Sonus faber Olympica ll

[iamwappie]

What is wrong with the Olympica spikes?

[Axel]

I have used two slates of polished granite between the SO's and the wooden floor. The granite, one of the hardest affordable sorts of stone, decouple the SO's enough from the wooden floor. at least, enough in my case, and it looks good!

Sounds good! Any chance of a picture or two?

Sure, here is one:


https://i.imgur.com/vz61fjf.jpg

Very nice! I like the contrast between the white and the wood of the floor and speakers, and the white 250 too. Is that a PV1 as well? I bet that fills out the bottom registers nicely. 

[Axel]

I would 100% recommend you get a pair of isoscoustics Gaia feet on demo.

I thought the same. The problem is that the spikes on the back of the SFs are much shorter than the front ones, leaning the speakers back for time alignment. If I used Gaias, the speakers would be level and it would look pretty horrible too IMHO.

Levelling-wise, I guess it depends how much difference - the Gaia's have a reasonable amount of thread and can be adjusted so you could have the front ones taller.  Whether to the same extent or not you'd have to try.

FWIW I'd previously tried some reasonably big granite slabs, and found they did little to improve the situation.  Personally I thought they were a different kind of ugly to the Gaia's (the demo pair of which I'm learning to like), since they drew attention to the base of the speakers where previously they just sat on the floor.  I also found them a bit of a pig as when you wanted to move speakers for placement experimentation, it was much harder with granite slabs to move around too - unless you're happy to have them not placed neatly and evenly under the speakers. Beyond that they did very little to the sound - much less than just chaining from spikes to rubber feet, and way less than what the Gaia's bring.  In my setup anyway.  Thats just reminded me I must sell those slabs!

But if you don't like the look of the Gaia's its a non starter. (But Id still try them just so you know where you want to get to with another solution! )

What is wrong with the Olympica spikes?

They don't isolate the speaker from the floor, so at higher volumes the bass is transferred into the suspended wooden floorboards under the carpet and booms. I can feel the vibration through my feet.
The Gaias would effectively decouple the speaker from the floor making booming impossible.

[Bartype]

Sounds good! Any chance of a picture or two?

Sure, here is one:


https://i.imgur.com/vz61fjf.jpg

Very nice! I like the contrast between the white and the wood of the floor and speakers, and the white 250 too. Is that a PV1 as well? I bet that fills out the bottom registers nicely. 

Thank you! It's a PV1 indeed, but it's only used for surround, in my room the SOII's go more then low enough. I even have to use digital room correction with Roon to get rid of standing waves at 37 Hz...

[iamwappie]

I thought the same. The problem is that the spikes on the back of the SFs are much shorter than the front ones, leaning the speakers back for time alignment. If I used Gaias, the speakers would be level and it would look pretty horrible too IMHO.

Levelling-wise, I guess it depends how much difference - the Gaia's have a reasonable amount of thread and can be adjusted so you could have the front ones taller.  Whether to the same extent or not you'd have to try.

FWIW I'd previously tried some reasonably big granite slabs, and found they did little to improve the situation.  Personally I thought they were a different kind of ugly to the Gaia's (the demo pair of which I'm learning to like), since they drew attention to the base of the speakers where previously they just sat on the floor.  I also found them a bit of a pig as when you wanted to move speakers for placement experimentation, it was much harder with granite slabs to move around too - unless you're happy to have them not placed neatly and evenly under the speakers. Beyond that they did very little to the sound - much less than just chaining from spikes to rubber feet, and way less than what the Gaia's bring.  In my setup anyway.  Thats just reminded me I must sell those slabs!

But if you don't like the look of the Gaia's its a non starter. (But Id still try them just so you know where you want to get to with another solution! )

What is wrong with the Olympica spikes?

They don't isolate the speaker from the floor, so at higher volumes the bass is transferred into the suspended wooden floorboards under the carpet and booms. I can feel the vibration through my feet.
The Gaias would effectively decouple the speaker from the floor making booming impossible.

Don't know if the picture posted in an earlier post is the one with the booming issue but question is if the vibration you feel in the floor is caused by transfer via the spikes. I think another likely cause could be the bass energy concentration in the corners of the room 'leaking' into the wooden floor also.

I recently experimented with that in my living room as some songs were really boomy (I also have the SF O II). My room is quiet hard; wooden floor, nor carpet, clean side wall and wall to the back of the speakers. I put some couch pillows in the corner behind the speakers (I have really big pillows) and was totally amazed by the effect. No boom and considerably more details because the bass reflections were overwhelming mid tones.

I'm now ordered bass traps as I couldn't listen to my music without the couch pillows anymore and my wife was for some strange reason not ok leaving the pillows in the corners :-)

Knowing now that I've listened for all those years to a sub optimal sound is a kind of waist. I'd seriously suggest to just put some pillows in the corner and listen what happens....

[Axel]

Levelling-wise, I guess it depends how much difference - the Gaia's have a reasonable amount of thread and can be adjusted so you could have the front ones taller.  Whether to the same extent or not you'd have to try.

FWIW I'd previously tried some reasonably big granite slabs, and found they did little to improve the situation.  Personally I thought they were a different kind of ugly to the Gaia's (the demo pair of which I'm learning to like), since they drew attention to the base of the speakers where previously they just sat on the floor.  I also found them a bit of a pig as when you wanted to move speakers for placement experimentation, it was much harder with granite slabs to move around too - unless you're happy to have them not placed neatly and evenly under the speakers. Beyond that they did very little to the sound - much less than just chaining from spikes to rubber feet, and way less than what the Gaia's bring.  In my setup anyway.  Thats just reminded me I must sell those slabs!

But if you don't like the look of the Gaia's its a non starter. (But Id still try them just so you know where you want to get to with another solution! )

What is wrong with the Olympica spikes?

They don't isolate the speaker from the floor, so at higher volumes the bass is transferred into the suspended wooden floorboards under the carpet and booms. I can feel the vibration through my feet.
The Gaias would effectively decouple the speaker from the floor making booming impossible.

Don't know if the picture posted in an earlier post is the one with the booming issue but question is if the vibration you feel in the floor is caused by transfer via the spikes. I think another likely cause could be the bass energy concentration in the corners of the room 'leaking' into the wooden floor also.

I recently experimented with that in my living room as some songs were really boomy (I also have the SF O II). My room is quiet hard; wooden floor, nor carpet, clean side wall and wall to the back of the speakers. I put some couch pillows in the corner behind the speakers (I have really big pillows) and was totally amazed by the effect. No boom and considerably more details because the bass reflections were overwhelming mid tones.

I'm now ordered bass traps as I couldn't listen to my music without the couch pillows anymore and my wife was for some strange reason not ok leaving the pillows in the corners :-)

Knowing now that I've listened for all those years to a sub optimal sound is a kind of waist. I'd seriously suggest to just put some pillows in the corner and listen what happens....

Interesting theory. Thanks. 
The way that my system is laid out, I haven't actually got any corners to put pillows into, strange as that may sound. I've got some Herbie's Spike Decoupling Gliders on their way to me, so I'll see if they make any difference.
I'll let you know when I get them.

[BoyScout]

They don't isolate the speaker from the floor, so at higher volumes the bass is transferred into the suspended wooden floorboards under the carpet and booms. I can feel the vibration through my feet.
The Gaias would effectively decouple the speaker from the floor making booming impossible.

Don't know if the picture posted in an earlier post is the one with the booming issue but question is if the vibration you feel in the floor is caused by transfer via the spikes. I think another likely cause could be the bass energy concentration in the corners of the room 'leaking' into the wooden floor also.

I recently experimented with that in my living room as some songs were really boomy (I also have the SF O II). My room is quiet hard; wooden floor, nor carpet, clean side wall and wall to the back of the speakers. I put some couch pillows in the corner behind the speakers (I have really big pillows) and was totally amazed by the effect. No boom and considerably more details because the bass reflections were overwhelming mid tones.

I'm now ordered bass traps as I couldn't listen to my music without the couch pillows anymore and my wife was for some strange reason not ok leaving the pillows in the corners :-)

Knowing now that I've listened for all those years to a sub optimal sound is a kind of waist. I'd seriously suggest to just put some pillows in the corner and listen what happens....

Interesting theory. Thanks. 
The way that my system is laid out, I haven't actually got any corners to put pillows into, strange as that may sound. I've got some Herbie's Spike Decoupling Gliders on their way to me, so I'll see if they make any difference.
I'll let you know when I get them.

I have bass traps too, there´s no other way.
I had a pair of Olll a couple of months ago, this room has brick floor but now i´m moving to a house with wooden floors, room completely different and i´m a bit curious/affraid about the sound there.
I´m alert to your opinion about the spikes, even considering i have stand mount speakers.

[Axel]

Don't know if the picture posted in an earlier post is the one with the booming issue but question is if the vibration you feel in the floor is caused by transfer via the spikes. I think another likely cause could be the bass energy concentration in the corners of the room 'leaking' into the wooden floor also.

I recently experimented with that in my living room as some songs were really boomy (I also have the SF O II). My room is quiet hard; wooden floor, nor carpet, clean side wall and wall to the back of the speakers. I put some couch pillows in the corner behind the speakers (I have really big pillows) and was totally amazed by the effect. No boom and considerably more details because the bass reflections were overwhelming mid tones.

I'm now ordered bass traps as I couldn't listen to my music without the couch pillows anymore and my wife was for some strange reason not ok leaving the pillows in the corners :-)

Knowing now that I've listened for all those years to a sub optimal sound is a kind of waist. I'd seriously suggest to just put some pillows in the corner and listen what happens....

Interesting theory. Thanks. 
The way that my system is laid out, I haven't actually got any corners to put pillows into, strange as that may sound. I've got some Herbie's Spike Decoupling Gliders on their way to me, so I'll see if they make any difference.
I'll let you know when I get them.

I have bass traps too, there´s no other way.
I had a pair of Olll a couple of months ago, this room has brick floor but now i´m moving to a house with wooden floors, room completely different and i´m a bit curious/affraid about the sound there.
I´m alert to your opinion about the spikes, even considering i have stand mount speakers.

When you say wooden floor, do you mean a suspended floor with joists underneath floorboards or wooden laminate over concrete? If the latter, you should have no problems as long as you put a rug or something between you and the speakers.

[BoyScout]

Interesting theory. Thanks. 
The way that my system is laid out, I haven't actually got any corners to put pillows into, strange as that may sound. I've got some Herbie's Spike Decoupling Gliders on their way to me, so I'll see if they make any difference.
I'll let you know when I get them.

I have bass traps too, there´s no other way.
I had a pair of Olll a couple of months ago, this room has brick floor but now i´m moving to a house with wooden floors, room completely different and i´m a bit curious/affraid about the sound there.
I´m alert to your opinion about the spikes, even considering i have stand mount speakers.

When you say wooden floor, do you mean a suspended floor with joists underneath floorboards or wooden laminate over concrete? If the latter, you should have no problems as long as you put a rug or something between you and the speakers.

It´ll be wooden floating floor, in a near future, i have NOT great expectations about the result.
I think i´ve a lot of trouble in front of me to solve after a "marvelous" period of moving ALL the house from this place to another.
The system´s environment will be completely different. Years and years of sound tunning thrown away.
My speakers arrived just two months ago, after almost a year trying different ones. Can you believe it?
Now a different room...

[iamwappie]

I feel for you. Speaker positioning is an art and sometimes a trial on error art but for sure it takes a lot of time. When you finished positioning, a lot of time goes (or should go) into acoustic treatment. It's like buying a Ferrari and drive it in town but the real excitement is when driving it at a circuit. This is what acoustic treatment can do. If your lucky you may get away with furniture and carpets. If thats not the case there is always the not so 'make friends with your wife' stuff but boy does it make a difference.