We used a set of solid brass speaker spikes we purchased on Amazon and mounted using the 3m tape supplied to the bottom of our Martin Logan Speakers. They claim a supported weight of 100lbs. While I am sure the material can handle the weight they are small and I would not recommend using these particular speaker spikes with large towers. The speaker spikes are adjustable so you can level up your speakers if the surface you set them on is not perfectly flat or level. Installation is straight forward, just line up the 3m tape where you want to put them and stick them on.
To test the speaker spikes we placed an Iphone on top of the speaker and measured the vibrations. The results of that test are below.
Vibrations on Speaker
As we can see there are significant vibrations in the lower frequencies. We expect to see this though, you can feel good bass. What we don’t want feeling all that good bass though is our turntables or other delicate electronics. Speakers spikes have been long offered as a solution to this. The purpose is to minimize the surface area that a vibration can transfer though, does it work though?
Speaker Spike Test Results
Our test results came as a surprise, though we were not sure exactly what to expect. The speaker spikes did work. They reduce the low frequency vibration transfer to the speaker stand, although they did have less effect on the high frequency transfer. This does make sense though, when sound travels through a cone from the small end to the larger end the sound is amplified. This is how the horn of a trumpet works. It stands to reason that vibrations traveling towards the smaller point would be reduced in amplitude. Unfortunately this is my speculation on the physics as there is not a lot of research on sound traveling through a solid cone towards the point of singularity. None the less the vibrations measured on the stand itself showed a decrease in the low frequency vibrations.
Hover over the image to see the the difference Image 1 is the measurement on the stand, Image 2 is the measurement on the speaker
Do speakers spikes work?
They do work in a way to isolate the vibrations from your other equipment, at least the low frequency ones. I would argue that low frequency vibrations are the most import to isolate as they seem to be the most destructive in terms of causing issues with other components. This is especially true with turntables as strong vibrations can make the stylus jump. Ultimately the answer of do speaker spikes work is up to your personal goal. Are you getting a lot of bass vibrations transferring to your equipment rack? The spikes should help you. If on the other hand you have an issue with high frequencies wreaking havoc on other items, they probably wont help much with that issue.
For more information on how sound and speakers work check out our article on that in the Link below:
How Speakers Work