Townshend Seismic Podiums

Townshend recommends removing feet from the speakers before putting the speakers on their podiums so that the floor to bottom of speaker height is minimally affected. This has to do with not altering the speaker’s bass response. I would think that outriggers should be treated as feet in this regard. If in doubt, call them. They are very helpful.

If your loudspeakers are standard "boxes"---without integral outrigger-style bases (for instance, a Magico, smaller Wilson, or any other typical floor stander) , the Townshend Audio Seismic Podium will provide and create a larger-than-the-speaker-enclosure footprint for that loudspeaker, a generally good thing (I’ll assume you understand why). If you decide to give the Podium a try, remove all "isolation" between the loudspeaker and the Podium platform, such as any rubber feet or spikes included with your speaker.

The Seismic Pods then take that larger footprint---which provides greater lateral stability, especially with tall speakers (which may appear contradictory to the basic premise of the Seismic Pod spring’s freedom of movement---that is, until you digest and fully understand the Pod’s concept, design, and methodology)---and isolate the speaker from terra firma. If you view that proposition as "silly" and/or "painfully insulting", cool; you've saved yourself some money (go buy some CD’s ;-), and there are more Pods left for others to buy and enjoy the benefits of.

If your loudspeakers are already fitted with outrigger bases (either that provided with the loudspeaker, or a, for instance, Vandersteen or Eminent Technology speaker fitted with a dedicated Sound Anchor stand---and are happy with the pairing, you may instead buy sets of Seismic Pods, which you then either simply place under the outrigger "legs", or better yet (imo) bolt onto the legs, just as the Pods are bolted onto the Seismic Podium.

For those skeptical of a loudspeaker sitting on a set of springs--- a concept that violates everything we’ve come to believe about the moving mass of a dynamic woofer causing a reciprocal movement of the woofer’s enclosure in response to the woofer’s movement (or at least the possibility of such), I completely understand and empathize. When I first read about the Herbie’s isolation products (especially the tiptoes fitted with a layer of a pliant rubbery substance), my reaction was based on that exact premise. I "knew" a loudspeaker enclosure should be as immovable as possible, so as to provide the most stable platform against which to move---the excursion of the driver in relation to that immovable platform therefore producing the closest reproduction of that signal of which it is capable. Seems like a lifetime ago ;-) .

Max Townshend is quite aware of the reciprocal movement of an enclosure in response to a woofer’s moving mass. He’s a mechanical engineer, for God’s sake! (and has built a loudspeaker with a huge woofer compliment. One of the UK reviewers has a pair, as well as the amazing Rock Reference turntable, for which I would kill him ;-).

But with "Seismic" isolation, we’re talking about something far more subtle. Max addresses the issue of Seismic-scale vibration versus reciprocal woofer-enclosure movement in a YouTube video. With the Podiums (or Pods) in place, the loudspeaker enclosure does not move in response to the moving mass of a woofer reproducing a very low frequency, though the loudspeaker WILL "rock" back and forth if pushed, which may lead one to think it would move when the woofer does. If you want to educate yourself about that issue, all you have to do is watch the damned Townshend Audio YouTube videos. The most informative one has Max behind a table, with a screen on the wall behind him. All is explained, and more importantly, demonstrated.

Watch the videos, and if your interest is piqued, try a set of Pods on your most sensitive component. Max considers that to be your loudspeakers. The turntable is another obvious candidate, as are valve (in honour of Townshend’s UK base of operations ,-) electronics.

Speaker cabinet vibrations are complex and varied. Rick makes a good case for the cabinet vibrating like a balloon. As drivers pressurize the cabinet, air pressure causes the walls to flex outwards like a balloon or tire being filled with air. Then it rapidly depressurizes. These cycles cause the whole speaker, not just the baffle, not just the sides, but the whole thing to be expanding and contracting. This is in addition to the obvious forward and back motion caused by the drivers.   

This may be one of the reasons cones and spikes work better than sitting directly on the floor. Cones and spikes go in corners, which are a lot more reinforced than the middle of the bottom, which is vibrating up and down, expanding and contracting. 

None of this vibrating is anywhere near as simple as that. What we think of as back and forth, expanding/contracting or whatever, if we look closer there are waves riding upon waves. This is a lot of what Wilson and others are trying to address with their composite honeycombed unobtanium high tech materials. 

Pods and Podiums simply allow all this complex motion to occur without exciting adjacent materials such as the floor. They work by allowing the speaker cabinet to dissipate its own energy without feeding into the floor, and equally important, without the floor energy feeding into the speaker. 

However we explain it, the results speak for themselves.

Addendum: One thing I neglected to mention:

The matter of "seismic" level vibration isolation is of significance only after system transparency and resolution has achieved a "certain" level of quality. Geez, I’m reminding myself of Chris Farley’s "motivational speaker" character on SNL ;-) .

Good lord. You want them locked to the ground. Any speaker movement will smear your sound. Serious spikes, steel straps and turnbuckles may be overkill.