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Tweak worth 100X It's price - Vibrapods

While I WAS not a big beleiver in the "tweaks" of audio to a any appreciable extent, I must rave about the performance recieved form these littel rubber pods. I purchase a few a couple months ago to place under my electronics and I was extremely happy with the result from the pods in combination with soem MDF particle board placed under the equipment pods combination. Rather than go into extreme use of adjectives regarding the improvement that was expereinced, just let me say that EVERYTHING opend up and became better. I thought my system sounded good but this little, cheap tweak was eye (ear?) opening.

I was extrememly happy with the imrovement to my electronics and then I thought - Why not the speakers also? I bought and installed pods for each speaker and
installed them. This was "as big" if not a bigger improvememnt to overall sound. I was experiencing some bass control problems around the real low end. These problems were now gone along with all the other distortion that I was experiencing and really not even knowing it or knowing it and blaming it on "room colorations".

You have just got to try these things. At $6.00 a pop you can't go wrong. Plus you can get a discount for quantity purchases usually. You will need a minimum of 4 per compopnent. $24.00 bucks that will make your system sound like you just put $2,400.00 into it.

I am a personal user and this is not an ad but I got my pods, along with a plethora of help from CJAudio/Video through this (AudiogoN) site. (www.cjsaudvid.com) Craig will take good care of you.

Feel free to email me (mackpat@apk.net) if you have any questions / comments.

I can also send you a picture of the stands i built for the speakers to incorporate the pods / and the Legacy supplied spikes if interested.

Relevant System Info:

Processor: Aragon Soundstage
Amp: Aragon 8008BB
Speakers: Legacy Classics.
CD: Denon 5 disc carousel.
Interconnects: HT ProSilway II (Pre - Amp)
Monster Coax Digital (II) (CD- Pre)
mackpat
dekay's avatar
dekay
5,840 posts
 
Drubin: I read about the residue problem on earlier runs of the Pods, but had thought that it was remedied. I do not experience it with the ones that I purchased a year or so ago and it should have been clearly visible on natural Maple platforms. I now use Neuance shelving for the main components (no Pods), but still like the Pods where I need to be frugal with other gear (especially in a second system). Never tried the E.A.R. footers that RedKiwi mentioned but I would still like to as I now find myself needing more Pods. I have been using a non Hi-fi product for "very" light components (Bel Cant DAC, phono preamps, TDS Passive Audiophile and HTS2000 conditioners) which are "nail buffers" used in beauty salons. They are 1" x 1" x 4" HD foam blocks which have an abrasive coating on the four longer sides. These usually sell for 25 cents each. I doubt if they would work on heavier gear, but have not yet experimented with them in this application. They do not seem to shift the tonal balance on lighter stuff, but they do clean/clear up the sound which is what I am looking/hearing for. I have always had a problem isolating light components before (don't care for the sound of mass loading) and these little blocks really do the trick.
bob_bundus
1,834 posts
 
Dekay are those pummice stones? They do seem rather brittle & I doubt would hold up well under a 50 pound component, but as you say should be fine under fleaweight stuff. I had forgotten about these & should check 'em out.
How do you setup your Neuance shelves? Sounds like you just place the Nuance shelf on top of your racks' ordinary shelf & then the component on top of that using the stock feet?
drubin
3,285 posts
 
Neuance shelves are custom made for specific racks and are designed to be placed on top of upward-facing spikes. I'm sure people have found workarounds, however.

My Vibrapods are a few years old, perhaps they've fixed the residue problem.
drubin
3,285 posts
 
Neuance shelves are custom made for specific racks and are designed to be placed on top of upward-facing spikes. I'm sure people have found workarounds, however.

My Vibrapods are a few years old, perhaps they've fixed the residue problem.
sean
6,231 posts
 
My Vibrapods are all from the earlier runs and "bleed" that oily substance also. As Bob mentioned, any mild cleaner will normally remove the residue. If one was worried about such things, something like tin or aluminum foil, plastic from a sandwich or freezer bag, etc.... placed between the pod and the component should work fine.

As to HDM's comments, i'll let him know. Part of the problem is that he probably didn't get the "right" weight rating for his pods and they are "maxing / mushing out" somewhat. It probably doesn't help in the fact that he likes to play everything on that system ( music and ht ) at pretty good volume. Since his speakers are rated into the low 20 hz range, the pods are probably absorbing a good amount of "flex" from the woofer blowing right on the sheet of mdf that seperates them. The "flexing" or slight "absorbtion" of energy that the pods may be doing could be one of the reasons that his bass cleaned up somewhat too. Sean
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