Boy, Oh Boy! Towshend!


OK, I have elevated my belief in isolation.  For the first time I feel I have entered the Hi Fidelity zone.  About 3 weeks ago I purchased the Townshend Speaker Bars.  My muddy bass cleaned up, I have better imaging, clarity, precision, speed and focus.  My buddy who is not not into HiFi but has followed my adventures, was blown away.  He said, "OK, now I get why you do this."  Best money spent! 

Denon DL160 (re-tipped by Soundsmith) > Thorens TD150 > McIntosh 8900 > ALK Extreme Slope in Klipsch Belles.  Just another step in the long journey, but a Giant Step for my enjoyment.  My system took a large enough step forward that I am drawn into listening to all of my 2K plus albums again just to enjoy them in a new way. Great people to deal with too, even with Brexit messing things up.  Highly recommended!
I am not associated with them in any way, just want to pass it on.
128x128edgyhassle
Well first, John is right- as far as he goes. Yes if the whole rack is on Pods then everything on the rack is isolated. But remember it is not just isolation from the environment, it is also isolating each component from everything else. The difference is each component generates its own internal vibrations. Very important.  

So even with the rack isolated there will still be improvement isolating each individual component. 

This is not an either/or thing. Building a system is all and/and/and. And. And andandand....  Neverending and's. Usually what happens is we run out of money way before we run out of and's to do. The rack is your only option since there is no room, and it is probably better than doing only whatever few components you can. Again: do what you can. Don't sweat the small stuff! 

Nobsound can handle way more than 140lbs. It is more like 50lbs per unit, or 200lbs altogether. At 140lbs you probably only need 5 or 6 of the 7 springs.  

In terms of cost-effectiveness, the main difference is Townshend is superbly damped while Nobsound isn't damped at all. Because of this the Pods, Bars or whatever will have a lot better tone, way better truth of timbre, and improved slam compared to Nobsound. All these are much more noticeable in midrange and treble where most of this information comes from and where our hearing is most sensitive. Way down low in the bass is always harder to hear.    

That is why I added springs first where I did, and waited until later to move from springs to Pods under my subs. Will be migrating from springs to Pods under my subs next so we will know soon enough. Meantime I would say if you have to cut corners anywhere use springs under the subs and Pods, etc everywhere else.  

As for getting them under the rack, a picture's worth a thousand words. Meantime I have four choice words for you: leverage is your friend.


As I previously mentioned, I would call Peter at Symposium Acoustics and see wheat he thinks. He talks about “best bang for the buck” all the time. He might recommend roller blocks, platforms, or some combo, and if he can’t fit, he won’t force it.
@millercarbon
I understand and thank you. So now there are several considerations about the rack isolation. And what is most important. For me, it's my 2 turntables, and their tonearms and cartridges and my tube phono drive(which there is room for pods). I don't think my Vertere turntable motor drive that supplies the 33 and 45 rpm signal to the turntable motor needs additional isolation. Or at least expensive isolation? Maybe springs? The t.t.'s are up on top and have their own suspension systems. They may be ok...No room for anything with my Classe Processor unfortunately. Only an 1/8" or so.... For my DVD/CD player, only about 1.5" or so room. Currently with an air bladder platform with a leak undeneath. So not functional. Might as well remove it.

As far as the Nobsound's, I was only considering those for the Sub. If I only use the sub for home theater(or low volume bass add on for 2 channel), would the springs be satisfactory enough?My Mezzo's bass is really good. But maybe with proper isolation, the sub might be worth using fuller in 2 channel. I don't know. I never turn it up more than 5% or so.

Leverage will work(a dolly) under the accessible front corners and left rear corner pretty easily. Getting leverage to the right rear corner will be super tough. I wonder if I can get a car jack to fit. There's about 1.5" of space below the base bars....I only need to raise each corner about 3/4".

So the isolation corners will isolate my rack components from my speakers and maybe my sub. Fingers crossed that my turntables well designed suspension systems mitigate their own vibrations.

After the isolation corners, then it's a question of where to place Pods. Or maybe Nobsound springs? They are 1.49"(I cannot find information on how tall the Pods are) so they will just barely fit under my Marantz DVD/CD player. Are they worth putting under my Node 2i streamer box? Or Rowland center speaker mono amp? Or P.I. Audio UberBuss power conditioner? Or Dish network satellite box? Or my Rowland Model 12 monoblock amps?

I just pumped up the Townshend Seismic Sink that was under my Basis turntable and it has not sunk. Yet. Let's see tomorrow.

My system currently sounds so great now.

With isolation- I feel hot and cold(can't explain).... Yeah down in my soul yeah(can't explain).

My review mentions something similar. A lot of familiar music has bits I was looking forward, expecting a certain sound, only to be underwhelmed. That could account for your cold feeling. Took a while to realize the expected sound was all added harmonic resonance and/or hardness from the old stuff. When every instrument sounds more like its natural character, sax is more clearly sax, guitar more clearly guitar, on and on, none of them sounds colored just clear, then you know it is good. That is probably your down in the soul part.

All of the things you are talking about will work great. It does little good to worry much about which will be better. I am a low-hanging fruit kind of guy. I would think more about which will be easier. The rack sounds really hard, turntables easier, and yes Pods will be better, turntable suspension notwithstanding. 

Your rack space is so tight you might want to do the rack in spite of the effort. You know what a house jack is? Screw jack? So you get a couple great big nuts, short length of threaded rod, make a custom screw jack sized just for this one task. Pretty clever, eh?😁
Leverage will work(a dolly) under the accessible front corners and left rear corner pretty easily. Getting leverage to the right rear corner will be super tough. I wonder if I can get a car jack to fit. There's about 1.5" of space below the base bars....I only need to raise each corner about 3/4".
Even if you don't have a trolley jack to lift it, I recall it was plenty heavy (I haven't scrolled back up to see) speaking of leverage, maybe you could use a simple bar and block with the help of a friend to lever it up, chock it, get your isolator under it and remove the chock?
Be sure and if you do use some lever bar with a block as a pivot point, use something soft not to scratch the underside of your pretty and expensive rack.

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