Looking for some input from those who might have experience with this product or those well versed in speaker isolation principles in general.
Yesterday I received the podiums for installation under my Avantgarde Duos (with sub 225s). I bought these direct from Jim Smith about 20 years ago so they are not the current style sub cabinetry but the style they sold for many years where the sub, then tweeter horn and then the midrange horn are all mounted/suspended to/from three outboard vertical metal support rods, two located on the outer edge of the speaker and one on the inside edge. I initially had these speakers supported on four large carpet piercing spikes that were threaded into the bottom of the sub cabinet in factory fitted inserts, thus supporting the entire assembly and the metal frames off the floor. To this day, this is the best bass articulation I have heard from the speakers and would have never made a change except there was an unsolvable problem with floor shake (raised floor...carpet over ply decking over joists supported on concrete block piers). I finally talked myself into a change after Jim Smith said that decoupling was the way to go and told Jim to please get me some Grand Prix Audio Apex footers but they couldn’t deliver on the thread size AG specified. So I made a slight change in direction and ended up where I am today with Stillpoints Ultra 5s on the optional Ultra bases (wide decouplers) and they have performed beautifully at curbing the floor shake but the price being paid is a slight loss in bass articulation. With the Stillpoints, they are screwed into the bottoms of the metal support rods so now the the speaker’s weight is held up by three Stillpoints via the rods with the sub supported an inch above the floor vs. four brass spikes directly into the bottom of the sub.
Enter the podiums. It seems I have three different ways to deploy them. First, I can remove all isolation hardware from the bottoms and simply place the sub cabinet bareback, if you will, (Townshend’s word) on the podium itself. Second, I can leave the Stillpoints in place and lift the speaker so fitted onto the podium. Third, I can remove the Stillpoints, reinstall the brass spikes and lift this assembly onto the podiums with the spikes tips sitting in brass cups. The last two solutions will result in an upward repositioning of the driver centers by approx. two inches but can be accounted for.
So bareback, the decoupling approach Stillpoints or the coupling approach spikes...any insights would be appreciated.
BTW, John @ Stillpoints has voiced his opinion and I likely will go with it but I would rather not reveal it now so as not to have any influence on the thoughts of others.
