Isoacoustics Orea vs Townshend Seismic Pod on Components


I installed a set of Isoacoustics Gaia 2s on my speakers about a month ago and was extremely pleased with them. I'm now curious about the Oreas.

My components are currently placed on a good rack with Finite Elemente Cerabase footers at the bottom of the rack. I was wondering if individual isolators such as the Orea or Seismic Pod placed under components can further improve sound quality. I've read contradictory comments about the Orea. Some say they brought an appreciable difference when placed under components such as DAC or amplifiers. Some say they bring nothing to the sound, zero difference.

I would appreciate experiences on the Isoacoustics Orea or the Townshend Seismic Pod, or the comparison between the two products. The Oreas look better than the Pods to me although the latter may be costlier.
ryder

@millercarbon you are correct, either platform the Podiums or Credo will do a fantastic job. The Podiums get the prize in my opinion because the wide range for all kinds of speakers.

I will try to make a comparison for components but for it to be fair I need a very sensitive accelerometer, and able to get the laser tracer out of the lab again. 

 

mglik, So it is safe to say you're trying to tell us Townshend is four times as good? 😂 Sorry man, couldn't resist.

I'm not real big on measurements, much prefer to give credence to what myself and others actually hear. But the laser thing, vs the iPad seismograph, what would you say is the difference, astolfor?

@ryder ​​​​@astolfor -- thank you for helping me with the adjustments. I finally settled on 2 springs per footer in the front, and 4 springs per footer in the back. All footers are directly underneath the chassis. Happy to report that there's definitely a subtle yet noticeable improvement. If I have to sum it up I would say everything seems to have tightened up a little ... better imaging, bit more resolution (I'm hearing more into the music if you will), and tighter bass. It''s like someone wiping an already clean mirror with windex. You get that extra bit of shine that you didn't know was missing. It's amazing how simply changing the spring configuration can have a noticeable improvement in SQ.

The differences are not night and day, but they are easily discernible. You can't ask for more from something that costs so little. 

@arafiq I am glad you found something that made a difference for good in your system.

@millercarbon music is to be listened and enjoyed more than measured. What I am learning on this forum, is that people like to make opinions and believes  into facts and then since there is no way to prove things get out of control in anger.

I think I mentioned before, I only measured because the sound quality changed so much that I though that there had to be a way to measure. There are ways to measure how sound changes, and I have used these measurements to help me understand why I was not hearing differences when others claimed that there was. I know I am gifted with sensitive ears so to me was more like a sanity check if you wish. I did not hear much improvement when using the IsoAcoustic products from spikes or even cork,   but when I put the Nobsound I did, at the beginning the sound sounded dull, but at least I was able to hear a difference. That is when I started to think how to go about more scientifically and measure. I always let my dealer place the speakers, and my partner to setup the TT, but this time I had time in the USA for me to experiment and learned a little about sound. As a result now, I can somewhat back up and explain what I hear with measurements to my partner and friends. These experiments learned me how connect the dots in my ear and systems.

I do not know how accurate the iPad seismograph is  so I can't comment. I was shown by friend how to measure the effectiveness of isolation and decoupling with an accelerometer and a laser. It very well be that the accelerometer in the iPad is good enough, I just do not know any of this stuff. I started to be curious a long time ago but did not have the time to spend time doing experiments and learn. 

I do experiments and math for living and I listen to music to peace my mind. I will not be doing more of these measurements until I get the new racks and see if they make a difference that I can quantify.  

I replaced BDR Cones under my rack with Pods. The improvement was easy to see. Not hear, see! My rack is 750lbs solid concrete and granite. Even so when I would walk up my weight would make it rock. On Cones it would rock very fast and a small amount that was hard to see. But my tone arm uses a weight on the end of fishing line for side bias. The weight swinging back and forth was a dead giveaway that the rack had moved.

Now on Pods it is a lot easier to see the rack sway. I'm sure it swings more now than before. But, and this is the important part, at a much lower frequency. Well below anything that matters. This is easy to see as the side bias weight almost never swings at all. So even though the whole rack moves it is moving way down below 4Hz - probably more like 1 or 2 Hz- which might as well be motionless. It is really mind blowing the way this huge massive rack can move so smooth and slow from even the slightest touch. Even the gentle pressure of putting the cue lever down will move it. I can also touch gently with a finger and stop it. Crazy!