Townshend Isolation Products.

@tomic601

I bought the Hartley Reference from the owner of the company (Rich Schmeterer) amazingly the year was 1980 and the Hartleys cost $10,000 for the pair, I was 26 at the time.

Rich an EE did a bread board of a three way electronic x-over and had Furman build three of them. He offered me one (because he knew I was nuts) and I purchased it for $700 in 1982(?). He never put it on the market. So I have one, he has one and the third is MIA.

Ripped out the x-over, added some other terminals and hard wired the internals with 10 gauge Hartley Reference speaker wire Rich had custom made.

First it was all David Hafler stuff, which I have in a closet somewhere, then all ARC stuff which I still have also (LS15, D110B, D110B, D111 and a D60). The last iteration just came together and its a REF6, Pass Labs X260.8, X260.8, XA30.8, XA30.8. Also changed the x-over to a Marchand XM-44 that I spec'd. 

I know that there are better speakers out there, but it’s been a 44 year love affair and these puppies still kick my butt down the block.

Regards,

barts

i only used my homenmade devices and various materials sandwiches but it is my experience that each material will absorb in his own way some frequencies more than others and will couple with others materials in his own way too ...

I selected some various materials for their "timbre effect" ...

And the tuned damping load over the speakers too was very important for details by eliminating or decreasing resonance...

Then i think this sentence about different footers must be right :

I find each have their own impact on tonal balance.

My Townshend Seismic podiums under my speakers are the best tweak I have added to my system. The improvement was very noticeable. Bass tighter and mid range was also improved. 

@barts Sounds like a great system - I built and modified Hafler kits on Sunday for extra $, which i poured into….. tubes… ha.

We carried CJ,,, ARC was the enemy…. funny how things… change..

Best in music - i greatly enjoyed your journey story…..

I recently placed some Vibrapods under my Oppo 103 and was very pleasantly surprised at the result. On the strength of this I bought a used Townshend Platform to replace the Vibrapods, which elevated the sound further. The difference was IMO well worth the greater expense.

Prior to the Vibrapods I had 3 Isoacoustics Oreas under the Oppo and can state that in my system the Vibrapods were superior at a fraction of the price. I will not be considering Isoacoustics again.

Spikes contrary to popular opinion do not decouple and will allow vibration to pass in either direction. I have proved this to myself by using an old tone arm and cheapo cartridge jury rigged to rest on the surface of the speaker or component of interest and noted the V/output. This is a sensitive and informative way to understand vibration transmission. If amplified through a phono stage simply shouting at the rig will produce results. Best done behind closed doors 🙄

I will be removing the Gaia feet from my speakers and replacing them with DIY damped springs sized to the weight to provide a resonant frequency of about 3Hz.