I just brought home a pair of used FR30s and need some help with setup. The manuals (all 3 of them) were included. In trying to get them ready for setup, which will be on hardwood floors, I want to remove the spike tips on the feet. I’m running into 2 problems.
For 6 of the 8 feet I’ve been able to do remove these tips (with varying levels of ease), but 2 are very very stubborn. My wife & I have tried gloves, rubber jar opener, and over a couple of days just can’t get these 2 to budge.
For 3 of the 6 feet that have spikes removed, the black ring which per the manual is supposed to be the contact from speaker foot to floor, has come off. There is clearly a slim bead of glue that was holding it in place and lost adhesion.
That might work. I’ve got a few squares of carpet remnants, that I might be able to use. I’d kind of like to fix the feet, but that would at least work.
I’m also missing the setup CD and maybe the jumpers for the upper/lower connection that the FR30 has. I think I have a set of jumpers on hand somewhere but I’ll have to confirm they work.
Soak the metal part in acetone for 15-30 minutes to remove old, poorly applied glue, clean plastic piece of old glue and dirt with rag damp with acetone (don’t know if plastic is safe for a soak in acetone). Apply super glue evenly over mating surface of metal piece, put plastic ring in place and clamp lightly for 30 minutes. A note about super glue. It’s strong except with shear force (sideways). That isn’t an issue here. I raised this issue with Paul more than he year ago who said the were working on a new design. It’s not the design, just crappy glue application. With this design, it is important that the glue layer not be lumpy but rather uniform as adhesion of most glues to plastic is not great. But a thin and uniform layer is much like a sheet of water holding two flat pieces of glass together almost impossible to pull apart but piece of cake by just sliding. With the speaker feet, the design prevents sliding. You can see how the glue stuck well to the aluminum but pretty much not at all to the plastic.
Leave the cones on. They will improve the sound by channeling vibration. If you need to protect the wood floor, place a three-footed wood puck of some type on the floor, then set the cones onto the puck. When I do this, I use some lead slivers (dense but non-scarring) glued to the bottom side to create that three-footed stable foundation.
Every floor standing speaker I’ve ever listened to has sounded better on cones making a secure connection with a solid floor.
