H Frame Open Baffle Feet

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Dakotaconcrete

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H Frame Open Baffle Feet
« on: 14 Apr 2021, 01:04 am »
What do you use for the feet on the H Frame Open Baffle subwoofers?

Hobbsmeerkat

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Re: H Frame Open Baffle Feet
« Reply #1 on: 14 Apr 2021, 01:22 am »
Depends on the floor they will be sitting on.
If they're going to be on floors that are laid directly onto in-ground concrete, the best option is floor spikes.

If the floor is suspended on rafters, like a rasied house, or a 2nd story, isolation is your best option.

Hope that helps!

EkW

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Re: H Frame Open Baffle Feet
« Reply #2 on: 14 Apr 2021, 01:33 am »
I used rubber furniture feet or sliders. My floor didn't seem to shake much with the OB subs. My full range speakers absolutely require isolation to keep the floor from vibrating. It is a little neat to feel your chair rocking to the music but floor bass is quite muddy.  Maybe try some cheap spikes or squishy footers to see if they help or hurt.

Early B.

Re: H Frame Open Baffle Feet
« Reply #3 on: 14 Apr 2021, 03:15 am »
I don't use any feet. Direct to a wood floor. 

Dakotaconcrete

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Re: H Frame Open Baffle Feet
« Reply #4 on: 14 Apr 2021, 11:26 pm »
I've had mine on a floating wood floor on SVS subwoofer footers for a few years now and was just curious what others are using as I've never tried anything else . Danni gives such attention to detail that I figured an official recommendation had been made but it seems pretty open regarding approaches. Thanks for the input!

mlundy57

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Re: H Frame Open Baffle Feet
« Reply #5 on: 15 Apr 2021, 02:21 am »
Mine are on a carpeted floor with no feet. I'm curious about the effect IsoAcoustics GAIAs would have but so far, not curious enough to spend the money to find out.

Dakotaconcrete

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Re: H Frame Open Baffle Feet
« Reply #6 on: 15 Apr 2021, 02:27 am »
It's interesting you bring them up as I recently added them to my speakers, with good results. It likely led to my curiosity with the subwoofer.

corndog71

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Re: H Frame Open Baffle Feet
« Reply #7 on: 15 Apr 2021, 03:00 am »
Mine are on a carpeted floor with no feet. I'm curious about the effect IsoAcoustics GAIAs would have but so far, not curious enough to spend the money to find out.
I got a used set and they worked well for my X-Statiks.  Not sure they’re worth the retail price but they do work. 

My Super 7s are currently also on carpet and they sound great.  I have a custom pair of Isoacoustics modular stands for them but they’re not really made for carpet.  When I move again and hopefully have a bigger listening room I’ll break them out again.

mikeeastman

Re: H Frame Open Baffle Feet
« Reply #8 on: 15 Apr 2021, 01:37 pm »
I use Mapleshade brass footers sitting on Herbie’s Cone/Spike Decoupling Glider on my Super 7s, on a suspended floor. They work great and it’s easy to move the speakers if you need to.

Rock Ball

Re: H Frame Open Baffle Feet
« Reply #9 on: 15 Apr 2021, 07:47 pm »
My floor is carpet on wood subflooring.  I paid about $50 for a carton of tennis balls to experiment with.



Subwoofer center of gravity is nearer the back since all woofers are facing forward, so I put the middle row of tennis balls closer to the back.



This works well for me.  Everything stays in place.  I'm sewing a black cloth to drape over the base to hide the tennis balls.

cjsailer

Re: H Frame Open Baffle Feet
« Reply #10 on: 15 Apr 2021, 11:44 pm »
My floor is carpet on wood subflooring.  I paid about $50 for a carton of tennis balls to experiment with.
Are you for real on this?  What's the rationale here?

Rock Ball

Re: H Frame Open Baffle Feet
« Reply #11 on: 16 Apr 2021, 12:46 pm »
Are you for real on this?  What's the rationale here?

My goal was to reduce the amount of sound energy transferred from the subwoofer into the floor and structure of my home.  The experiment was a success.

Does it look odd or goofy?  Of course it does.  That's why I am covering it with a neatly sewn black cloth.

I could have ordered the IsoAcoustics Gaia I (220 lbs max, $599 x 2 = $1198).  Or maybe I could get away with the less expensive Gaia II (120 lbs max, $299 x 2 = $598).

Instead, I chose to spend $50 to see if isolation of the subwoofers would make a difference in the amount of bass heard in the rest of my house.  I now know that it does in my situation.

By the way, I got the idea to try this from watching YouTube videos of people building DIY drum kit isolation platforms.

Danny Richie

Re: H Frame Open Baffle Feet
« Reply #12 on: 23 Apr 2021, 01:57 pm »
What we are looking for here is the stabilization of the speaker. Ideally you don't want the speaker to move around as it will counter the movement of the cone (domes, ribbons) creating the output.

If you have a carpeted concrete floor then spike it straight to the floor. Problem solved. The concrete floor doesn't move.

If you have a lossy floor (suspended or wooden floor), then it helps to use a damper.

The reason to use a damper isn't because there is energy being transferred from the speaker cabinet to the floor. Put your hand on the upper corners of an open baffle woofer. Feel any flexing or vibration? No, corners are rock solid. And a spike on the corner at the bottom sees no vibration or flexing either. So the woofer doesn't transmit energy into the floor that way.

The way a woofer transmits energy into the floor is the same way that it transmits energy to the ceiling and walls. It creates room pressure. Now an open baffle woofer creates more of a velocity wave rather than a pressure wave. So it mitigates room pressure already.

Still there can be some flexing of the walls, but much less than a typical woofer system or speaker. So a damper can be used to absorb it. And there are a lot of different kinds of dampers.

These dampers are not isolators. They do not isolate a speaker from the floor. The speaker is still sitting on and coupled to the floor. You are basically adding a shock absorber.

The amount of improvement gained depends on how much the floor flexes and at what wavelength verses the effectiveness of the damper at that wavelength.

Keep in mind that you don't want your speaker to move. So if it is floating around or bouncing around on your dampers then they aren't working.

So keys to note. Focus the weight of the speaker on the floor to fewer spots. So three or four spikes is best. That makes all the weight focused on those small areas. That makes it harder to move. Above the weight you need a heavy damper that spreads out the energy or converts it to heat. So thick bag of sand. Something dense that has a different density than the spike. It is like a filter. A steel spike will only transmit certain wavelengths. And a piece of hardwood or a concrete block will transmit only a different wavelength. Stack up hard but dissimilar materials and you have created a filter that damps out movement.

So think spike, wood block, sheet of granite, blue tack or hard rubber bumper.... and make your stacked layers.

Early B.

Re: H Frame Open Baffle Feet
« Reply #13 on: 23 Apr 2021, 03:31 pm »
I don't use any feet. Direct to a wood floor.

Well, I changed directions on this. I went back using Auralex Acoustics SubDude-II Subwoofer Acoustic Isolation Platforms underneath my subs. I have a wood floor with basement underneath. These platforms serve as a heavy damper, they're inexpensive, easy to slide the subs around, and they have the proper dimensions. Only reason I originally removed them is because they added 2 inches to the height of my speakers which sit on top of the subs, but the benefits outweigh this concern.

 

Rock Ball

Re: H Frame Open Baffle Feet
« Reply #14 on: 23 Apr 2021, 09:01 pm »
FOR SALE:
one box of used tennis balls

Beerbellydad

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Re: H Frame Open Baffle Feet
« Reply #15 on: 23 Apr 2021, 09:10 pm »
FOR SALE:
one box of used tennis balls

 :lol:

Local dog park?? You'd be the coolest person there!

Danny Richie

Re: H Frame Open Baffle Feet
« Reply #16 on: 23 Apr 2021, 09:10 pm »
FOR SALE:
one box of used tennis balls

I bet your brother will take them. Unless that's where you got them from.