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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
mains OP
170 posts
 
i know what i am hearing and so do many other people using podiums , its night and day ,
as i mentioned i had tried various other ideas but only found the podiums to be a complete improvement in all areas of sound quality
if the gentlemen would like some kind of proof he should come round mine i can do a before and after, also i believe max runs many trials and tests so he could send him hes results i know there is a youtube video that covers the seismic podiums ,
over the years it has been said all amplifiers sound the same and
cables make no difference 
now we read speaker isolation does not measure sound quality,
as we now know all amplifiers do not sound the same , cables do make a difference and isolating my speakers has been  biggest improvement in sound quality yet 
i listen to music i do not measure it , my ears are my judge , since isolating my load speakers i am hearing music like never before , the sound is so realistic its amazing , i believe everyone should isolate there loudspeakers first then the rest of your components then sit back and enjoy the benefits  
geoffkait's avatar
geoffkait
23,365 posts
 
Vibration isolation is a proven science. One need look no further than LIGO (the project to detect gravity waves) to appreciate the insidious, unrelenting nature of seismic vibration and the necessity of real isolation techniques. Advanced audiophiles have been reaping the rewards of vibration isolation for more than 20 years. In fact more than 20,000 isolation platforms have been sold to discerning audiophiles in the last 20 years. It was 20 years ago today I introduced the first 6 degree of freedom Sub Hertz isolation platform at CES with Mapleshade Studio. Still, you find some folks who are either in denial or have some axe to grind hiding in the caves.
toddverrone's avatar
toddverrone
840 posts
 
@bugredmachine thanks for the foam blocks!  

bugredmachine was kind enough to send me his excess foam/rubber isolation blocks.  i finally got around to trying them out with nobody else around to distract me...

let me set the stage first: i have my stereo in a somewhat dedicated room in the basement.  the floor is a concrete slab covered with a thin carpet pad and a thin, dense commercial carpet.  i'm currently using spikes that pierce the carpet and pad, resting on the concrete slab below.

the foam/rubber blocks do not seem to be a good match for these conditions.  compared to the spikes, the bass became less defined and reduced in power and the whole soundstage collapsed slightly in on itself.  my guess is these blocks would sound stellar between my speakers and the pure concrete slab.  with the carpet pad, carpet and the foam blocks between my speakers and floor, the speakers weren't planted enough.

i'm going to try them between my preamp and its isolation platform next. i currently have wooden feet in that application.  

oh, almost forgot, i bought some conical compression springs for under my preamp iso plinth, to replace the rubber inner tube that was there.  they were $3/piece from grainger.  well worth it and, because they are conical, they are very stable, so i did not have to countersink them like i did the regular compression springs i used on my TT iso platform..

here's what i heard after replacing the innertube under the preamp  with the springs: the sound cleared up a bit, with slightly better separation between instruments and slightly tighter bass.  definitely an improvement, but not nearly as drastic as the improvement i heard when i replaced the innertube under the TT platform with springs.  that was a very noticeable improvement.


geoffkait's avatar
geoffkait
23,365 posts
 
The problem with conical springs is they are not linear since the spring rate obviously cannot be the same from one end to the other. It would be like driving a car with two different shocks in series on each wheel, going down the street would be a very bumpy ride.Ordinary cylinder shaped springs are stable enough as long as their combined spring rate matches the load. It also helps to have high-carbon, heat-treated and cryo’d steel springs.
toddverrone's avatar
toddverrone
840 posts
 
Interesting. I may have to find some short, fat cylindrical springs and listen. Out of curiosity, why do we need them heat treated and cryo’d? Does that increase the linearity of the spring rate? I know it increases strength and durability, but that’s hardly an issue under the TT.

I make sure I match up the spring rate and amount of preload to the load. Thanks for the reminder though.
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