[cheap-Jack]

Hi.

My room has a thin carpet on top of a suspended wood floor. I bought a 10" subwoofer about a month ago. I thought it was very bomy.
I guess the best thing would be to have sorbothane feet underneath a marble slab for a base.

If possible, brace the floor under the sub with a column. Parts are available from home centers to make a 4x4 wood column with threaded jack. It's not very expensive, and very effective.

If yr budget is so limited, why don't you DIY one yourself cheapie & easy rather than buying some Auralex base board for $60 or more??

This is exactly what I've done for my 10W 10" sub on the wall-to-wall carpetted concrete basement floor.

Get a 2"x2" wood stud, (or larger if your sub is a very large box), from any timber yards for 1 buck & cut to lengths to build a square flatform base to support the sub. The key feature of this square 'donut' base is the 3-in-set steel spikes planted at the base of the floor base, which 'float' the sub/the flatform base from the floor. This is crucial for any suspended floor like yours.

A spike is a mechanical diode which lets the vibration of the sub box itself drain away instantly to down to the floor & at the same time stop any floor vibations of the floor from going up the sub! Any isolation rubber pads will not do a better job!

This square ring base, which cost me a few bucks, works bigtime.

I tried the sub sitting on the wood-stud converted flatform base, with a few of my pipe organ music LPs &
the subsonic bass comes out clean & poweful.

Why spend yr hard-earned cash to buy from a vendor when one can build one that works, dirt cheap?

c-J
 

[Quiet Earth]

A spike is a mechanical diode which lets the vibration of the sub box itself drain away instantly to down to the floor

Which is exactly why you would not spike a sub to a suspended floor. The idea is to de-couple, or isolate the subwoofer cabinet energy from the suspended floor.

Spikes could be used on the bottom of an energy draining isolation stand where the stand does most of the work, but that's going to cost more than the simple Auralex solution.

[cheap-Jack]

Hi.

Which is exactly why you would not spike a sub to a suspended floor. The idea is to de-couple, or isolate the subwoofer cabinet energy from the suspended floor.

Spikes could be used on the bottom of an energy draining isolation stand where the stand does most of the work, but that's going to cost more than the simple Auralex solution.

I was taking vibrations of both the sub box itself & of the suspended floor. Not only floor vibration alone.

So explain to me how a $60 Auralex wood base can handle such both vibrations?

Nearly ALL very expensive hi-tech audio stands use steel spikes to anchor it down the floor & some rubber
like isolation pads to hold individual shelves on the stand.

c-J

[Quiet Earth]

So explain to me how a $60 Auralex wood base can handle such both vibrations?

Sure, and I understand the skepticism because I certainly had mine. The Auralex is just a platform as you described it, but there is some kind of special foam material on the bottom which touches the floor and decouples the speaker. I have used the Auralex MoPads (same foam material without the wood platform) in a desktop situaltion, underneath Mackie HR824 monitors. The Auralex foam does indeed keep the speaker from inducing cabinet vibrations into the surface that supports it. It's not the most sophisticated way to accomplish the task, but for the money it is simple, effective, and easy to use.

I don't have a problem with spikes (even though I find them difficult to use), I just don't think they should be used to couple energy to a suspended floor. A suspended floor will just send that energy into the walls and create a delayed, muddy bass sound. This has been my experience at my house, anyway.

 I hope that makes more sense. 

[cheap-Jack]

Hi.

I don't have a problem with spikes (even though I find them difficult to use), I just don't think they should be used to couple energy to a suspended floor. A suspended floor will just send that energy into the walls and create a delayed, muddy bass sound. This has been my experience at my house, anyway.

 I hope that makes more sense. 

I get you.

As I posted above, nearly all those very costly (in a few grand price range) hi-teck brandname audio stands ALL get steel spikes for enchoring the stand on the floor, be it concrete or suspended wooden or whatever. So you think their manufacaturers don't know they are building?

c-J

[*Scotty*]

c-j, if you really think those stands offer any kind of vibration isolation when used on suspended wooden floor I suggest you try putting a solid plinth TT on top of one and see if your footfalls are not enough to upset the tracking. Heck, just try pounding on the floor next to the stand with your fist while a record is playing and see if you don't hear it through the loudspeakers. I think the manufacters know  exactly what they are making but they are selling it as something else. 
Scotty

[charmerci]

If yr budget is so limited, why don't you DIY one yourself cheapie & easy rather than buying some Auralex base board for $60 or more??

c-J

I am presently awaiting a shipment from a fellow AC'er. It's a used Auralex SubDude isolation pad.

Anyway, I'm renting and I don't have saws and other tools for DIY.

[Quiet Earth]

.......nearly all those very costly (in a few grand price range) hi-teck brandname audio stands ALL get steel spikes for enchoring the stand on the floor, be it concrete or suspended wooden or whatever. So you think their manufacaturers don't know they are building?

I hear you man.  It can be very confusing trying to sort this stuff out.    I am certainly no expert.

The manufacturer doesn't know if you hang out in your basement or sit upstairs in the loft, so I think it's up to us to determine whether or not the spikes are helpful or harmful.

I think if a stand (or any audio support structure) is proactive in absorbing vibrations or setting up some kind of isolation scenario, then it is probably ok to spike that stand to a suspended floor for further stability. But if the stand is just a rigid sructure, then probably not.

The only way to find out is to experiment. Trial and error is my friend. 

[Atlplasma]

Has anyone tried Herbie's Big Fat Dots as a way to isolate a subwoofer? Just curious.

[cheap-Jack]

Hi.

I hear you man.  It can be very confusing trying to sort this stuff out.    I am certainly no expert.

The manufacturer doesn't know if you hang out in your basement or sit upstairs in the loft, so I think it's up to us to determine whether or not the spikes are helpful or harmful.

I think if a stand (or any audio support structure) is proactive in absorbing vibrations or setting up some kind of isolation scenario, then it is probably ok to spike that stand to a suspended floor for further stability. But if the stand is just a rigid sructure, then probably not.

The only way to find out is to experiment. Trial and error is my friend. 

When hi-end brandname audio stand manufacturers design/build any stand, do you think they are so naive
as NOT to put their stand protypes on whatever floors available in the marketplace to make vibration measurements to make sure they work all work all types of flooring??

Don't forget if their spiked stands don't work, customers can return them for full refund.

Spikes are always there as an coupling dead anchor to whatever flooring to be used. However, as I already pointed out in my above posts, there are always some types of isolation elastomeric pads to hold up the indivdual shelves on the stands. So isolation+dead weight coupling act together to do the job right.

FYI, there is one brandname really hi-teck audio stand builder in Europe (??) claims its flagship model stand (tagged for a few grands) can handle subsonic vibrations due to the earth movement by lowering the stand's resonance down to sub zero hertz using some complex multi-spring suspension systems for individual shelves.

If you think a $60 wood baseboard alone can do the job OK, why bother anything else?
My question still remain unanswered:- how can such baseboard handle vibration of the subwoofer box itself which should be reduced or killed to provide clean bass as a matter of course.

c-J

[rollo]

Rollo, on ACS recommendation on raising sub up  22% of ceiling hight, do you know if that is from top, center or bottom of sub? If sub is up firing would that be to top of sub?

  Mike

    Mike to the centerline of the woofer. Sorry for the late response.


charles

[Quiet Earth]

 how can such baseboard handle vibration of the subwoofer box itself which should be reduced or killed to provide clean bass as a matter of course.

c-J

I think the air in the foam prevents the cabinet from talking to the floor. That's all it does. The platform is just there to accommodate the subwoofer feet, for a downward firing sub. They make similar products for guitar amplifiers, so the platform comes in handy for set up. The MoPads don't come with a platform because they know that studio monitors don't have feet.

I can't think of anything else to say about it.....    Why don't you buy one and play around with it?

[mikeeastman]

Thanks Charles


  Mike

[charmerci]

If you think a $60 wood baseboard alone can do the job OK, why bother anything else?
My question still remain unanswered:- how can such baseboard handle vibration of the subwoofer box itself which should be reduced or killed to provide clean bass as a matter of course.

c-J

The Subdude (see on amazon) is not a wood baseboard. 

"The SubDude is fabricated using patented Auralex PlatFoam. PlatFoam is a thicker, denser variation of our industry standard Studiofoam that is very effective at controlling low-frequency vibrations. With this material between your amp and the floor, you can achieve almost total acoustic isolation. "

[charmerci]

Carpet on a suspended floor. Yes, I know the feeling very well.

Here's one idea that won't cost you much to experiment with http://www.amazon.com/Auralex-Subwoofer-Isolation-15x15x3-inch-Charcoal/dp/B001140OZ0

OK - I received the Subdude from roscoeiii today.

Yup - makes a noticeable difference. Gone is a lot of low end boominess - which makes it seems as if a lot of low end is missing. The bass now hits with more initial impact. On Sade's Love Is Stronger Than Pride, the tympani drum used to be a lot of boom, boom but now I can hear that it is in the back and it is localized. Nice. I'd sure recommend it if you bang your foot on your floor and you can hear it reverberate. It's $50 on amazon now. It's well worth it.

Thanks people!

[Atlplasma]

I ordered four Herbie's Big Fat Dots and will give an update once they arrive.