Footers under my speakers double the perceived value of my speakers!

If you have a suspended floor with standard joists, and you use an efficient isolation system there is something I’d like to share that I became aware of.
The suspended mass will cause some compression on the floor joists, and when there is energy against the isolation system, it will also cause the flexible floor to accept a portion of the energy. (foot falls, and speakers being major culprits)

The floor, and the isolation device of choice will share the energy between them, proportional to their spring rate or Young’s modulus.
The best results I have found is by using as close to a zero stiffness (in my case wire springs) device on a very rigid substrate, where the substrate doesn’t easily deform and the energy is mostly controlled by the isolator.

What is zero stiffness? This is the easier concept to digest that I could find, "a zero stiffness structure maintains a constant potential energy, which is continuously redistributed as the structure deforms, thus eliminating any preferred position under the applied load or self-stress."

Spring steel with an engineered geometry (a manufactured spring) is one of the most efficient means of achieving this. It is the most popular device used in platforms used under electron microscopes and imaging devices used in science and medicine today. 4Hz isolation devices using passive technology use varying types of spring structures.

The goal is to hold the load, but also have the ability to accept and change shape from vibration at the minutest amount and smooth out a broad range of both frequencies and amplitudes of those frequencies - just like springs used under vehicles of every type.

Mass loading under a sprung system on floor joists may help compress by loading the floor and reduce it’s percentage of the vibration sharing, pushing a higher percentage of the energy into the isolators (preferably springs), thus performing more of the work.

The smallest amount of energy that is possibly isolated with the broadest range of frequencies and amplitude is going to work best on as rigid a base structure and a rigid object that is being isolated.

The isolated object should move easily on the device it’s isolated upon, if not easily moved, like a bobble head toy, then you know it’s not flexible and also not as isolated as it could be.

www.minusk.com

Douglas,
It is Robert's (Starsound) products that I was specifically referring to as I use them, and I will be very surprised if you try them and don't hear a dramatic (yes, I did say dramatic) difference for the better. I look forward to the test.

roxy54, thank you for the polite comment. I attempt to remain open to additional testing/comparing over the years, and this has turned into an opportunity to demonstrate it. Technology, products, etc. change over time, so a conclusion held perhaps 5 years ago may be influenced by a new tech or product. I found Robert’s message here compelling, a beautiful invitation to put my current conclusions to the test. I left a phone message for him today, so we have not made any formal arrangements yet, but does seem to be moving in that direction, however.

I should state for the record here that if I do a review of Star Sound products, I likely will "go dark" here on the topic. I do not discuss publicly to any appreciable degree reviews that are underway. Often no one knows of them until they are published. Recently I mentioned the Pass Labs XA200.8 review prior to publication, but that’s rare. I would not wish to influence the review with side conversations; I would think this to be appropriate and understandable. So, if I were to drop participation here, it would be for that reason.

There have been other surprises before in this hobby, and I’m sure there will be in the future. In fact, one current shocker is the DAC I am now reviewing. It’s using ESS chips, but I have never built a digital-sourced system as erudite coming from a DAC with ESS chips. So, things, and perspectives, change - again, with the march of technological advancement. It is one advantage of my reviewing style, wherein I build many systems for assessment. It gives me more broad exposure to systems and situations of synergy between components, cables and speakers. The resolution of the system in this state is exquisite. In addition, the room has an ambient noise level of about 14-16dB (I remember one dB meter showing that is in the range of a ticking watch, higher than a leaf falling at 10dB) - well below the average quiet room in a house. So, if there is any change to be heard in a system, I will hear it. :)

On my floated floor, I use Vibrapod  under my 80 pound speakers, with great succes, I got more body and full frequencies,and music placement.  Never go back to Spike !

I also tried Gaïa, but the Vibrapod are a winner !