Spike (HiFi)
Spikes are used in the hi-fi sector as feet for loudspeaker boxes and other devices. Spikes reduce unwanted housing vibrations and the transmission of external resonances to the device.
Form and functionality
Spikes have the shape of a cone . Either external threads for screwing into corresponding threaded sockets on the bottom of the device or adhesive surfaces on the flat side of the cone are used for fastening.
Spikes are used to limit the transmission of vibrations between two objects to one direction, if possible. In a cone, vibrations are transmitted well towards the tip, but less well vice versa. When setting up loudspeakers, spikes are used with the tip pointing downwards in order to concentrate the vibrations of the housing into the floor (“coupling”) and to keep possible (back) vibrations of the floor away from the housing. In these cases, spikes only make sense on solid surfaces in which sound waves do not propagate well. If, on the other hand, loudspeakers are placed on the tip of spikes, the transmission of the vibrations to the floor is made more difficult, and the natural resonances are therefore largely reflected back into the housing.
The use of spikes is not recommended for floors with a lot of resonance (e.g. floating parquet or floorboards on a wooden beam ceiling ), as the floor is stimulated to vibrate and the sound is distorted. In such cases, elastic materials are used as dampers for decoupling (opposite of coupling ) , which converts vibration energy into heat and thus destroys it in the damper.
Individual evidence
- ↑ The fairy tale of tennis balls. How to improve the sound of your floorstanding speakers . In: av-magazin.de . Retrieved February 22, 2015.