Spires walking?

I noticed something the other day while dusting under the speakers. I have hardwood floors and my wife dust under or around the gear. She says it is my job.

Anyway, I had some music on with a nice bass line. My Spires are placed on BDR pits and I watched them slightly walking across the floor. Maybe about a quarter inch.

For those of you spiked with discs or cups on hardwood or any other hard surface, what if anything have you done to alleviate this besides measuring every time you listen?!

Gordon

It might be as simple as putting a little piece of double stick tape or something like that under the pits.

I have my Spires sitting on the rubber bumpers for fear of damaging the floor with the spikes. Is the performance difference from spiking them significant enough that I should find some sort of work around? I thought about getting pieces of granite slab to put the Spires on so that I could spike them, but I thought that spiked on granite they would probably "walk".

Hi G,

My Summits move ever so slightly over time.

Couple of thoughts.

1) Are the BDR pucks sitting flush on the floor?

2) Are the spikes seated firmly in the pucks so that you cannot rotate the pucks?

3) Don't think you want to put anything between the bottom of the puck and the floor. Will defeat the purpose of the puck. I have placed electrical tape on the floor coinciding with the outside edge of the puck in four places to monitor this. Make sure to place the tape at more or less 90 degrees so that the outside arc spacing distance is equal. See the third picture of My System.

4) One final thought. Try to put some weight on the top of the bass driver module to better secure the speaker to the floor. It should help address the issue and may improve the sound. If this works and you like the sound, go to a granite shop and get something you like from their "scrap" pile. Have them cut a couple of pieces to the desired size, put rubber "bumpers" on each corner, and place on top of the bass module.

GG

Gordon, I had the same issue with my Summits Xs. I replaced the rear pucks and spikes with the ML original hard rubber bumpers which gave it just enough resistance to keep it from skirting across the floor. The fronts are still spiked on to the pucks. The effective coupling is still great! See photo below.

Feltran said:

Is the performance difference from spiking them significant enough that I should find some sort of work around?

Click to expand...

I remember listening to my Aerius speakers back in 1992 with the pad like feet for a month until the woofers were broken in. Huge improvement switching to the spikes, no more muddy bass and the mid-range seemed to project better. I used coins and a wad of clay to hold it there at first.

The bass energizing the sprung floor (wood joist) was too much and in the end I set the speakers on custom made sand boxes to absorb the energy before it got to the floor.

My summits have done the same thing in the past. I still haven't found a perfect solution
http://www.martinloganowners.com/forum/showthread.php?t=8034&highlight=Summits+take+a+Hike

I'll second Gordon's recommendation to put weights on the bass module. I've got 20 pounds on each. While I do not have the "walking" problem since mine are spiked on carpet over concrete, the weights improved the sound in my system by sharpening imaging, reducing smearing and tightening up the bass.

Dave

Feltran said:

It might be as simple as putting a little piece of double stick tape or something like that under the pits.

I have my Spires sitting on the rubber bumpers for fear of damaging the floor with the spikes. Is the performance difference from spiking them significant enough that I should find some sort of work around? I thought about getting pieces of granite slab to put the Spires on so that I could spike them, but I thought that spiked on granite they would probably "walk".

Click to expand...

If you use granite slabs then be sure to drill 4 small depressions where the spikes rest on the granite. That way you won't need the discs and the depressions should prevent them from walking.

If that doesn't work then put a collar and leash on your Spires and train them to heel.

Craig said:

If you use granite slabs then be sure to drill 4 small depressions where the spikes rest on the granite. That way you won't need the discs and the depressions should prevent them from walking.

If that doesn't work then put a collar and leash on your Spires and train them to heal.

Click to expand...

Craig that was just too funny! Almost spewed coffee on the monitor!

Gordon

One thing I am trying recently, since changing out the feet on my legacy Summits to the Summit X feet and spikes is that I am using very small (3/4") discs under the spikes. They seem less willing to "surf" with a smaller contact patch and higher resulting contact force with the floor.