent floor bourn vibration going the other way.

this is a cheap solution......if you like the effect consider using platfoam

 

Paving slabs mass load the base of the cab and the speaker will need to do more work to move this mass/wooden floor than just floor alone.To every action there must be an equal and opposite one the slab should serve to anchor the cab more and restrict cab movement because movement now requires more energy because youve increased the mass..
Placing a cab on bubble wrap will have the effect of allowing the thing to vibrate in response to cone movements first back then forward f***ing up the stereo image.Boom is more often a standing wave /placement issue.
F

 

You can also put slabs on top of speakers, Anyway I have found putting slabs under speakers can help in one area but not others, they do tend to highlight problems in the WAF range.

 

there an easy answer to that......

seriouly the weight on top of the speaker idea is worth a whorl...

 

If the mass is not attached to the speaker and stand ... it will not mass load them... if its just sat on a paving slab with spikes all it gives is a soild base to work for them to work from. Where as if the base is bolted to the stand and speaker the added mass will do a number of things ...lower the centre of gravity... increase the resonate freq...to mention a couple. You can of course sit the slab on any number of things to change the sound...bubble wrap, closed cell foam, open cell foam...etc
this will decouple the speakers/stand /base system. If you add spikes to the base you can then couple to the wooden floor ...but in my experience this may not give the better sound.

 

Try it and see would be my suggestion. I had bass issues when I first moved to my current house (bare suspended floor boards - not boom but a lack of bass). Speakers on slabs didn't help, but speakers on slabs on bubblewrap helped, speakers on rubber doorstops on slabs on bubblewrap was best. An hour or so wrestling with the speakers with Pete (Zanash) helping was enough to see what it did.

And no it didn't mess up the stereo image. I suspect if the whole lot could vibrate back and forth at the sort of frequencies the speakers push out even at the bottom end it might, but I don't think they do - I suspect the resonant frequency of this slightly wobbly structure is much lower than that, besides its a heck of a lot of mass to move. Effectively they are decoupled from the cavity under the floor and they sound better for it.

Pete, I guess my setup is one of the setups you have in mind, but remember that in this setup the speakers themslves are to an extent decoupled from the slabs by the doorstops. Remember it used to be doorstops and superballs, but the superballs cracked and crumbled under their weight. The difference between the doorstops and superballs and the doorstops on their own is negligable, but the whole lot is more stable. (the doorstops were special audiophile grade Belgian doorstops - courtesy of 7V, but I suspect household grade British ones would work as well )

The point is the whole lot cost pounds - it works or it doesn't - you are hardly out of pocket.

Edit - aesthetically the slabs (just ones we had knocking about in the back garden) are the one thing Auntie moans about. I'm gonna have to get myself a nice set of black slate or granite ones made up by the kitchen or fireplace people I suspect. Might send the cost into double figures ... ooh dear - think I'll charge it to the housekeeping.

 

no i'd forgotten about yours !

but yes ...case in point .....I thought that once the bass issues had been dealt with the imaging and depth were better [less obscured by the sucking out of the bass ?]

 

You might want to try some of Tesco's granite 'worktop savers'. They come in at less than a tenner per slab.

I haven't tried them under speakers, but they work a treat under my CD player.

 

Sound interesting - what colour and how big/thick/heavy are they?

PS. they'd have ot be under a fiver not to go into the double figures

 

did good things under my speakers

 

They are 2cm (3/4 in.) thick and measure 30cm x 39.5cm (11 3/4 in. x 15 1/2 in.)

I was going to get some to use under my B&W P5s, but I have decided that I want slabs that match the footprint of the speakers. I will probably go for something a little thicker as well (3cm ?).

 

Concrete slabs seem to help improve bass when placed on top of my Cerwin Vegas, adding mass to the bottom of my 105.4 (by pouring cement in the skirt and adding a 1" plywood base) helped matters also.

I have also put slabs under my Kans and MS20i, and I remember reading about KEF bolting 107's to slabs at a hotel show in the early days.

All the above have been in rooms with suspended floors and plasterboard walls, I never felt much need for any slabs in earlier well built houses? (though the 105.4 was done in a house with concrete floors)

 

Thanks. Auntie says ... close but no cigar the speaker bases are exactly 12" square. Auntie says they must be square not oblong and at least 12" square and no more than 14" square.

 

I was wondering if something like Townsend Speaker platforms would work under my Kef R107?

I am unsure if two 10" drivers operating in an up down motion within a coupled cavity suits such a platform? But I am also curious about what the benefits may be with decoupling instead of spiking such speakers when they are used on suspended floors?

And what about laminate flooring? what affect will this produce if replacing carpet?

PS Cooky, what size of room are those Tannoy DMT 215 being used in ? and Why on their sides?