Has anyone used metal discs to stop rack spikes crumbing the screed layer on a concrete floor?
I am considering Acoustic Revive SPU-8 Brass Spike Shoes or Quadraspire QC Stainless Steel Floor Protectors (or other spike shoes) to use with my Quadraspire racks.
Quadraspire says:
“The Quadraspire QX7 utilises a stainless steel base, with an absorption material sandwiched between the spike absorber to neutralise the adverse effects arising from contact vibration resonance and improve sound quality and acoustic insulation.”
I use QX7s under my speakers, but that’s to protect parquet flooring, rather than concrete. I find their larger size easier to manage with my heavy floorstanders and perhaps they sound better. They certainly look better than coins and I think their shape is designed to match Quadraspire racks.
Lots of people use Naim Chips under their rack and/or speakers on concrete as well as timber floors. I find spikes straight into concrete can cause it to break, reducing the stability of the rack slightly, so floor protectors are a simple way to stop this.
Hi JimDog , have you got carpet over your concrete floor, I find that the spikes on my speakers break the surface too, my floor is a dry mix concrete with carpet and thought about spike shoes but a bit concerned that the speakers would move/slide over time.
They’ll only slide if you push them! Put the protectors under the carpet. Instead of lifting the carpet it’s usually easier to put a small slit in the carpet and push it through.
The Quadraspire spike shoes are fine. But I’ve also used Linn Skeet for their ability to slide over a wood floor when positioning speakers. But my goto for performance has always been Kripton. They have in inset ring of silicone that only just touches the floor. The metal shoe takes all the load and the silicone stops sliding.
In a pinch, I’ve used 2p coins but that might work for stone but on wood, after a few years you’ll end up with the Queen’s face on your floor.
The Quadraspire spike shoes are a little small for my liking. Though I’m curently using them.
I must be really cheap…! However, I did it under a carpet, so whether I used 2p pieces, or 10p, or antique half crowns or crowns, or maybe gold sovereigns, wasn’t visible! A bit of a hassle positioning, but in my case desirable to avoid damaging parquet flooring beneath the carpet.
When I ordered my SV3T I had a call with Quadraspire. The QX7 is now from solid steel. See picture. Quadraspre doesn’t produce the version with an absorber anymore but the person from Quadraspire told me it would still be posiible on a special order . The absorbermaterial could become hard over time.
In my opinion putting a slit in the carpet then fitting whatever may not be the best idea. What if you want to move the speakers? What if you get different speakers… Move the room around?
Bear in mind that spikes as-is actually protect a carpet. They poke right through between the weave to the floor below. If the speakers are moved, a firm massage of the hole and it disappears. Whereas without, you’d be left with a compressed footprint that takes months to spring back, if ever.
If you have a hard floor you want to protect for a hypothetical carpet-free future, I’d suggest slipping something large enough to accommodate the whole speaker and some positioning leeway under the carpet. An iron sheet, that sort of thing, If you don’t have such a carpet-free future in mind, I’d not bother and just let the floor under the carpet make direct contact with the spikes.
I have 2 racks and let the spikes make direct contact with the concrete floor.
I imagine that the spikes with all that weight bearing down on them and vibrations from movements of the components (and the floor itself) end up burrowing into the concrete screed/surface and making concrete dust or rubble under the spikes.
I have a marble slab under each SL2 and those sit on the carpet.
I’m hoping to finally move house (if this chain doesn’t also collapse) and am trying to plan ahead what to do as the next sitting room also has a carpet over a concrete floor.
