First impressions of the Isoacoustic Gaia 1’s

@ronboco Hey Ron, I've heard that argument from a local dealer against the idea of isolation/de-coupling and used in favor of coupling. The argument in favor of de-coupling is that the environment affects the speakers (or components) negatively, and that an isolation solution protects against those environmental affects. 

I know that high-end recording studios will using floating floors to isolate against environmental impacts. I believe Townsend's website has their philosophy on it--something about small tectonic shifts on the other side of the world measurably affecting your HiFi if I recall. Make of that what you will. 

With all the positive recommendations here from people who have isolated, I would recommend trying it if you haven't already. 

@classdstreamer 

Thank you for the response. I did know about environmental impacts and it is the overwhelming majority to decouple. I’m not sure how one would go about testing if there is a negative effect from the whole speaker moving besides the listening test.  I guess if there is a negative to decouple the positive must out weigh it. I do have Gaia footers in our home theatre family room because it is a suspended floor. I did notice the bass dropped off noticeably with the Gaia feet. Still sounds good though. We have a 2 channel system in the basement. Carpet over concrete. The speakers weigh 220 lbs. each so I’m not sure if any footers would make a big difference. 

@ronboco

I guess if there is a negative to decouple the positive must out weigh it.

That’s a good way to say it. So many advancements in engineering (and life) are still tradeoffs, but with an overall net gain.

I’m not certain what the best solution might be for your basement with carpet over concrete. My home theater space has tile floors (for now), and my HiFi space has wood floors. In both cases, I felt decoupling the sub and speakers made a big improvement. While one way of describing the the effect of decoupling is that the bass "dropped off noticeably," I would also add that in my experience, the bass still pressurized the room the same and the sound became dramatically more transparent. When coupled, my walls and floor where activated, and the sound was very muddy as a result. While plenty of people in car audio and at concerts seem to want to "feel" the bass, I would argue that lots of resolution and imaging was lost in my case and that the sound became higher quality on net in my rooms. A concrete slab might be different though.

@classdstreamer 

I agree that the footers were a positive move SQ wise. The subs are also decoupled with the OREA footers. I’ll probably give something a try in the basement as well. 
 

Regards 

Ron 

@ronboco 

If you’re interested, Isoacoustics have their Gaia Titan series. Not sure of all the specifics, but I know they can fit your 220# speakers. Oh, and the carpet spikes they sell are designed for the floor you have(carpet on concrete).

All the best.

JD