Isoacoustics Gaia Speaker Footers

Finally, I received my special order of B&W 800D2's mounting plates. The installation of GAIA 1's was a breeze (actually fun). I was done under 45 minutes. And boy, the improvements were immediate....I am hearing better bass, wider soundstage and much much better focus. The speakers seems to have disappeared from the room. 

I highly recommend GAIA's to anyone using OEM isolation feet. I just ordered two more sets of GAIA III for my rear 804D2 speakers.  

Dear MMCELYEA,
I'm part of the North American Focal home loudspeaker distributor team, as well as the IsoAcoustic Importer - so warning, lest anyone think I'm stepping in and trying to be the least bit commercial, I'll recuse myself now and ask everyone who's sensitive to these sorts of things to stop reading.  

That out of the way; I do have direct experience installing Gaia 1's into Sopra 3's. Here are those installation experiences:

• Place Sopra's in as close to the final location in your room as possible - the Sopra 3's with Gaia's, once installed, are harder to move around than before.
• If you have carpets with even a low lvel of loft, use teh Gaia 1 spiked cups - these FIRMLY anchor the Gaia to the floor and deliver best sound by stabilizing and reducing horizontal motion induced by driver motion/air pressure
• To remove the shipped spikes that ship with the Sopra #3 (Or #2), you'll need to take an allen key and unscrew the bottom rails about ten turns that attach the loudspeaker to the glass base plate - both sides front and rear, so the distance from the glass plate to the speaker cabinet increases — then you'll be able to fully unscrew the existing spike that comes with the speaker and screw in the Gaia. Once they are out, retighten the base to the cabinet - keep in mind the base is glass so don't over-torque the allen key as you could possibly crack the glass.
• Something of importance I've not read so far in this blog, but hinted at by Audio Dr - these Gaia's are DIRECTIONAL — meaning you need to pay attention to the orientation of the feet relative to the orientation of the speakers cabinet.  There's a notch cut into the stainless steel cup right above the IsoAcoustic name that either needs to point forward, or to the rear - do NOT orient this notch at a 90 degree right or left.  Just facing forward, or backwards.  Use the supplied knurled round thumb spacers to create rake angles if needed.
• While IsoAcoustic does supply their Gaia range of stabilizers with set of four different threaded inserts, if your speakers require a different pitch or thread type, just call our office and ask to speak with Eric or Michael and we will send you a set that fits your speakers.
• I also read a comment asking why we sell these in sets of four and not three.  More speakers have sets of four holes in their bases/plinth than three.  The question really is, why do we sell them in 4's and not 8's?  If you have a subwoofer you don't need 8.
• * WARNING — Subjectively speaking — I've been in the audio business since 1981. Rarely have I run across an accessory that so increases all the aspects of reproduced sound my system is capable of reproducing, than these feet.  I have them on my speakers at home; I can't imagine not having them.

My finest regards - J.Bevier / Audio Plus Services

J. Bevier---Guitar Center is an IsoAcoustic dealer. Will the GAIA and Iso-Puck be available from them? Has the Iso-Puck started shipping yet?

I read on the IsoAcoustic News page that they are making more thread sizes available to their dealer network.  Does anyone know what thread sizes are available?  I need 3/8" 16.  

http://www.isoacoustics.com/isoacoustics-news/isoacoustics-releases-alternate-stud-sizes-for-gaia-se...

This is my first day (and night) listening to my system and speakers via the Isoacoustics Gaia IIIs. My speakers are extremely modest compared to the rest of my system since  I've always been a "great speakers can't fix what's messed up in a previous component or interface" kinda person.

The Gaias took over from Herbie's screw-in glider feet (which are otherwise excellent, btw) on a very well constructed wooden floor.

I've been going through all my reference cuts (and yes, many are more sound-quality oriented than performance-quality oriented--I don't have the energy to list them here), especially those with challenging bass, spatial or other system challenges.

My results mirror those of the various magazine reviews you can find of the Gaias (e.g., Stereophile, Audiostream, HiFi+ and Audiopig), tighter, more extended bass, a larger and more clearly delineated sound stage, lowered noise floor, improved instrumental texture and better articulated edges (attack) of percussive instruments. I would venture to say that the Isoacoustic Gaia III's sonic impact is more along the lines of a component change rather than what might be characterized merely as a "tweak" and, believe me, this particular audiophool is fond of his tweaks!