That totally happens to me all the time.
Still one of my all-time favorite quotes is #8 from Peter Aczel's "My Legacy" paper. RIP buddy!
So tell me, exactly what do you hear that's different than without them? And is this an honestly verifiable difference, or is it the placebo effect?
A few things that are significant. The bass is deeper, the mid range has a better snap to it, like when a stick hits a snare there is a definite better sounding "crack" to it, the treble has a LESS irritating high frequency. Overall there is better tonal balance that is hard to deny.
And of course, I am assuming you took some before and after frequency response measurements to record this "undeniably" better tonal balance, right?
At least, methods of mechanical de-coupling are based in science to some extent. Its not blatant snake oil. Back in the day, I got a huge improvement when I moved my turntable from the top of a furniture style rack to a dedicated turntable shelf that was bolted to the wall. It even stopped gross problems like groove skipping caused by heavy foot steps. And floating chassis on turntables have been used effectively for many years. The thing that always confused me was if it was best to couple or de-couple. For instance, it is often recommended to tightly couple bookshelf speakers to their stands (make them heavy ... fill them with sand) and then to spike the stands to the floor. The idea being to route vibration and resonance from the speaker to a larger mass (the stand and floor) where it can harmlessly dissipate. But sorbothane feet type products decouple whatever they support from a larger mass. In effect they are preventing the transmission from going the other way (floor to speaker in this example).
Suppose a blind listening test were conducted; everything the same, except there would be two pair of identical speakers, one pair sitting on the floor, as most of us would do, and one pair on these "feet". Switching back and forth between the two pair of speakers, how many would actually say the ones on the feet sounded better than the ones not on the feet? (Rhetorical question, I know.) It's all subjective.
I think it could depend on the specific install. If the room has a very compliant floor there may be some difference. But the same difference may be realized just as easily by placing a rug under the speaker instead of special feet. And it may make no difference at all if the room has more rigid construction like a concrete floor with brick walls. A floor or wall is a large radiating area that can produce a measurable effect if it is sufficiently excited. Have you ever felt the floor or a wall vibrating to the sound of loud low bass? In my listening space at a high enough volume I can get picture frames hanging on the wall to start buzzing. And there is no question it is audible. At lower volumes I'm sure the effect is still there but to a lower degree. But can I hear it? .... Is it significant enough to try and chase down?
Yep, anyone old enough to have dealt with a turntable setup knows mechanical de-coupling is no bs! You get true first hand experience amplified by your phono preamp.
Good idea to eliminate direct coupling of the speaker to a floor. As for the improvement in the midrange and high frequencies, it may be due to the decoupling from the hardwood floor or it may be due to elevating those drivers by a few inches. Or perhaps the bass response prior to decoupling the speaker from the floor was adversely affecting the higher frequencies. If I may quote you, as long as it “sounds ******* great“, well than that’s great!
Shades ofA HIGHLY RECOMMENDED TWEAK. ROOM TUNES. While awaiting installation of my new system, inserted these caddy corner behind my B&W 802 Nautilus Speakers [secondary audio system] and INSTANTLY experienced increased bass, mids and highs. Come in Black, Beige, White and Gray.
I'm not sure that's true in all circumstances. It's somewhat confusing. As I mentioned previously, increasing the amount of coupling can also be a good idea. Spiking the speakers to a floor works too if the floor is a reasonably solid mass, like a concrete slab. In this case the floor acts like a high mass sink and absorbs the energy and resonance from the enclosures. Notice how many contemporary speaker models come with a set of optional spikes along with standard non spiked feet to allow the user to choose which to use. This is an area where it isn't one size fits all, but it seems like Mark made the right choice with his install.
Yup, the one thing you want to avoid is coupling your speakers to a secondary radiator. If you have a wibbly-wobbly wooden floor you should try and isolate your speakers from it (which is difficult to do and there’s no point in going over the top, the air will couple to the floor and excite it anyway and there’s nothing you can do about that). If you have a solid stone or concrete floor you are much better off and can use it as a ‘mechanical earth’ for the speaker but the degree of improvement through the use of various types of fancy spikes etc. will probably be marginal unless the design of your speaker cabinets is poor.
That entire article is spot on as Peter usually was.
