Thiel Owners

I'm one of those who hasn't really questioned spikes, since they solve the real problem of cabinet recoil slurring the tweeter output. But this isolation mechanism doesn't seem to unsolve anything  - the speakers aren't free to recoil, simply decoupled from the floor. I had read about Townsend, but generally dismissed it; there's just so much to read and consider and so little time. Their claims seemed aimed at decoupling from seismic movement, and at very high prices, if I recall correctly. The skeptic in me tends to marginalize that formula.

Snbeall - you can get inside the cabinet by removing the woofer. The unbraced areas are fairly small, and many will be unreachable in practical terms. Some later products also provide access via removing the bottom panel. You might consult the Stereophile review of each product to identify where JA found the most egregious resonances. Please let us know what you learn.

Tony - I'll get VibrationAnalysis. Seems like a very direct way to get information in real time.

Happy Halloween - All

As I understand it, the seismic effects of the Townshend products are a byproduct but not really the thrust of the products. It is just a demonstrable, measurable performance of the degree of isolation. The lack of transmittance of vibrations - into as well as reflected from the floor - seems to be more the thrust of their approach. Townshend also addresses the "recoil" effect in his discussions. The Isoacoustics line of products addresses the same recoil issue, albeit with a different approach. May be of interest. Conventional thinking on this may be skewed.

My current setup is hardwood directly glued to urban suspended prestressed concrete slab with resilient footings (mostly to not mar the flooring). The lack of a soundboard beneath the speakers seems to have made a definite difference.  

I think I may have mentioned earlier in this thread...


I actually just returned my Townshend speaker bars that I tested under my Thiel 2.7s (which sit on a sprung wood floor, covered in carpet).


Like I've said, the Townshend spring based products are one of those tweaks that "actually do something" - and something measurable.The question is whether it's what someone wants.


The spring based Townshend pods unequivocally reduced vibration transmission to my turntable.   Easily felt, easily measured with a vibrometer app.   Stopped the records from skipping when my son, who shakes the house like Frankenstein, would walk past the turntable.



And when I tried some cheap spring based footers under my Thiels it was easy to feel the difference in vibration around the speaker - the floor stopped vibrating with the music once decoupled by springs.  Also the sound changed obviously- the speakers disappeared more, detail seemed more pronounced and more fine.   But the sound also became a bit too lean and had less punch and density.


Part of that was likely due to raising the speakers on the footers.  (But not entirely as raising them a similar height using isoacoustic products produced a different, darker sound).


The Townshend pods designed specifically for my speaker's weight, and which also barely raised the speakers would seemed to have been the ticket.   But in the end I didn't find the effects to be as dramatic as the cheap springs, which in a way was a good thing as it kept a lot of the punch and tonal balance of the speaker.  But I did lose a bit of that upper midrange tone and presence - that in-the-room live sound - and there was a slight depletion of density.   Ultimately I found this outweighed any of the benefits for me, and once again I found myself preferring the speakers just sitting on the floor, no spikes or anything.


But I can certainly see the product working for other people, or even why someone might have even preferred the effects in my system, even if I did not.   Plus they area good company to deal with.