speaker isolation

[TimF]

I have tried SD footers, ISO Acoustics Gaia, spikes, etc., and they all do different things, and in some respects, nothing at all. This isolation/coupling thing goes round and round, in the end, trying them with your equipment, on your own floor will give you experience of what happens or not, and what you value to be worth messing with.

I am probably not one to really bang on about things, as generally a lot of these tweeks are not the OMG differences that get thrown about on forums, IMO of course. But it can be fun(?) playing around, never know what one may find.

 

[marshanp]

It seems sensible to me that speakers be isolated from the foor on which they stand, simply because the speaker designer didn't know what kind of floor it would be and what effect it might have on the sound produced.

It is a bit baffling that speaker manufacturers so often supply spikes with their floorstanding models - something driven more by marketing than by engineering considerations, I suspect.

 

[Tarzan]

Townsend Audio Podiums except no substitute, may seem pricey, however the finish, performance are without peer.

 

[Tarzan]

Tried the ISO Acoustic thingys and they did not do too much in my system-though other folk like them.

 

[Heckyman]

Agree with Tarzan, I tried ISO Acoustics but preferred Townshend. More clarity across the board, subjectively more bass and better defined too. Perhaps the ISO Acoustics were too lightly loaded, but I was using as per their recommendation.

If I couldn't have afforded Townshend, I would have stuck with Sorbothane hemispheres under plywood with the speakers spiked onto the ply – better than spiked onto the floor.

 

[leroyd]

It seems sensible to me that speakers be isolated from the foor on which they stand, simply because the speaker designer didn't know what kind of floor it would be and what effect it might have on the sound produced.

You raise an interesting point. I wonder when manufacturers are testing speakers, prior to going to market, do the have them isolated or not?

 

[andrews]

For floorstanders on carpet, I would think the spikes are essential for keeping the speakers rigid. If you're keeping the carpet, keep the spikes.

I gave BW 804d on a carpeted (victorian) suspended wood floor.
In my case Isoacosutic Gaias provided a very significant upgrade
However the speakers are 'wobbly' - so perhaps best not to use Gaias if young children are in the household

 

[Riotvan]

My speakers are on top of my subs which are on top of big concrete blocks. Each are separated with sorbothane of the right durometer for weight. This all on a suspended wooden floor. Using Dirac to take care of the room modes that might cause issues. Very happy, bass is smooth with no dips or bumps in the listening position. Also no complaints from the neighbors, even sounding bass throughout the room no big peaks.

 

[ToTo Man]

Assuming the speaker's position in the room remains unchanged before and after isolation, the isolation does not affect the amplitude frequency response, at least not in my experience. Its effect is more nuanced than that and I don't think is easily shown in measurements. I examined the waterfall and THD plots of my in-room measurements before and after installing the OREA pucks and did not see a significant difference, not enough to rule out measurement error (IME it's extremely difficult to obtain 100% identical in-room measurements even when you repeat them within seconds of each other). The difference the pucks made was however audible, an appreciable reduction in smear, increase in low level detail, and more precise/sharper imaging.

 

[Sue Pertwee-Tyr]

Assuming the speaker's position in the room remains unchanged before and after isolation, the isolation does not affect the amplitude frequency response, at least not in my experience. Its effect is more nuanced than that and I don't think is easily shown in measurements. I examined the waterfall and THD plots of my in-room measurements before and after installing the OREA pucks and did not see a significant difference, not enough to rule out measurement error (IME it's extremely difficult to obtain 100% identical in-room measurements even when you repeat them within seconds of each other). The difference the pucks made was however audible, an appreciable reduction in smear, increase in low level detail, and more precise/sharper imaging.

Do the measurements use test tones or music? I suspect test tones don’t capture what, musically, the difference is.