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

I just put the spring footers under my Thiel speakers again (like the Nobsound, but a different brand which has the springs actually fixed, not loose).

Absolutely stunning, yet again, in many ways.  The changes it registers among the entire frequency range is just amazing.  It's like the "noise floor" of the speaker has gone down I can effortlessly hear the most minute details.  All sorts of tracks sound different because I realize I'm hearing now audible subtle reverbs that weren't there before.

Saxophone tracks become all the more real sounding, where I can hear that familiar clicking/ tapping of the keys (from when I played sax...my dad played sax too).  The texture of the reed all the more evident.

And the high frequencies and air seemed to have gone through the roof.Chimes, drum cymbals now have an utterly pure realism, of the type I was often seeking.  It's just crazy.

As I have mentioned before, my main gripe with the spring footers has been a subtraction of "feel" and impact to the sound. I really seek a sense of density to the presentation of my system, so any losses there can be annoying.  Which is why the footers eventually tend to come back off. 


But the more I'm listening the more I'm liking, and getting addicted to things I can hear only with the footers on.   And yes I've lost some solidity to the sound, but there still is some nice impact.
This, yet again, tells me I will be springing for the "real deal" Townshend speaker bars, at some point.
If you like what you're hearing now Townshend will be a revelation. Everything you are hearing now, only due to the damping you will get back some of the slam impact feel, probably a bit more extension, and find an amazing improvement in being able to differentiate the characteristic tone and timbre of each instrument. Sax in particular is wonderful, the full body of the horn combined with the reedy zing of the mouthpiece is rendered so much more correct it is hard to believe. Clarinet, violins, horns, ditto.   

I have a fair amount of that kind of music and find myself far more drawn to it now than ever before, something I am sure is due to everything sounding so much more like what it really is. Satchmo Plays King Oliver now, holy smokes!  

Podiums are the best, probably because the platform is so well engineered. This is evident even during unpacking, when you will notice the constrained layer damped material is dense and extremely dead. But they are all based on fundamentally the same technology and components- the air damped bellows spring pod - and so a lot has to do with the specific application. The 8 hours time diff is a hassle but it might be worth a call to Townshend to talk with John Hannant. He knows this stuff inside out and has been a huge help to me, and others here as well.

That's very encouraging millercarbon.
The thing is I had recently tweaked my speaker/listening position and had arrived at a new level of awe-inspiring imaging and solidity to the sound.   As I said, any steps backwards are hard to swallow.   But I can imaging giving up a bit to get some of that delicious transparency and detail I'm hearing.
@millercarbon Glad you mentioned Satchmo. I've been listening to a lot of music by him lately. I was listening to an interview by one of the guys at Mosaic Records while streaming WWOZ, and learned a little tidbit of information. It seems that you knew you were in with the musicians once they began insulting you. A common insult was to call someone Bucket-mouth or Satchel Mouth, with Louis it just stuck... Satchmo. Now we know!

True about Satchmo. I haven't listened to it since I bought it from Classic Records way back when. I am absolutely overloaded with vinyl I haven't played.

Patience Grasshopper.
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