Under my tower speakers -- Isoacoustics Gaia, other options?

Townshend is reported to be much better than Isoacoustics Gaia. However, the price is higher and as a result it’s more suitable for higher end systems or speakers. There are folks who upgraded from the Gaia to Townshend and found the latter to sound noticeably better. The difference is claimed to be not subtle.

Isoacoustics Gaia can work on all surfaces - concrete, wood, tile or carpet. Carpet discs(additional cost) can be used with the Gaias if the floor is carpet. With Gaias, it’s mostly an improvement but there are cases where people don’t hear a difference, or it’s a degradation rather than improvement. With the Townshend, I believe the success rate is 100%.

If tight on funds, I can highly recommend the Isoacoustics Gaia.

@ryder Thanks for your comments. The Townshend is only portable IF any new speakers I purchase have a base that fits on the podium purchased. My present (somewhat trim) speakers would get a size 1 podium; unless future speaker fit this podium, then the it is not portable. The alternative is to spend extra money, now on a podium for future (possible) speakers. But now the expenditure is even beyond what is already a questionable investment. That's the challenge.

It’s not a question of funds being tight, really; rather, it’s a question of whether it makes sense to spend a third or more on a platform, given the speakers’ cost. Maybe your rule of thumb is different? Would you spend 1/3 of the cost of your speakers on a platform if your speakers had a concrete floor under them? Take that as a serious question -- I’m curious about your way of doing things. I would prefer to get any number of other tweaks -- skyline diffusers, isolation for other components, a better DAC, etc. before pouring money into more isolation than is really justified by my conditions and speakers.

As for success rates being 100%, I would like to know what percent of those folks have concrete floors. If wooden floors are a major problem for speaker vibration, and I assume they are, then it would make sense for most Townshend podiums to be sold to folks solving that particular problem. And if that is true, then the success rate would be quite high.

A couple of years ago I watched a Peter Townsend video demonstrating his speaker platforms.  He showed that even on concrete floors his speaker isolation platforms make a difference.  He showed it empirically using vibration transducers. Concrete is a plastic.  It moves and responds to vibrations.  However, I have not had my stereo on a concrete floor in several decades and so I have no experience to share in that regard.  

Anyway, after seeing Townsend's video I built my own isolation platforms for considerably less using specifically designed springs from McMasterCarr and wood butcher blocks as platforms.  I specified the spring rate to give the speaker + platform a natural frequency of 3 Hz.  That isolated the speakers from the floor.  I'm on a suspended floor and it was a dramatic improvement in sound quality.  Using accelerometers I found the speakers were completely isolated from the floor.  Unlike the Townsend platforms I had no adjustability.  It was a pain positioning the platforms and the speakers to be both level on the spring platforms and in the right position in the room.  

Out of curiosity I sprang for the IsoAcoustic Gaias for my speakers to compare them to my own isolation platforms.  The Gaias do not completely isolate the speakers like my spring platforms but overall I thought the speakers sounded better with the Gaias.  The accelerometer showed that the Gaia still isolates the speakers- just not as completely as my spring platforms.  But I think that the dampening in the Gaias helped with the higher frequencies.  I ended up keeping the Gaias and I use my spring platforms under my Home Theater sub woofers.  They make the bass sound amazing.