Has anyone had experiences good or bad with speaker isolation or isolation in general ?
hi toddveronne i have tried soft squidgy feet from various manufacturers under electronics and have always found they soften the dynamics with over blown bass , i then tried the opposite with cardas golden cubes they made the sound to dead and distant i didn't like them at all, if budget is tight clearlight audio RDC cones and bases worked great for me , i didnt hear no negatives just an increase in musical details , i purchased the 20x 1.2 cones with the bases for around 30gbp i use them under everything now , but i would definitely start with your loudspeakers first , they are designed to go under speakers as well the results under the speakers are not comparable to podiums but for the money they were the best cones i found, theres a company in the uk called music works they are selling a cone made out of peek or something like that rumor is they are very effective but i have had no first hand experience and the rdc cones are a little cheaper and i have heard the results which are quite good |
@toddverrone. You ask about what to expect from spring isolating your speakers if on a concrete slab? This is exactly the situation I am in, albeit the ground here in NW Portland is quite soft and transmits seismic vibration all too well. Isolating your speakers on something like the seismic podiums will radically change the way you perceive bass. You will no longer feel bass transmitted via the floor and at first you may perceive this as a diminution in bass but at least in my setup the bass transmitted directly to you is better defined with greater clarity in subtle details and also greater differentiation between shades of tone and timbre. There’s a fuller description of my experience here https://forum.audiogon.com/discussions/speaker-isolation-experience-with-townshend-seismic-isolation... Seperately i I suspect you may find a different effect from roller balls. I have these under all my stands and the effect is more to tighten things up, much like adding herbies dampers to tubes. Oddly when I put apex footers under my power amps it seemed as if the volume level dropped - this is usually a sign of a reduction in the noise floor so I think that’s what the balls do, they help remove vibration manifest as noise. The podiums are quite different in effect |
hi please check Emporium hifi in the uk for ex demo bargain prices on townshend audio seismic podiums i have no link to this company im from the uk and this is where i purchased mine , size 3 with 50kg weight limit on each platform its very important to check the weight of your speakers and the footprint for the right size i hope this will helps |
Thanks guys, great info. Yeah, I'm a budget minded guy and find it hard to spend $400 on roller bearing units when my pair of monoblock amps cost $600.. @folkfreak I find your analysis interesting, however I don't perceive my bass coming from the floor.. i may have to try spring isolation for my speakers. Springs are cheap. However I'd need a spiked podium for the springs to rest on, as I'd imagine a spring/carpet interface is non optimal. Also, here in NW Arkansas, we do not have a problem with squishy ground, heavy industry or large transportation hubs, so I'm a bit more sceptical of the benefits, hence my desire to do it on the cheap. |
