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Suspended Floor and Speaker Isolation
#1
Hi guys Im after some advise if i may

My system is as listed in my signature, setup in my bedroom which is about 12ft square. The room has the usual bedroom stuff. large double bed etc. and a solid real wood suspended floor. It sounds good at low nighttime listening (circa 55) but when i crank it up it gets confused and boomy which obviously im not really enjoying 

I assume its down to the room not being ideal and the speakers being restricted to only about 10 inches away from the rear wall. I intend to get John Smiths - Get Better Sound book to learn more on positioning and room treatment. However I had an idea that the wooden floor maybe acting as a huge speaker and creating a lot of the boom. 

There is a thread about Townsends bars http://devialetchat.com/showthread.php?t...=isolation
These would isolate my speakers from the floor however they would be quite the mismatch with my rather modestly priced speakers

So my question is am I correct in thinking that the floor is negatively effecting my sound and if so is there some DIY isolation ideas i could try?
I was thinking maybe some granite slabs or two granite slabs stacked and separated by a rubber mat to assist in the isolation?  I dunno what do you guys think?

Currently my speakers have spikes resting on spike cups and have an internal compartment where they can be filled to add to their weight if you think that may be beneficial

thanks in advance 
Gordy
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Foobar2000/Win10 ~ Devialet 440Pro ~ Tannoy Precision 6.4 ~ Auralic Taurus Mk2 ~ Sennheiser HD700
The Missing Link Cryo Reference Mains Cables / The Chord Company Silver Plus USB / Townshend Isolda Bi-Wire Speaker Cables / Townshend Isolda DCT 300 Interconnects / Quadraspire Q4 EVO Rack

The Cotswolds England
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#2
As most of the vibrations are airborne , isolating the speakers will help a bit but not that much.
some floors do act as giant resonators .. but It's most likely bass boom which is a function of the room and not the floor .. especially if its square
The best bet is to add some DSP in the low bass to take down the bass peaks the square room is reinforcing
Roon/tidal > Squeezebox touch  > Trinnov St2 or DIRAC (minidsp ddrc-22d) > Dual mono D premiers > Vivid Audio Giya G1 Spirits  ...fully treated  dedicated 6x8m room
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#3
If you want to know whether isolation is the way to go you could try a few cheap washing machine anti vibration pads or some rubber door stops first. But I have to agree with Rodney, given the size of your room, it's most likely that you need more air around the speakers. After all, spikes are isolators too.

Just for your information; Jim Smith believes more in coupling the speakers to the floor. He also mentions that if you have a concrete floor, it would help to put a small timber frame/floor on top (raise it by 2 inches or so). I suppose the idea is that a little vibration of the floor gives the room some 'body'.

If you wanna have a go; take your spikes of and plonk your speakers straight on the ground. See what happens. Cost: $0.-
                                                    Lifetime Roon, Mac mini, int. SSD, ext. HDD, tv as monitor, key board and track pad on bean bag as remote,Devialet 200, Od'A #097, Blue jeans speaker cable,                                     
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                                                                                                                                                                              Jim Smith's GBS.
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#4
I'm in almost the same position - thin (old, about 130 years and very dry wood) suspended floor, small room about 12x12. My Raidhos have an unusual stand design which dissipates the energy to the floor so probably affected even more. Suspended floors are a known problem area with these particular stands.   Many people use granite slabs - chopping boards effectively. I have a couple but the problem is the speakers can slide across them and it makes it rather easy to knock the speakers off. I did actually catch one after knocking it while hoovering!
As the room is on the ground floor the first thing I did is make something to couple the underside of the floorboard with the ground underneath using some threaded tie-bars and big blocks of wood on either end. These are tightened up until they're just about raising the floorboards. They do come loose periodically as it's just soft compacted earth under the floor.     I'm not massively convinced this made a significant difference but it gave me some peace of mind.
I've tried various things under the speaker stands - perspex sheets, granite, wood. I even made some adjustable platforms which are a thing of beauty but almost completely useless!   I've tried various things under each stand foot too - mainly spike cups, even though the feet aren't actually spikes - and they've not really made much difference.   I have the Raidho adjustable 'resonance' feet now which are positive, though I'm annoyed these didn't come as standard.
The Entreq dealer managed to sell me some Vibb Eaters - bags of minerals that supposedly dissipate vibration. I have one of each sitting on the 'shelf' at the bottom of the stand assembly. They seem to have a fairly positive effect.

I'm actually reasonably happy with the way things are. The changes together seem to have made a pretty positive difference. The speakers need to come further away from the wall - that's probably the biggest issue now rather than the floor.

I haven't tried the Townshend platform but it looks like it could do a pretty decent job and I've thought about trying them myself in the past. Definitely worth a try.
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#5
Every room will have nodes and antinodes , areas where bass waves clash and combine to a peak or clash and combine to a trough .. a suckout
The room being square and small makes this worse , thats what the resonance and boom is .. rather than the floor
don't waste your time on the floor .. cure the nodes

The best way to cure them is also free , sit in a neutral position (10x more effective than moving speakers) if you can

if you cant change the sitting position

My suggestion is to try parametric eq

download a trial of J river

Use the DSP studio in it , the parametric eq

Use a Q of 2 , use -6db attenuation and slide the centre frequ from 30-100 hz as you listen in your chair
You will soon hear where the boom is and how effective the eq is at removing it

Ideally you want to buy a Umik-1 calibrated mic ($80) and use REW room eq wizard (free) to measure at listening position..to show you exactly where the peaks are so you can correct them
Roon/tidal > Squeezebox touch  > Trinnov St2 or DIRAC (minidsp ddrc-22d) > Dual mono D premiers > Vivid Audio Giya G1 Spirits  ...fully treated  dedicated 6x8m room
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#6
I am in the same camp as the other members who have chimed in thus far. Square rooms tend to have issues with the bass. My dealer's room is about 20 x 20 ft, and it has a major suckout around 100 Hz.

PEQ might help in your situation and, as I understand it, dealing with a boom/peak may be easier than with a suckout/cancellation. In my somewhat similar sized but not square room, reducing the 50 -150 Hz region by 0.5dB (rather miniscule) helped to remove some slight congestion/busy-ness in the bass region and opened up the sound.

On the other hand, if it is the suspended floor that is preventing your speakers from being properly coupled, you might want to have a look at Isofeet products:

http://m.ebay.com/itm/Isofeet-by-SoundDa...0830586967

http://www.sounddeadsteel.com/hifi.html

Based on the constrained layer damping concept, it would work by isolating your speakers from the vibrations from the floor and vice-versa. Bit industrial looking but the manufacturer does make them for industrial vibration isolation - engine mounts on yatchs, etc.
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#7
awesome replies guys, thank you so much

Thinking about it again, maybe the floor is more stable than I first thought, after all my room is well furnished with a heavy oak bed. Its one that has a solid rectangle frame that is sitting on a huge rug which i imagine should absorb resonance fairly well.

Using software for room correction sounds like the way to go and I have thought a lot about it, followed intently the other threads. Whats more with only an $80 outlay while using free software I should also gain a better idea of what sound treatment I may need if I choose to go down that route or will room treatment not be required?

Thank you Rodney for those settings I will give them a try over the weekend Big Grin
.
Foobar2000/Win10 ~ Devialet 440Pro ~ Tannoy Precision 6.4 ~ Auralic Taurus Mk2 ~ Sennheiser HD700
The Missing Link Cryo Reference Mains Cables / The Chord Company Silver Plus USB / Townshend Isolda Bi-Wire Speaker Cables / Townshend Isolda DCT 300 Interconnects / Quadraspire Q4 EVO Rack

The Cotswolds England
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