Is there something I should place my sub on or are the wood floors o.k.?

Get yourself a subdude. a great 50 dollar investment.
http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/SubDude

I have been curious about this too with several of the subs I am interested in having metal spikes I don't want to put on my wood floors.

It does what it advertises. made my sub sound tighter, and stopped alot of the annoying rattles....not the good ones:) There is a thread around here discussing these isolation platforms.

With subs, it's all about experimentation. Try the SubDudes. Try the spikes. Try nothing. Try moving the sub around to different locations. There is not one pat answer as the best way to go.

Have fun !!

I can respect asking before you encounter issues, but in all honesty? I'd put the thing right on the floor and see if I liked it. :)

I purchased the subdude because my subs were shaking my projector. The subdudes fix the issue as well as seemingly giving me a little better performance.

I’ve noticed the difference between dodgy floorboards that are lose here and there and buzz and make all sorts of noises.

Hard surfaces like concrete floors give in, my humble opinion a better quality.

Lows seem to impact better with stiffer wooden floors or concrete. One thing I’ve noticed it takes a little more power here and there to vibrate the sofa and some lows will travel deeply though the concrete and buzz though your legs while they are sat on the floor, depending on the frequency and level.

The last thing you what is floorboards that rattle and buzz under different frequencies and sound pressure, because you’ll going around the room for hours trying to secure the loosen floorboards.

The subdude is 15x15 and my sub is 18x22 at its base. Is it ok to use the subdude?

The subdude is 15x15 and my sub is 18x22 at its base. Is it ok to use the subdude?

they make a larger size called the "Great Gramma"

Mine hangs over a little with no issues. Not 3.5" though...

Maybe 1.5" on each side, maybe a little more.

I just received my SubDude and it is without doubt the best accessory I have ever purchased. My system has never sounded better ! My house is 110 years old so as you can imagine there were some rattles. The SubDude has eliminated any noise from resonance and really lets my sub sound deep and tight. I'm usually the last person to believe in tweeks because many are black magic, but the SubDude really performs as claimed, the difference was jaw dropping.

I just ordered a Hsu VTF-1 that measures at 14" W x 18" D, will the standard 15" x 15" SubDude work o.k.?

rubber feet work great.... only a few dollars, or you can buy a subwoofer that does not vibrate. look for subs with opposing active woofers.. no vibrations no problems :)

I just ordered a Hsu VTF-1 that measures at 14" W x 18" D, will the standard 15" x 15" SubDude work o.k.?

Yeah it'll be fine, that's just 1.5" over front and rear, it'll still have more than enough support.

How about suspending it in mid-air with one of these I wonder how it will sound and feel then?

http://www.djdepot.co.uk/images/G104.jpg

rubber feet work great.... only a few dollars, or you can buy a subwoofer that does not vibrate. look for subs with opposing active woofers.. no vibrations no problems :)


Unfortunately rubber feet transmit energy to wood floors which will resonate and sound nasty. It has little to with the sub, my sub's cabinet is sealed and very dead acoustically... it's everything else in the room that resonated at different frequencies.

To give some perspective on what resonance frequencies can do my sub is driven by a Velodyne SMS 1 which also serves as the sub's volume control. Not only did I have to re-EQ the sub after adding the SubDude but I had to increase the volume of the SMS from 20 to 30. The EQ was mild compared to before and I had to increase the volume to compensate for the room's "sound" because it was acting as a soundboard muddying the sound. I had several room induced peaks around 32 and 40 Hertz that were reduced by 3dB by simply adding the SubDude so I know it works. It completely decouples the sub and prevents the floor and walls from acting as a transducer. The overall clarity of my mains is improved also due to the sub not interacting mechanically with the floor. The room is an acoustical nightmare, hardwood floors, six foot windows, three doors, and a tin ceiling. I can honestly say that the addition of the SubDude had a more pronounced effect than using the SMS-1. While the SMS is a great tool it could not cure the real problem like a $50 isolation platform did. If I had to give up either the SMS or the SubDude I would keep the SubDude, it's that good.

Is the subdude any different than the GRAMMA? The gramma is just a little bigger and would support my sub without it hanging over on either side.

The SubDude is 15"x15" and is covered in plain grey carpet. I picked the 'Dude because my sub is roughly 14" square. The Gramma is a rectangle that's 23"x15". The Great Gramma is 30"x19".

http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/GRAMMA/

They are the same AFAIK. Subdude is marketed to the home theater crowd, Gramma and Great Gramma for guitar speaker cabinets and such, often seen in recording studios. They (Auralex) makes foam that also goes under speakers/monitors, I use them in my studio, to aim my speakers down a couple of degrees as the tweeters are just above ear height, as well as provide isolation from the wood rack they sit on, http://www.auralex.com/sound_isolation_mopad/sound_isolation_mopad.asp . I got them for $35, and improved my studio monitors, at least by a little. If foam can help monitors I am sure it can help subs even more. Although since my theater is in a basement, carpet/pad/concrete I am not sure what it would do for a sub in that situation, so I have held off on forking out the money.

do you think these would angle a floorstanding speaker up a bit ? mine are just below ear level would these be able to support such a thing?

do you think these would angle a floorstanding speaker up a bit ? mine are just below ear level would these be able to support such a thing?

Since the foam compresses it might get a little tippy, and they are only 12 inches deep? Not very useful for floor standers (IMO) that are already tippy. Almost better off with one/two small (not to thick) book/s to angle them up or something like that, if the foam didn't compress as much ya I could see them being used for floor standing speakers. I am talking about the mopads.

Although they are rated for 100Lbs.

Would the Subdude be a good purchase for an apartment to help minimize neighbour impact?

Anyone with personal experience would like to share their results?

The sub that I got is the Polk PSW10

Link : http://www.polkaudio.com/homeaudio/products/individual/subwoofers/psw10/

What about for downward firing subs? Would a subdude still be beneficial or would it just absorb everything??

I have hardwood floors and I use a Subdude.

I'm powering two sealed 15" Phoenix Gold ti15's with an Elemental Designs LT/1300 and without the Subdude the cabinet will walk itself across my room (and rattle the house like crazy). With the Subdude the sub stays put and I have megatons of rattle-free bass.

I was skeptical of it too...
Decent turnkey products for their intended purpose... Not to much money.

Hard to try to re-invent the wheel at this sort of pricing on them :)

The sub dude gets some ringing endoursements here.

Anyone try the sub dude on carpet?

I have rubber feet on carpet under mine not to raise the port above the carpet.

What's normally recommended on carpet?

I have been curious about this too with several of the subs I am interested in having metal spikes I don't want to put on my wood floors.

I live in a cabin . . . wood floors, of course. My Martin Logan Depth i sub came with a choice of spikes or screw on rubber studs . . . We tried with no spikes or rubber studs. Eeks! The sub moved around the hardwood floor! The amazing dancing sub could have been a theme park ride!

Then we srewed on the rubber studs. The rubber studs have worked awesome!

We thought about placing a piece of thick carpet remnant under the sub . . . glad we didn't! Because . . . the vibrations of the sub directly on the wood floor travel nicely!

BTW--the ML sub is amazing!

Unfortunately rubber feet transmit energy to wood floors which will resonate and sound nasty. It has little to with the sub, my sub's cabinet is sealed and very dead acoustically... it's everything else in the room that resonated at different frequencies.

Not to be contrary, but I am sure that depends on the home's contruction and the sub. My ML sub is balanced, with rubber feet on it, on the second open hardwood floor of a log cabin. Outstanding performance with the rubber feet.

I would encorage anyone with a hardwood floor to try using the cheapest option first.

Whatever happend to the nice cheap route. Two towels and a cement block? And I'm not talking about a cinder block, but a solid 80-100lb cement block.

if your sub has spikes use 4 nickels on the floor and set the spike on them. if your sub doesn't have spikes get some for it.

Soft feet is the way to go.

I have a my A2-300 sitting on a SubDude, and it has diminished the vibrations transferred to the floor to the point of almost nothing, but I'm sure my neighbors can still hear it just fine. :)

Also, at like 25hz and below, some of my bookshelves and random things like the hinge on my fridge door would rattle and buzz like crazy, and the SubDude helped some with that.

Now, I'm moving to a house with all-hardwood floors, and I'm really glad I bought it.

If my projector is on a rolling cart and the sub is about 12 feet away, pounding hard, can it do any damage to the projector?
Or should I put this into projector forum?

try the rubber feet, get an area rug, if you can afford, get the subdude..
whatever you use, just stay away from using spikes on hardwood floor...

bass trap is also important and will help alot in tuning down the excess bass...