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Anyone using Townshend Seismic Podiums?

Interesting comments .....for the last 25 years I've been unhappy with spikes and used a number of isolating products with great effect. I tried for the previous 15 years to get various spike systems to work, but they never sounded right to me. My current solution for my ML aerius i's are partly inflated inner tubes [£3 halfords] ....currently getting the best detail and imaging I've heard from my speakers.
 
I've used Townshend seismic stands on three very different speakers (I do have suspended timber flooring), each time with a wholly positive effect: bass quality, much more focussed sound staging, etc. I've never used them on a solid concrete floor so couldn't comment on their effectiveness there, but on suspended floors - for me - they are a no-brainer.
 
The Fishie I bought my DBLs from (he'd bought another pair in a different finish) had his mounted on a pair of Mana speaker platforms, which he assured me really improved sound quality, particularly the bass. Whilst I was there I measured his ones up, the plan being to knock up some myself. I eventually got round to this recently, and I'm very pleased with the result. I had the usual splendid help from the folks on the DIY forum - http://www.pinkfishmedia.net/forum/showthread.php?t=198257

Edit - forgot to mention the floor - it's oak planks resting on a membrane over the compressed flint & mud floor (it's a 16th century cottage). I've tried various things to support the speakers, including socket bolts to locate the spikes, set deep into the floor (not really any change from just the spikes on the floor), marble slabs (detrimental effect on the sound), Naim "Chips", the best solution before the "Mana", work best upside down.
 
I've used Townsend cradles in two locations . Once on suspended wooden floor for some 1027be. Seemed work. Made the thing more solid . Memory is hazy as this was nearly a decade ago.

Then on concrete floor with wood and underfloor heating underneath with ATC100s. Initially I was going to sell the cradles thinking the floor wouldn't need them . One day I got a friend to help me plonk them on on a whim. Result was more , better , tighter bass as I remember . Again a long time ago as they've been in place more than five years and not moved since . This was the start of a gradual process of getting the amps recapped, messing around with new tweeters and more recently different xlrs to get them sounding like they do today
 
Is this a product first....100% feedback and no "I got better results with"....?

Seems like a no brainer, if you can find them at the right price, size 5's being over £3k is a lot to swallow for a pair of speaker stands!
 
My Quadral Chromium Style 8s are tall & thin so weren't very stable on thick carpet on suspended floorboards (the attached platform has rubber feet so no spikes). I first tried some 12x40x30mm black granite worktop savers that rendered them more stable & improved the sound staging & bass slightly.
I saw the Podiums at Bristol this year & thought they would be a far better solution which was echoed by others. The problem with the podiums was cost for use with speakers that were £1750. I bought some patio slabs from Wickes that weighed around 12kg for £32 - the difference was startling - deeper & tighter bass with much better imaging. the slabs didn't look pretty so had some 40x400x500 granite plinths made up that look better - well worth spending £200. Try some slabs before spending serious money?
 
Yeh already been there, I've done the paving slabs, very slight diff and completely ruined the carpet...and I have about £500 worth of cut granite in my garage :(
 
Thetiminator said:
Yeh already been there, I've done the paving slabs, very slight diff and completely ruined the carpet...and I have about £500 worth of cut granite in my garage :(
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One alternative I considered was some custom 5mm steel plates much like the Podiums without the isolation pods which, had I gone ahead, would have fitted spikes to. They would have given the needed stability - what effect on SQ is unknown to me. Out-rigger plates may be a good option for some.
23kgs under each did wonders for mine - my carpet is badly worn - apart from around & behind my speakers so am not too worried.

Quite why Quadral didn't go for spikes I don't know - possibly for good reasons.
 
Hipper said:
My understanding of the purpose of these isolators is in their name - seismic. They are designed to prevent external vibrations arriving via the floor. These vibrations, of a very low frequency such as 10Hz, are caused by trains, lorries, building works etc. from various distances (sometimes miles) which enter from the ground to the foundations and walls and then to your floor.

That's the theory anyway. Here's the cheap idea of using bicycle inner tubes:

http://www.barrydiamentaudio.com/vibration.htm
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Is low frequency vibration moving the speakers really much of an issue? I can well appreciate that there might be low frequency vibration entering the speakers via the floor but anything of low amplitude at 10hz or lower would surely not affect the output of a speaker cone in the audio range much, would it? Most musical content is so many multiples above that that I can’t imagine it really being affected significantly unless the external energy entering the system changes frequency as it propagates into the speaker cabinet? Maybe fundamentals of 100hz or below would be close enough to be affected but they’re fairly vague and non-directional anyway.

I would think the main application is stopping speaker cabinet vibration from exiting the speakers, being stored in the floor and then returned back up to the speaker cones after a short delay, blurring the sound. For interrupting this speaker / floor vibration path the Townsend devices look like they would work superbly.

Very nice clear demo. I'm presuming the rubber gasket around the springs provides some sort of damping, though perhaps it doesn't matter if the speakers continuously bob up and down at 7hz or so?
 
jimification said:
I would think the main application is stopping speaker cabinet vibration from exiting the speakers, being stored in the floor and then returned back up to the speaker cones after a short delay, blurring the sound. For interrupting this speaker / floor vibration path the Townsend devices look like they would work superbly.
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I've no idea how they work but this sounds like a pretty reasonable explanation to me. I've not considered Max's own reason of earth quakes and traffic as a plausible explanation.

But whatever the reason or the technology behind it, they do seem to work, at least they do in my setup.
 
Foxman50 said:
I've no idea how they work but this sounds like a pretty reasonable explanation to me. I've not considered Max's own reason of earth quakes and traffic as a plausible explanation.

But whatever the reason or the technology behind it, they do seem to work, at least they do in my setup.
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In the video (see link below), Max first illustrates how the seismic kit isolates speakers from floor-borne vibration (which I agree is not really a significant issue for most people) and then shows that LF vibrations from the speaker can be propagated through the floor and in turn affect the speaker, causing 'smearing'. This second point seems to me much more relevant than the first, and is likely to be a particular issue for suspended wooden floors above a void.

G T Audio said:
See here
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I think there's some good arguments for trying to decouple your speakers from the floor, especially if the floor is wood on joists. Sound travels faster in wood than air; if you couple yours speakers to the floor with, say, spikes then the (distorted) sound will get to you through the floorboards quicker than through the air, which doesn't sound smart if you've spent good money on the speakers. Also all those cavities under the floorboards will act as mini drums. So if you decouple your speakers from the floor you hear more speaker and less floor. It's not that the speaker smears the sound, it is that the floor acting as a crap soundboard smears the sound.
 
Purite Audio said:
So all speakers are 'smearing'the sound unless isolated on one of these devices?
Keith
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No.

1. the effect would probably be negligible on a concrete or other similarly solid floor
2. suspended wooden floors would probably be the worst offenders, especially if there is a void of a couple of feet, as is common in the ground floors of many UK houses
3. full-range speakers would probably be affected more than speakers that don't produce much LF energy
4. it might well depend on the construction of the speaker cabinet
5. there are other devices, including DIY stuff involving inner tubes, that may achieve a similar result.

It's worth pointing out, Keith, that the effect, if it does indeed occur (and the video linked to above suggests strongly that it does), would be easy to measure. So you would be able to rest easy in the knowledge that no foo is happening.

I hope that helps.
 
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