I have found no efficacy with footers under components, but I am a major fan of GIAIA footers under my speakers. Best tweak ever that I have tried and I have tried a lot of them. Townshend isolation devices might be more efficacious, but they are far more expensive.
First impressions of the Isoacoustic Gaia 1’s
On my KEF Reference 5’s.
While I normally hear little to no change with “Tweaks”, I installed them Saturday evening and found immediate spatial differences. Just about every album sounded more open. I told my wife, who helped me install the Gaia’s, that if I wasn’t wowed, I’d send them back.
The room has wall to wall carpet and pad on the floor and when I first received the Reference 5’s, they sounded flat. I put small hardwood flooring samples under them and it helped a little. I then put a small slab of granite under each of them and they became much nicer to listen to. I was quite surprised at the change.
The Gaia 1’s are sitting on the granite as well and so far, I’m very happy.
It’s only been a few days, but I’m pretty sure they are “hear” to stay.
Anyone else have similar experience’s with speaker. Isolation?
JD
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@ronboco Hey Ron, I've heard that argument from a local dealer against the idea of isolation/de-coupling and used in favor of coupling. The argument in favor of de-coupling is that the environment affects the speakers (or components) negatively, and that an isolation solution protects against those environmental affects. I know that high-end recording studios will using floating floors to isolate against environmental impacts. I believe Townsend's website has their philosophy on it--something about small tectonic shifts on the other side of the world measurably affecting your HiFi if I recall. Make of that what you will. With all the positive recommendations here from people who have isolated, I would recommend trying it if you haven't already. |
Thank you for the response. I did know about environmental impacts and it is the overwhelming majority to decouple. I’m not sure how one would go about testing if there is a negative effect from the whole speaker moving besides the listening test. I guess if there is a negative to decouple the positive must out weigh it. I do have Gaia footers in our home theatre family room because it is a suspended floor. I did notice the bass dropped off noticeably with the Gaia feet. Still sounds good though. We have a 2 channel system in the basement. Carpet over concrete. The speakers weigh 220 lbs. each so I’m not sure if any footers would make a big difference. |
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