Thiel Owners

BTW...

I tried some Iso Acoustic Iso-Pucks under one of my Thiel 2.7s tonight.

Some here probably know Iso Acoustics products are all the rage these days in terms of speaker stands/isolation and their Gaia series speaker footers seem beloved.

I'd been meaning to try out the Gaia footers, but ended up first with 4 of the slightly smaller iso-pucks which I'd picked up mostly to test for use in isolating my new turntable.

Using an iPad accelerometer sensor app, I did much of the same tests for the iso pucks as I did for a bunch of other materials, and frankly couldn't find much measurable isolation.  Still, I thought I'd try them under one of my 2.7 speakers.  I'd heard a store demo of the Gaia footers on one speaker, where they switched back and forth between the one with the footer and one without, and thought maybe I'd heard an agreeable change.

But on my Thiels tonight, it turned out I wasn't so happy with the results.
First, the L speaker (that I put the iso pucks under) did become a bit more lush and mellow, less hash to the sound.  That in of itself is nice.
Though that could also be due simply to the 1 1/2" rise in height from the footers, changing the speaker interaction in the room, putting my ears just a bit more below the tweeters for a more midrange sound.  Hard to tell.

Beyond that, the midbass on down actually lost tightness and snap, became a bit resonant sounding and slightly more muddy.  The feeling of aliveness was reduced.  I listened for quite a while going back and forth between the speakers - an obvious difference - and also listening to both in stereo (only one having the iso pucks).  But as soon as I took out the iso pucks the sound became more taught and clean again in the lower mids/bass, and the upper frequency range returned, the whole sound took on that drive, snappiness and aliveness that I love.

So that's a bit disappointing.  I'd love a tweak like that to work for me.
But it's also in line with when I've tried some other footers on my speakers in the past, even spikes.  I tend to get the same changes and end up preferring the speakers flat on my floor, no spikes.  The design of the speakers just seems dialed in for that height relationship with the floor, in terms of floor bounce or whatever.

I'm not sure now if I'm still going to try the Gaia footers.  I may some time spring for the Townsend Seismic Isolation Bars.   The reason is that I've been very impressed with the measured isolation performance of the four Townsend isolation pods I've received for isolating my turntable.  And the isolation bars employ those pods.  The bars, unlike most footers/spike/isolation systems don't raise the speaker height.  So it would seem more ideal for my purposes.

I may try the 4 Townsend pods I have under one of my Thiels, to see how they work vs the iso pucks.  Though they will raise the Thiels probably even a bit higher than the iso pucks.

Excellent reporting- prof, ish_mail and beetlemania

very informative information for those wanting to integrate a subwoofer or two into their system. Equally important is the mention of isolation of your speakers via outriggers or some other product in kind.
Much will depend on the room, type of flooring and other sound treatments.
Fun stuff to be sure. Is not this hobby great?

Happy Listening!

I tried some Iso Acoustic Iso-Pucks under one of my Thiel 2.7s tonight.

I'm not familiar with this product but, as a rule, isolation footers should be used only for electronics and, maybe, cables but never speakers. I'm not surprised you didn't have good results.

I am using small wood blocks under the spikes of my CS2.4s but only because I am protecting the rug they sit on . . . I'm not willing to damage the rug. At some point, I will take the rug out and listen for how much, if at all, the wood blocks are degrading the SQ.

I forgot to mention what was probably the key feature in favor of the SI-1 for me. It has fully balanced circuitry, not just balanced inputs and outputs. The only other active crossover I found with this feature is a particular variant in the Marchand line, the XM44-2FBA. Since my pre and power amps both have fully balanced designs, I wasn't keen on inserting a device with unbalanced circuitry between them.

Thank you beetlemania.  I will check it out.