Auva Footers

[stvnharr]

I was fully aware at the time of my initial post of what I was doing. I was posting a listening impression in a forum that is fully oriented to graphs and measurements, and I had no graphs or measurements. I expected a lot of push-back, disbelief, etc., or to be completely ignored. But, since the posting in the recent Iso-Acoustics thread was mostly polite, albeit there was a graph and measurement included, I went ahead and posted. I just wanted to put it out there, and I did that.

 

[MaxwellsEq]

I was posting a listening impression in a forum that is fully oriented to graphs and measurements, and I had no graphs or measurements

The forum has "Science" in the title. It's possible to go down a rabbit hole on this, but in general, someone has an idea and they they then define a repeatable (by other people) experiment to confirm or undermine that idea; or they make an observation and derive a model that consistently confirms their observation. The problem with your approach is - I can't repeat your experiment! It's all about you, and only about you. And this simply means it can't fit into anything scientific.

We know (e.g. from medical research) that the placebo effect is strong and reliably repeatable. There are also multiple, repeatable experiments since Daniel Kahneman and Amos Tversky that confirms we are irrational and are unable (no matter who we are and how hard we try) to overcome our inbuilt biases and heuristics. This means we can not simply trust what we observe, but must build repeatable (by other people) tests. As you state above, you knowingly didn't do that.

Fortunately many other people have worked on repeatable tests - so, for example, we know that moving a loudspeaker a few inches in a room in any of the three dimensions, significantly changes its interaction with the room; height is especially sensitive since most ceilings are untreated. Any experiment with isolators under a speaker needs to account for this. We also know that most speakers have a reference level (often the tweeter) and that sound frequency response and sound dispersion changes when your ear is a few degrees off this level. Any listening experiment needs to account for this (however, sitting an inch higher has the same room-interaction effect as moving the speakers does!).

Given these challenges, it's actually simpler to use a microphone to capture the changes than to derive a reliable, repeatable listening test! That's why you were given the guidance you received.

 

[stvnharr]

Thanks for your guidance.

 

[Greenman]

Do these footers make an audible difference? ….i don’t know…but I was always led to believe that speakers should have a good solid connection to the floor as this would allow them to more effectively transfer their energy into the air. Without a solid floor connection then the speaker is liable to move/vibrate which pollutes the sound being transferred to the air. Now whether any of that is audible I don’t know but it does seem to make sense.

Are speaker vibration transferred to the floor? Yes and easy to confirm, just put your hand on the floor while playing music and you can feel the vibrations. (If you are lucky enough to have stone/concrete floors then probably these will not be obvious, but on my wood floor they are very clear)
Are speaker vibrations transferred by air? Of course, but put your hand on the wall and the vibrations are much less than on the floor. For this reason I mounted my turntable on the wall and as far from the speakers as possible.

So…it wouldn’t be a surprise to me if some sort of complaint suspension did make an audible difference, by say maybe softening transients, doesn’t sound like a positive change, but in some systems who knows.

 

[Purité Audio]

Is enough vibration transferred to create an audible resonance?
Speakers ‘should’ be designed they do not store energy which could lead to audible resonance, footers are the equivalent of buying a tigers tail for your pushbike.
Sorbathane ( open cell rubber) inexpensive and effective
Keith

 

[stvnharr]

Well, regarding some things brought up in a posts #42 and 45........
I thought to be self-evident that my experience was just my experience. It was significant enough to me that I posted about it. It is not more than that.

I should also include some more information about my speaker. The speaker is a one off, so I have the only one. It is closed box design and full of acoustic stuffing. While it looks like a floorstanding speaker. It is only in looks. The original is a standmount design. When I did the remake, I built the stand into the speaker, making it look like a floorstander. Bottom half meter is stand and top 600mm is the speaker. The speaker was not designed in an anechoic chamber at any point in the design process.

I might add that my previous speaker was the Waveform Mach Solo speaker. This speaker was designed completely in the NRC lab in Toronto, over a period of up to a couple years. The speaker had ruler flat frequency response of +-1db. and no resonances. It had the best waterfall plot of any speaker I ever saw. John Otvos provided complete measurement data and graphs in his speaker information. I bought the speaker solely on John's provided information. There was no audition at all. There was a rightness to the sound that you could tell in the first five seconds of any play of music.

Thus, I have been at both ends of the speaker spectrum, as far as design and engineering. Make of that what you will, if anything.

 

[stvnharr]

Short little update here.....
I have now installed the larger Auva 100's under my speakers. These are twice the size of the Auva 50's and with considerably more absorptive capacity. The result is more resolution, clarity and refinement in the music as played by the musicians on the recording.
Of course, if you already have near perfect speakers with no resonances or vibrations, like the recently reviewed Grimm's, the Dutch & Dutch's, or a few others, you are likely not even reading this.
For all the rest of us with imperfect speakers, the Auva's do help a lot.

 

[kyuu]

For all the rest of us with imperfect speakers, the Auva's do help a lot.

Not likely. Also, if you can figure out how I can install these on my in-wall speakers I'd appreciate it.

 

[stvnharr]

No post

 

[Ropeburn]

Not likely. Also, if you can figure out how I can install these on my in-wall speakers I'd appreciate it.

If they were on-walls they'd work just fine with my patented sideways gravity generator. You can place things on the wall like you would on the floor.

Isn't cheap though.

 

[xray]

Also, if you can figure out how I can install these on my in-wall speakers I'd appreciate it.

For in-wall speakers you need to buy the xxxxxtra large footers and put them under your house. The bonus is that all your electronics will be vibration isolated as well.

 

[Ropeburn]

For in-wall speakers you need to buy the xxxxxtra large footers and put them under your house. The bonus is that all your electronics will be vibration isolated as well.

Does that mean the neighbour pounding on my door because I'm too loud again will sound a lot better too?

 

[kyuu]

For in-wall speakers you need to buy the xxxxxtra large footers and put them under your house. The bonus is that all your electronics will be vibration isolated as well.

Nice. I bet that will make my house earthquake proof too. What's the price on those?

 

[Juanrdp]

I am well attuned to the sound of my music system. I can easily discern small changes. My music system now sounds more like real live acoustic concert music. That is why I mentioned that the change is significant. It is not really a big change from before, but a significant one to me.

Sincerely, to this point i was just hesitant, no measures, no clear facts, only anecdotal experiences and an initial post that sounds like publicity...

But this phrase just hit the nail... If it sounds like a snake, moves like a snake, and behaves like a snake... maybe it is a snake (oil)?

 

[holbob]

Short little update here.....
I have now installed the larger Auva 100's under my speakers. These are twice the size of the Auva 50's and with considerably more absorptive capacity. The result is more resolution, clarity and refinement in the music as played by the musicians on the recording.
Of course, if you already have near perfect speakers with no resonances or vibrations, like the recently reviewed Grimm's, the Dutch & Dutch's, or a few others, you are likely not even reading this.
For all the rest of us with imperfect speakers, the Auva's do help a lot.

Ah, I see. So the Auva 50 are not good enough to be used for longer than a few months. Understood and noted.

 

[Purité Audio]

The 100’s are twice as good.
Keith

 

[Ropeburn]

The 100 thingies cost like 1400 moneys for a set. If you can't find speakers without bad resonance problems for that kind of money, the problem isn't with the speakers.

Always funny seeing people spend a lot of money on this kind of stuff to solve a non existing problem, while for the same money you can have a whole arse very nice sounding stereo, including big speakers that have none of these problems and don't need expensive rubby footies.

 

[MAB]

Some people aren't here to learn.

Short little update here.....
I have now installed the larger Auva 100's under my speakers. These are twice the size of the Auva 50's and with considerably more absorptive capacity. The result is more resolution, clarity and refinement in the music as played by the musicians on the recording.
Of course, if you already have near perfect speakers with no resonances or vibrations, like the recently reviewed Grimm's, the Dutch & Dutch's, or a few others, you are likely not even reading this.
For all the rest of us with imperfect speakers, the Auva's do help a lot.

Thanks for the troll!

 

[Leeken]

Ah, I see. So the Auva 50 are not good enough to be used for longer than a few months. Understood and noted.

Amazingly and not to be forgotten if you peruse any other forums (fora???) the Auva 50s are also a significant upgrade on the isotec gaias they’ve all been shilling for the last few years

 

[stvnharr]

Always funny seeing people spend a lot of money on this kind of stuff to solve a non-existing problem,

Well, this is actually partially true. There was no problem with the sound of my music system, and I never stated that there was an issue of any kind. Thus, there was nothing to solve.
The sound of the speakers with the spikes under them was quite good. I take care in setting up the room and use Sumiko Master Set to place the speakers and accommodate the speaker-room interface, as I don't have dsp. The Dane who suggested the Auva's had heard my system in 2024 when he visited me while touring Australia. He later on suggested the Auva's to me as a possible option to think about.