But is it Level?

[Charles]

Imprezap2 raised an interesting question concerning level. I remembered with my initial spiking, the head technician who I know personally and who is extremely competent had significant difficulty leveling the speakers. I was so stressed out by the whole process of installation I didn't question him as to why. I went back and noted the bubble was inside the circles (barely) and thought nothing more about it. I had an XVX, spiked (though inferiorly), and working properly. I was happy.

This time around I wanted the speakers spiked to one and a half inches, believing my floor to be extremely level. My speakers are almost exactly 4 cm at all corners (1.57 inches).

Left XVX. It would seem that my floor is not level certainly not from front to rear, since the bubble is significantly outside the circle.


Looking across the width from outside to inside also seems off, but note that all the bubble is inside the circle.


Looking across the width from inside to out side seems off the other way but again the bubble is noted to be inside the circle.


First effort at a straight down shot at the circle. Note the bubble is inside the circle.


Final and better straight down shot shows bubble satisfactorily well within the circle. I think my left XVX quite level.


From this I conclude that you need a straight down shot of the XVX level to determine if the bubble is truly inside the circle and thus level. I think this to be the source of confusion with the first installation.

Best

Charles

[GeAllan70]

some things you just can't unsee...

[2fastdriving]

Time to bring him back! One of the other reasons for the spike cups is that the speakers won't settle into the floor (perhaps unevenly). Yours might be doing that.

[Charles]

Originally Posted by 2fastdriving

Time to bring him back! One of the other reasons for the spike cups is that the speakers won't settle into the floor (perhaps unevenly). Yours might be doing that.

Marc, turns out my speakers are extremely level as you can see from the final pic. The point being that the bubble changes position relative to the circle, depending on your viewpoint/perspective. It takes a perfect straight down camera shot to truly determine level. Didn't you notice how things flipped from side to side? I think this is a valuable piece of information to know if your Wilson comes with a level. If you could see the blunt spike you would know your concern over settling is unfounded but nevertheless it is an easy check to look at the bubble periodically for any change. I don't believe the technician understood this. I didn't

Best,

Charles

p.s. Look at the final straight down shot again. I accidentally posted the same pic twice and just now posted the correction. The final pic was the best straight down shot I could achieve.

[Tullman]

Originally Posted by Charles

Marc, turns out my speakers are extremely level as you can see from the final pic. The point being that the bubble changes position relative to the circle, depending on your viewpoint/perspective. It takes a perfect straight down camera shot to truly determine level. Didn't you notice how things flipped from side to side? I think this is a valuable piece of information to know if your Wilson comes with a level. If you could see the blunt spike you would know your concern over settling is unfounded but nevertheless it is an easy check to look at the bubble periodically for any change. I don't believe the technician understood this. I didn't

Best,

Charles

p.s. Look at the final straight down shot again. I accidentally posted the same pic twice and just now posted the correction. The final pic was the best straight down shot I could achieve.

Hey Charles,

I just had some Sasha DAW's installed and like your room, mine has a slight dip to the center. After all it is an older house with suspended floors. It took me and the set up man a while to get it level, but we did finally get it right.

I am planning on getting the Wilson Diodes in the future. I'm not looking forward to going through the leveling process again.

Thanks for sharing.

[Charles]

Originally Posted by Tullman

Hey Charles,

I just had some Sasha DAW's installed and like your room, mine has a slight dip to the center. After all it is an older house with suspended floors. It took me and the set up man a while to get it level, but we did finally get it right.

I am planning on getting the Wilson Diodes in the future. I'm not looking forward to going through the leveling process again.

Thanks for sharing.

Tullman, I agree. I think "level" is important and you are very welcome. My floor is extremely level and my speakers are level with the floor. This resulted in the position of the bubble you see in the pics. No effort was made to level the speakers other than to make them exactly level with the floor by my specifying exactly 1.5 inches all corners both speakers. This has placed the bubble well within the bull's eye for both speakers. As Serge pointed out, the level is not a perfect instrument. I think it's significant that what little bit out of level the speakers are, it's the same little bit for both speakers. This tells me that the speakers are quite level with respect to each other, the floor, and the center of the earth. Since nothing is perfect, I'm not going to make "perfect" the enemy of "very good". I am extremely satisfied with the new spikes and the improvement in the bass and overall clarity to the sound. Not to mention how much better they look.

Best,

Charles

[crwilli]

Charles, Not sure why you think they are level. The top down seems to clearly show it out by some. Maybe 1 Degree?

I would think the bubble needs to be perfectly centered, not just inside the circle.

[Charles]

Originally Posted by crwilli

Charles, Not sure why you think they are level. The top down seems to clearly show it out by some. Maybe 1 Degree?

I would think the bubble needs to be perfectly centered, not just inside the circle.

Here's the right XVX. Essentially identical to the left.



This is good enough for me. My belief is that the circle is there for a reason. The bubble within the circle is the goal. Perfection is impossible.

I was surprised by the need for a straight down shot. I don't think the technicians understood this.

[McIntosh-maTRiX]

Originally Posted by Charles

Perfection is impossible.

Exactly!
I would not make a problem of it, also because I believe that once the last circle of the center is reached the difference would be very small ("a nanofoot", ehehe ) and I do not think it is audible sonically, at least by us, imperfect humans...

Enjoy your system which is great!

[Charles]

Originally Posted by McIntosh-maTRiX

Exactly!
I would not make a problem of it, also because I believe that once the last circle of the center is reached the difference would be very small ("a nanofoot", ehehe ) and I do not think it is audible sonically, at least by us, imperfect humans...

Enjoy your system which is great!

I agree. To date there has been zero settling of the spikes into the hardwood floor.

Thank you so much!

Charles