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Do IsoAcoustics products affect dispersion?

ripmixburn

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I picked up some of their pro stands a few years ago after getting a demo in person at a local show. Could certainly be placebo, but the results in both cases (show and at home) were pretty dramatic in terms of providing focus to the stereo image. IsoAcoustics now sells many products including feet. I assume their claimed effect is something measurable, but is this of much interest to this community?
 

dfuller

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It's not dispersion - it's isolation from other things that can vibrate.
 
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ripmixburn

ripmixburn

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It's not dispersion - it's isolation from other things that can vibrate.
Oh, so the smearing effect is the sound of the speaker‘s friction against the table, and not better stabilization of the speaker itself?
 

jonfitch

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I assume the act of raising the speaker higher above a reflective surface would have an effect on the frequency response. As far as the speaker's organic dispersion response--I can't imagine it would unless you physically obstructed the drive units in some way before or after.
 

dfuller

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Oh, so the smearing effect is the sound of the speaker‘s friction against the table, and not better stabilization of the speaker itself?
Not so much friction as it is isolation from something that can vibrate. It's the same as putting speakers on (fairly inert) stands instead of a (somewhat resonant) shelf.
 

amirm

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I assume the act of raising the speaker higher above a reflective surface would have an effect on the frequency response.
That is the main effect I hear when they demo at shows. If you then lower your head the same amount, the improvement goes away.
 

Katji

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Change in dispersion because change in height. As in, higher. Either the tweeters more in line with listener's ears, or higher, which is sometimes preferred.
Isolation...if you believe in the gizmo design, otherwise some or other damping material would isolate more.
They are gizmos...they look like moon landing craft stuff. Successful internet marketing. Including the option of paying $$ more for the alloy bling version instead of plastic.
 
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ripmixburn

ripmixburn

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In fairness to the company, the founder is apparently the engineer who designed the acoustic isolation for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) headquarters which sits close by to the subway and streetcar tracks. Lots of recordings are done there, and you never hear the rumble of the subway… they claim that similar principles were applied to their products. I can certainly feel with my hand that the vibration is not transferred to my desk like it is with other stands.
 

D4nte85

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i got a pair iso-130, because i needed speakerstands of that size, that are somewhat not the desk-top or a metal/wood-block
i'm perfectly happy with them and they are the only non-rigid affordable speakerstands i know of so there
 

Grotti

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Change in dispersion because change in height. As in, higher. Either the tweeters more in line with listener's ears, or higher, which is sometimes preferred.
Isolation...if you believe in the gizmo design, otherwise some or other damping material would isolate more.
They are gizmos...they look like moon landing craft stuff. Successful internet marketing. Including the option of paying $$ more for the alloy bling version instead of plastic.
I own the ISO 200 which isolate my Amphion speakers from a lowboard. And since the speakers stood a bit too low I was able to adjust the vertical angle because the ISO 200 provides spacers of different length.

It may not affect dispersion, but it isolates quite well (simple test: play some bass at high level with the speakers placed directly on the low board or on the ISO 200 and lay your hands on the surface of the board: big difference...).

So it is more than gizmo IME. Paid 140 EUR for the stereo set: not cheap but I have spent a lot more for tweaks, that I would not like to be reminded of :)
 

Frank Dernie

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In fairness to the company, the founder is apparently the engineer who designed the acoustic isolation for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) headquarters which sits close by to the subway and streetcar tracks. Lots of recordings are done there, and you never hear the rumble of the subway… they claim that similar principles were applied to their products. I can certainly feel with my hand that the vibration is not transferred to my desk like it is with other stands.
There are 2 sorts of isolation that get used, one is pukka isolation, where the mass of the object is suspended on a low damping elastic element, with these everything above about 2x the resonant frequency of the mass on the elastic element won't get through.
The other is absorption, where a lossy material is used between the items. Here the vibration is converted to heat in the lossy material, it is cheaper but variable in its frequency effectiveness abd does not usually absorb very well at low frequencies.
A rough rule of thumb is that an isolator which isolates over the full audio range will deflect about 1" when the mass of the object to be isolated is placed on it. If it deflects less it will be isolating from a higher frequency (¼" is probably fine for little desk speakers).

Edit, I forgot the fact that, if you don't isolate your desk top will be behaving like the sound board of a piano and the sound will certainly not be accurate.
 

Katji

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So, how much do the Isolastic stands deflect? - 6mm?
 

D4nte85

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micrometer you dont effectively see that nor feel it, but you hear it ;) (for milimeter you need lots of amplitude like a starting airplane noise lvls from your speaker)
also they pulse with the music sooo better only the loudspeaker then the whole table...

A rough rule of thumb is that an isolator which isolates over the full audio range will deflect about 1" when the mass of the object to be isolated is placed on it. If it deflects less it will be isolating from a higher frequency (¼" is probably fine for little desk speakers).
...yeah that depends solely on amplitude of the vibration not so much on frequency wich should be a materialconstant imo
 
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D4nte85

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should be easy to measure theoretically, you meassure the output of your speaker against its input factor in the nominal efficiency and the difference should be mostly strucktureborne noise wich i guess should be around 1/100th of the output, so now you weight your speaker and calculate the amplitude on differing frequencies with that much energy.... its micrometer... dont worry

if you have no resonace inducing "deskplate" or similar you wont hear or see that

edit: really what do you expect to happen listening lvls usually are below 1 watt per speaker...
 
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localhost128

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I can certainly feel with my hand that the vibration is not transferred to my desk like it is with other stands.

a quick/dirty method to understand if any mechanical transfer of vibrations is to couple your ear to the desk/work surface and have a friend lift the speaker up to perceive any audible differences
 

test1223

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That is the main effect I hear when they demo at shows. If you then lower your head the same amount, the improvement goes away.
The effect of the different placement is obviously there but besides that they indeed reduce the vibration emitted by the speakers. Such effect can be perceived. Genelec which is known for not doing nonsense delivers its speaker with a rubber like stand which handles the same issue.
 

o2so

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I have just tested Isoacustics Gaia II on a pair of Dynaudio Focus 60xd, trying to maintain the speaker height constant with and without feet. There was a difference, both measured and which I could hear. However I did not think it sounded better with the gaias on. In fact, REW measurements show variations in distortion and decay times that are inconclusive in my opinion, i.e. one cannot tell which measurement is better. So I returned the feet to the store, also because the speakers were a bit too wobbly with the feet on. On the other hand, when in the past I used the Aperta stands for bookshelf speakers which were sitting on a media cabinet, I had humongous improvements. Go figure.
 

Thomas_A

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True isolation of speakers may or may not give an effect on distortion:

#161
 

Thomas_A

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That is the main effect I hear when they demo at shows. If you then lower your head the same amount, the improvement goes away.

Height differences certainly affect, but distortion levels can also be affected depending on the situation. Sometimes distortion can be readily audible which speaks for isolation. The spike coupling was debunked more than 20 years ago.
 
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