Townshend Springs under Speakers

Podiums are a serious improvement regardless of what was used before. They are much better than ordinary springs like Nobsound. Several here have upgraded to them from Gaia and feel they are well worth the extra. So it is not just the isolation, but the vibration control aspect of springs that control resonance with tuned damping.     

questforhifi, You might want to read your own post again.

"I managed to pick up the Townshend seismic platform for my KEF Blades for less than what the Gaia i’s would have cost. Now given the amount of effort KEF has already gone to in making the cabinet inert (you really can leave a £1 coin on the top for weeks whilst it plays Prodigy at insane levels), I wasn’t expecting much of a change.

It was simply profound - as significant (maybe more?) than changing my whole digital front end + source + its PSUs.

and

Previously had Soundcare Superspikes - which were definately an improvement over the stock KEF spikes." 

So your "reliable user" started with KEF spikes, found Soundcare spikes were definitely an improvement, and then was shocked to hear "profound improvement" with Townshend Podiums.  

Sounds to me like the least rigid came out best, and by a lot.  

More rigid is definitely not better.

Sounds to me like the least rigid came out best, and by a lot.  

MC I think questforhifi was suggesting that speakers with more rigid cabinets may benefit more from the podiums (i.e. not that rigid connection to the floor is better).

^^ correct

I owned for a while the Gaia 1’s and I was impressed compared to the spikes that came with my Focal Sopra’s. Focal actually uses the Gaia’s at audio shows with there speakers.

But because of mc review I went ahead and ordered a pair of the Townshend Podiums. And wow! What an improvement! Everything we want out of our speakers improved. That is; bass, spaciousness, mids, highs depth, etc.
I now use the Gaia's under my JL subs.

ozzy

MC I think questforhifi was suggesting that speakers with more rigid cabinets may benefit more from the podiums (i.e. not that rigid connection to the floor is better).

Ahh, okay. In that case then the answer is no. lol! We had some here, to be more rigid I think they would have to be solid tungsten carbide or something like that. Compared to my Moabs made of ordinary braced MDF the Podiums were about the same either way. Also these particular speakers, while the cabinets were a lot smaller and a lot more rigid and highly damped, they were so dense that together with their stands they were very close in terms of mass and center of gravity to the Moabs.    

I can see where it would make sense to think a rigid cabinet would benefit more. A speaker that is truly dead, almost all the smearing is ringing. Podiums eliminate ringing, there is almost nothing left. Should be bigger improvement than a less rigid speaker that still has a lot of residual cabinet vibration.   

Makes sense. In practice though it seems, if anything, to go the other way. But full disclosure, I have only a very few examples to go by.