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Has anyone had experiences good or bad with speaker isolation or isolation in general ?

hi
i have been enjoying buying and listening to hifi for some 35 years now and have seen many items come and go.I have also been interested in the audio cable discussions and i agree that cables do make a difference how much of a difference is a very individual, and a system dependent situation. There has been nothing that has got me so excited and improved the sound of my system that has ever made me want to really share it with fellow audiophiles until i started to try various isolation products.With so much choice from affordable to very expensive i found the hole subject very confusing and i did not know where to start. After trying lots of various products all shapes and sizes with very different results i decided to read reviews which is something i do not usually do to get some advise.I read a review on the Townshend audio seismic podiums they are isolation platforms that go under your speakers .This company is very famous for isolation ideas and have been around some 50 years based here in the UK they also had a factory in the USA back in the 1980s. I contacted Nick at Emporium hifi  and he agreed to install a pair for me so i could have a listen. My speakers are sound-lab dynastats which i use in quite a small room but with the adjustments give a nice sound. After installing the podiums we both sat down with jaws hitting the floor these podium things completely transformed the sound of my system to absolute perfection. After all this time trying various products under my equipment i have now isolated my speakers and the sound quality is exactly what i believe we all are chasing, my sound-labs are now transparent no more bass problems i have just got one big 3D sound stage the dynastats are now very open with deeper much better bass everything is perfect. I now believe isolating your loudspeakers is the first port of call i was so impressed by the Townshend audio seismic products i now sell them as i have never come across anything that has given my system such a great upgrade , the sound is the same as before but now its just so much better its playing deeper bass but tighter much more resolution and no boom , the midrange is so much more human sounding realistic and spacious with the top end so refined and perfect , is anyone using podiums and had the same experiences i would love to hear from you thank you john 
mains
radiowonder
2 posts
 
Four years ago I Installed a set of Track Audio Speaker Spikes on the Apogee Centaur speakers (Circa 1991)  ...  Wonderful results... Set of 8 for $119 US.

They penetrated the wall-to wall carpet to the wood floor... 

Quote from review...
"The Track Audio spikes brought a sense of shape, power and energy to the music, a propulsive quality that kept things moving forward, full of purpose and intent...Just think of all the pleasure your speakers have given you. Isn’t it time you pampered them (and yourself) just a little?"
– Roy Gregory, The Audio Beat
http://http//www.theaudiobeat.com/equipment/track_audio_spike_kits.htm

http://http//www.trackaudio.co.uk/floor/floor.html
bdp24's avatar
bdp24
9,846 posts
 

If I had unlimited funds, I’d put everything on platforms such as the Minus K or Newport microscope tables, or folkfreaks Herzan. The closest a poor slob can get for relative peanuts is with a set of roller bearings and Geoff’s springs. The middle ground is where the Townshend Seismic Pods appear to have no competition, even from higher $ offerings from makers of somewhat high-priced devices claiming isolation, but in reality producing coupling below about 10Hz. The Herbie isolators are more in the nature of Sorbothane or Navcom---rubber pads, with a not-terribly low effective range. The rubber is actually reactive in the low-teen frequencies, leading to the common complaints of soft, spongy bass when isolating with rubber products.

Audiophile recording engineer Barry Diament uses roller bearings under all his recording and monitoring gear, even his Magneplanar MG3.7's! He recommends air bearings in addition to roller bearings, but is concerned his Maggies would be too easily knocked over with them in place. That's where the Townshend platform comes in---it is made in sizes commonly found in speaker enclosures, and can be secured to them for worry-free use. The Pods are available separately, and can be bolted onto the bottom of Sound Anchor speaker stands. I plan on doing exactly that to the SA stands my Eminent Technology LFT-8b speakers are bolted onto. That will create a stable tripod footing, and isolation to around 3Hz. Good enough for me! Folkfreak as well, apparently, for he has Townshend Seismik platforms under his very nice speakers.

thastum's avatar
thastum
45 posts
 
My expirience has lead me to Stillpoints Ultra 5 under my very heavy Rockport Hyperion speakers, as well as the rest of my system.
I beleave that the vibrations in the speakers must be dealt with and one way to do that is to form the vibrationenergy into another form eg heat.
On top of the Hyperion i have a woodbox wich contains 14 cambers where i have 4 kinds of diffrent quartz sand and some lead pellets. The diffrent sand isent mixed so its very "liquid" and cannot be compressed. The idear was,that when the sand is set in motion by the vibrations in the speakercabinet, the sand makes friktion and thereby heat and the vibration energy is transformed into heat.
It is a very simple box to build and works very very well, although the aesthetic can be discussed.
I tried to make small versions of the boxes and placed them on my tube gear, this dampend the sound som much that the life was taken out of the music so some ballance is needes, when daming. Ebonywood blocks have proven very musicall.
Another importaint tweak for me was to have all the quipment and all cabels removed from the floor to the wall, in order to brake the direct pfysical contact between the vibretions in the floor and the equipment. My floor containt of a concretplate of ca 11 tons which is isolatet and somehow floating by styropor insulation to the ground and the walls.
Happy lisining.
mains OP
170 posts
 
hi thastum/bdp24
i went for the cardas golden cubes over the Ebonywood blocks and now regret it as they over damped my system , very interesting reading from bdp24 i read also about barry diament and hes isolation choices for hes big maggies somewhere i read he was trying symposium roller bearings when i went to buy the same ones maybe lots of people read the same because they were constantly out of stock and back ordered , im glad i didnt purchase because the podiums have completely done the job with even better results than i thought possible barry diaments remastered recordings in 1990 of bob marley albums are considered the most musical but now maybe the japan shm cd are slightly better and very nice in the mini lp style ,i have seen barry diaments system pictured on hes website it looks incredible , did you say he is using the podiums now under hes big speakers i know they are quite new to the market , the speaker bars were first , then adjustable speaker bars now we have the seismic podiums, i have thought isolating sensitive equipment was important but placing my speakers on the podiums was a complete game changer for me i hope every ones isolation choices made the same huge improvement as mine did its so great as an audiophile when a really special product arrives that hasn't got the huge 100k plus prices , i have never come across such am upgrade as correct speaker isolation im now waiting on the seismic platforms for my electronics fingers crossed they raise the bar even further.


toddverrone's avatar
toddverrone
840 posts
 
Question: how unstable are some of these things making your speakers? We have a playroom in our basement and kids have to walk right past my right speaker to get to the playroom. I'd love to experiment with these things, but I can't risk a child bumping into or leaning on the speaker and knocking it over. It would crush my gear rack..
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