Martin Logan Speakers On Hard Wood Floors

Folks:

I am fortunate enough in today's difficult economic times to be be relocated by a new employer. We currently have a pair of Martin Logan Vantage speakers that are set up on a floor that is a thick carpet over a concrete slab. The Vantages are spiked into the carpet.

Our new place will have hardwood floors over poured concrete. What suggestions do you have to stabilize these speakers? We are considering an area rug, but they don't seem to be thick enough to support the spikes.

Thanks for any suggestions.

Mike

Of course, every room is different, but they're likely to sound best on carpet as you say.

If the carpet is not thick enough to support the spikes, try placing something under the spikes (and carpet) - even 5-cent coins if you have nothing else.

You can also sit the speaker on a slab of marble.

Alternatively, you may find they sound best on their standard feet (unspiked).

amey01 said:

Alternatively, you may find they sound best on their standard feet (unspiked).

Click to expand...

I agree - try that first and see how it works. There are different schools of thought on how speakers should be coupled to various floors. Depending on the floor, you can actually increase coupling of vibrations into the speakers if they are coupled too tightly (depending on the floor, again).

In my case, it's a hardwood floor on the second story... so all kinds of potential for flexing and coupling (from floor to speaker). In the end, after trying a number of different spiking options (including thick maple platforms), I ended up just going with the rubber feet supplied by ML.

Cheers

Search for spike pads on places like Ebay or spikes on http://www.partsexpress.com They are cheap enough to buy the whole set and just use the pads to protect your floors.

I bought over size pads and put furniture felt on the bottoms so I could slide my Prodigy's around when adjusting placement.

I have mine on spikes on my hardwood floor and just use pennies to stop the spike from damaging the floor.

Google speaker spike floor protectors and you'll get the phone book, but there are lots of them available from many different manufacturer's. They're actually quite commonly found.

Here's but two:

http://www.oregondv.com/Brass Floor Pads.htm

http://www.dedicatedaudio.com/isolation

Enjoy the new location and the new room!

It might be a good idea to give soft feet a try, something like this:
http://www.sonicdesign.se/sdfeet.html
For my Puritys I used a combination of Soundcare superspikes:
http://www.soundcare.no/ with soft feet which gave very good result.
However with Ethos I use the provided spikes and tablets. Soft feet didn't work here, sonically that is.

Protecting the floor shouldn't be a problem, but what gives the best sound depends...

If you want good, solid bases for the speakers that will protect your hardwoods, make it easy to position your speakers, and limit vibration interaction between the speaker and the floor . . . and if you don't want to spend a fortune doing so, then I have a very elegant, simple solution.

Order eight hocky pucks (yes, that's right, I said hocky pucks). These are available for a few dollars a piece from lots of online retailers. They are made of solid rubber, are generally a nondescript black color, and are the perfect size for this application. When you get them, use a drill and a small wood bit to drill a small conical indentation into the center of the top of each puck. The spikes will sit in this indentation. It doesn't need to be too deep, just a little over a quarter inch is fine. Then place one under each spike on each speaker.

After trying some of the "audiophile" grade spike pads and being completely disappointed, I tried this with my Summits and never looked back. They do a great job. The speakers don't move on their own, but are fairly easy to reposition when I want to. And most important, the floor doesn't vibrate. Just wish I had thought about it before spending the money on the others. Don't get drawn in by the hype. Nothing is likely to perform as well in this application as solid rubber.

Take a look at soundocity.com....i just bought speaker stands
from them for my Synchronies. They also have a related site for
spikes and feet. You might find something there.

I bought myself a pair of subdude HD ($60 each) for my Vantages on hardwood floors. Works really well and it's easy to move around.

I also liked that it raises the speakers 2" or so. Platform is a little wider than the speaker so make sure that works for you.

You can also get wooden, plastic, or rubber sofa feet at a hardware store. I think $4-$10 total cost.

Cheapest option would be to use 4 pennies.

Rich said:

...

Order eight hocky pucks (yes, that's right, I said hocky pucks). These are available for a few dollars a piece from lots of online retailers. They are made of solid rubber, are generally a nondescript black color, and are the perfect size for this application. When you get them, use a drill and a small wood bit to drill a small conical indentation into the center of the top of each puck. The spikes will sit in this indentation. It doesn't need to be too deep, just a little over a quarter inch is fine. Then place one under each spike on each speaker...

Click to expand...

Awesome, that's a great solution Rich !

Rich said:

Order eight hocky pucks (yes, that's right, I said hocky pucks). These are available for a few dollars a piece from lots of online retailers. They are made of solid rubber, are generally a nondescript black color, and are the perfect size for this application. When you get them, use a drill and a small wood bit to drill a small conical indentation into the center of the top of each puck. The spikes will sit in this indentation. It doesn't need to be too deep, just a little over a quarter inch is fine. Then place one under each spike on each speaker.

After trying some of the "audiophile" grade spike pads and being completely disappointed, I tried this with my Summits and never looked back. They do a great job. The speakers don't move on their own, but are fairly easy to reposition when I want to. And most important, the floor doesn't vibrate. Just wish I had thought about it before spending the money on the others. Don't get drawn in by the hype. Nothing is likely to perform as well in this application as solid rubber.

Click to expand...

Rich, that is a very interesting idea. When you move the speakers, though, don't they leave a black mark on your wood floor?

JonFo said:

Awesome, that's a great solution Rich !

Click to expand...

Thanks, Jon. I was stoked to come up with it and then have it work so well. One of my best tweaks ever in the bang for your buck category.

David Matz said:

Rich, that is a very interesting idea. When you move the speakers, though, don't they leave a black mark on your wood floor?

Click to expand...

No, they don't. The rubber is actually stiff enough that it doesn't rub off easily onto the floor. And by pushing the individual pucks, rather than the speaker itself, it is pretty easy to slide them and make small adjustments to placement. But, at the same time, they don't move on their own at all. This was a problem I was having with the isoclean bases I used before. The power of the Summits downfiring woofer would cause them to vibrate and slide around on the hardwood, resulting in the speaker moving out of position. No problem with that now. The pucks work great in this application.

My Clausing lathe sits on 8 hockey pucks...keeps whatever vibration the machine might make from reaching the rest of the building, and we get better finishes to boot. Not bad considering the machine is 3300+ lbs......

Tj

Rich said:

Order eight hocky pucks (yes, that's right, I said hocky pucks). .

Click to expand...

Just did.
Thanks

Hockey Pucks

As mentioned in another thread, I´give every tweak a try and, today, I bought 8 of these hockey pucks...

My problem: a floating wooden floor. Placed directly on the floor, my summits do well, with deep and defined bass, but unfortunately inaccurate heights. The floor is definitely moving with each bass impulse. So, I went for some heavy granite bases. Heights became very accurate but also very harsh. Nothing you may listen for more than a few minutes.

Now, the hockey pucks come into play. Placed directly on the granite with large spike protectors out of chromium steel on top. Must say, this is one of the ultimate tweaks in terms of speaker footing. Heavy, rolling bass, very transparent, no harshness at all and improved imaging.

Definitely worth a try !!!

cheers,
Johann

Hello, I am in Europe and I would like to increase the length of the rear spikes on the Summits. I have already tried and although the new ones work with the locking nuts they don't screw into the support cylinders. The tread is based on a US standard, does anyone know what this is ?
Many thanks,
John C

john C said:

Hello, I am in Europe and I would like to increase the length of the rear spikes on the Summits. I have already tried and although the new ones work with the locking nuts they don't screw into the support cylinders. The tread is based on a US standard, does anyone know what this is ?
Many thanks,
John C

Click to expand...

Are these the ones you are talking about:

http://store.martinlogan.com/summit-3-8-16-etctm-spike-assembly-clear-anodized-aluminum-each.html

3/8-16 refers to a 3/8 of an inch diameter and 16 turns per inch threads.

thx for post's .....interesting

FWIW.

Agree with Johann. I've done some A/B testing on Rich's hocky puck recommendation.

Compared to my BDR pits (vastly more expensive), they do have a warmer sonic signature, which you would expect, but they really are quite good for a very small amount of money.

Highly recommended to try. If you don't like, you're out 20 bucks.

GG