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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.
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millercarbon's avatar
millercarbon
12,531 posts
 
If you have the budget for it I think you will find Pods make a big difference under the amp. My Melody is on a 150lb slab of granite, which in turn is on BDR Cones, and it has BDR Round Things screwed into both sides of the chassis, and the whole thing is on a BDR Shelf. Pretty darn good I thought. Then I replaced one set of Cones with Nobsound. This was a lot better. Then I upgraded from Nobsound to Pods. This was hugely better! 

So even though already on a lot of really good vibration control the Pods still made a really nice improvement. 

Went through pretty much the same course of upgrades with my phono stage and motor controller, with pretty much the same results. They were all extensively tweaked out and in good shape yet Pods made them all even better.  


millercarbon's avatar
millercarbon
12,531 posts
 
I don't think amps vibrate on their own, do they?

They do. Everything does.
sokogear
1,093 posts
 
@steakster - wow- you know a hell of a lot more than me about Symposium. My thoughts with my speakers on Segues are two fold- 1) they get rid of/drain internal speaker noise while providing some isolation, and 2, I did not want my speakers being unstable in any way as they are tall and thin. I don’t want them to float like my components do. Peter had to custom size my Segues to have about 2-21/2 “ around the bottom to add stability.

Not sure what you mean by air borne vibrations. The internal vibrations of components are drained by roller blocks or platforms as are external vibrations from the floor.

@vinylshadow- glad to hear you will check with Peter at Symposium. IMHO though, the turntable isolation should be addressed first, but as MC says, it’s and and and and and......you can never correct noise emanating from the source. That noise just gets magnified down the chain.
vinylshadow
480 posts
 
As far as turntable isolation, is there any difference or betterment between a Symposium Platform and a Townshend platform? Whatever I put under my Basis turntable will also have the separate belt motor on it. The belt motor for my Vertere MG-1 is built into the table.

@millercarbon For my model 12 monoblock amp that is on a Sound Anchors rack w/spikes on discs, behind a Mezzo speaker and near my sub, put pods directly under my amps and power supplies on the top of the stand? Or take off the spikes and put 4 pods, 1 below each leg of the stand.

Then I guess what to put under my Rogue Ares Magnum tube phono drive.

Would anything be necessary under my Vertere MG-1 motor drive that sends the 33/45 signal to my Vertere MG-1 turntables motor? The box is so light I could probably center it over 1 pod. Maybe 2 to be safe. And 2 under my Rogue phono drive as it is sort of light as well?


millercarbon's avatar
millercarbon
12,531 posts
 
The main benefit or theory is to allow the component to move on its own, in other words in isolation. A lot of vibration is generated within the component itself. Even with amps. With Pods under the rack the amp excites the rack, which while isolated from the floor is still going to vibrate thanks to the amp, and feed this right back into the amp. Pods directly under the amp will better isolate the amp.

Symposium Iso uses a conical spring damped with foam, similar to Townshend spring damped with an air valve. The Townshend design seems more elegant to me but the proof is in the pudding and I’ve not tried Symposium to know for sure exactly in what ways they differ.
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