IsoAcoustics Isolation Feet - Does it really make positive effect or fancy accessories

[izeek]

No, this is not a matter of opinion. There's plenty of evidence that all this concern about coupling or not coupling speakers to the floor makes no audible difference. There's just not enough energy going into the enclosure. You'll get drastically more of a difference changing the speakers' position by a few mm.

If you believe that sticking some granite under the speaker will have some meaningful impact, the burden is on you to demonstrate this. It's not everyone else's responsibility to debunk every random notion someone has with no evidence to back it up or even a plausible mechanism for how it would work.

you're entitled to your informed opinion.as am i. make sure you have your own evidence to work from. i have mine.

were you in my house, you'd hear the difference, though, i personally decouple rather than isolate.

im no scientist, engineer nor did i take any measurements. i stand by the differences it makes as i hear them and thats all that matters to me.

at the very minimum, my friend, i spent a whole year trying different materials and combinations to come up with my solution. i can tell you that any and everything you use will have some sort of effect. i can tell you that you'll hear the difference between mdf and any wood without need of measurements. and that's just wood products.

rubber. rubber and cork or sorbothane, sorbothane, all have an effect you'll hear. sorbothane sucked in my system. dulled the overall presentation.

the burden of proof. my floor is carpeted wood. before i did any experimenting, i could hear the floor and walls resonating whenever i got even close to loud. i could hear it in my apartment hallway, on the bottom floor, if it was loud. i went looking for solutions to boom and thud.

i researched isolation, dampening, decoupling, anything that might help. i had a few conversations with a guy using granite plinths to see why he used them.

i started with different rubber feet and moved to svs sub feet. i tried rubber and cork pads. rubber and sorbothane, sorbothane.

i tried different woods, mdf, and thicknesses of. i tried woods and rubber of all sorts.

after reading about dampening. i tried it using a concrete paver to act as the floor. thinking it would dampen speaker resonance through the floor. very good response. but, i felt there was more to be had. i had some horsestall mat left over from a deadlift platform i built and tried it under the towers. then wood. wood and mat. the pavers and mat by far gave me the results i was aiming for. the subs on isoacoustics sub stands for the subs.

it sounds great. i can turn it up louder without it bleeding through the floor and walls. i can no longer hear it in the hallway unless im above 75-80db, and you have to stand in front of my door.

bass is solid, detailed. midbass improved. smoothed the highs some. and overall. im happy.

whatchu got?

 

[DSJR]

No, this is not a matter of opinion. There's plenty of evidence that all this concern about coupling or not coupling speakers to the floor makes no audible difference. There's just not enough energy going into the enclosure. You'll get drastically more of a difference changing the speakers' position by a few mm.

If you believe that sticking some granite under the speaker will have some meaningful impact, the burden is on you to demonstrate this. It's not everyone else's responsibility to debunk every random notion someone has with no evidence to back it up or even a plausible mechanism for how it would work.

You've obviously never lived all this, have you?

Some speakers really did' subjectively benefit from not wobbling around (using spiked stands). Mass loading a suspended floor may well help and I'm positive this is measurable (not forty years ago I grant you and sometimes a paving slab or similar was worse). If the music used is bowed strings and basses, maybe no difference, but a snappy jazz or rock piece used to be able to reproduce the difference. More to add but it wouldn't be accepted here, so I'll shut up now.

 

[Curvature]

glad you think so. your comment was especially unnecessary and pointless as you didn't even debunk my solutions.
your pov sounds like an opinion. everybody got one, ya know.

Post in thread 'Springs Under My Speakers: What's Happening?'

Jul 16, 2025

Spikes & Isolation: The Art of Speaker Decoupling for Optimal Audio Performance

This contributed article by IsoAcoustics` founder and president is an interesting piece that sums up his vast experience in the field, working with professional audio engineers, loudspeaker designers, and music lovers all over the world. The article explores how speakers physically interact with...

audioxpress.com

Recentish article on Isoacoustics. More of an advertisement, really.

They posted this chart, which is hard to read and even misleading in some ways.

If you look at the frequency response, you get these tiny, tiny deviations (well under a dB) in an anechoic setting between speaker spikes and the Isoacoustics GAIA II feet. They also include a secondary axis for velocity measurements using a laser vibrometer, which look much more dramatic. I'll just note here...

• Curvature

• 

You can look at this if you like.

 

[izeek]

The problem is the sound in the room is what primarily causes the floors and walls to shake. Speaker chassis to floor vibrations not so much, in fact barely at all.

Post in thread 'Springs Under My Speakers: What's Happening?'

Jul 16, 2025

Spikes & Isolation: The Art of Speaker Decoupling for Optimal Audio Performance

This contributed article by IsoAcoustics` founder and president is an interesting piece that sums up his vast experience in the field, working with professional audio engineers, loudspeaker designers, and music lovers all over the world. The article explores how speakers physically interact with...

audioxpress.com

Recentish article on Isoacoustics. More of an advertisement, really.

They posted this chart, which is hard to read and even misleading in some ways.

If you look at the frequency response, you get these tiny, tiny deviations (well under a dB) in an anechoic setting between speaker spikes and the Isoacoustics GAIA II feet. They also include a secondary axis for velocity measurements using a laser vibrometer, which look much more dramatic. I'll just note here...

• Curvature

• 

You can look at this if you like.

i have. i stand by my solution.

 

[Curvature]

i have. i stand by my solution

What have you to done to find evidence beyond listening?

You've obviously never lived all this, have you?

Some speakers really did' subjectively benefit from not wobbling around (using spiked stands). Mass loading a suspended floor may well help and I'm positive this is measurable (not forty years ago I grant you and sometimes a paving slab or similar was worse). If the music used is bowed strings and basses, maybe no difference, but a snappy jazz or rock piece used to be able to reproduce the difference. More to add but it wouldn't be accepted here, so I'll shut up now.

You too—any attempts to verify?

 

[DSJR]

You too—any attempts to verify?

Try it yourself

I maintain that different room constructions and flooring type and build, play a huge part and that sometimes, a domestic listener-for-pleasure, away from Klippel and SINAD measurements, may well feel more comfortable doing things their way, either decoupling or firmly coupling speakers/stands to the floor. I appreciate, however, that such a vibe may not be how some here feel - but to me, it was all part of the discovery, even in these hopefully more enlightened times with better sorted domestic audio systems than we used forty odd years ago.

I'm now past caring so much about such things, as my life (and hearing acuity) has moved on. I do what I have to do these days as I have other priorities now and don't need the hassle

P.S. if you live in an old building converted into apartments/flats as we have here, isolating speakers from transmitting bass into the (suspended) floor can work wonders in keeping the neighbour below happy

 

[Purité Audio]

I enjoy a good story but have never seen any actual evidence, just not enough energy been transferred and there would still be the airborne transmission to deal with.
I will accept that a tragically poor loudspeaker design paced on a resonant surface ‘might’ benefit from inexpensive sorbathane isolation.
Keith

 

[Thomas_A]

I enjoy a good story but have never seen any actual evidence, just not enough energy been transferred and there would still be the airborne transmission to deal with.
I will accept that a tragically poor loudspeaker design paced on a resonant surface ‘might’ benefit from inexpensive sorbathane isolation.
Keith

You seem to be stuck with the notion that the speaker being poor. I can say that the speaker I tested (my own DIY) is built with constrained layer damping all around and has no problem with audible resonances of the enclosure. It is equally the surface where it is placed that can be poor (bench, desk…). Even the most inert enclosure must move due to woofer movement, even it is tiny. These tiny movements are transmitted to the surface and if you are unlucky, they may be amplified and cause rattling/distortion.

In most situations there are no audible consequences. The claim that can be made though is that, using isolation, there is no transmission of vibration from the enclosure to whatever the speaker sits on and no risk of amplifying those to rattling/distortion. You still have the possible rattling noise of objects in the room due to the sound transmission in the air. I once heard windows ratttling when using speakers having 8x12 inch woofers playing low frequencies at high SPL.

That said, sorbothane pads, DIY soft mouse pads, sylomer pads kan be purchased or made very cheap. Those expensive isolation products do not give any additional benefits.

 

[Curvature]

Try it yourself

I maintain that different room constructions and flooring type and build, play a huge part and that sometimes, a domestic listener-for-pleasure, away from Klippel and SINAD measurements, may well feel more comfortable doing things their way, either decoupling or firmly coupling speakers/stands to the floor. I appreciate, however, that such a vibe may not be how some here feel - but to me, it was all part of the discovery, even in these hopefully more enlightened times with better sorted domestic audio systems than we used forty odd years ago.

I'm now past caring so much about such things, as my life (and hearing acuity) has moved on. I do what I have to do these days as I have other priorities now and don't need the hassle

P.S. if you live in an old building converted into apartments/flats as we have here, isolating speakers from transmitting bass into the (suspended) floor can work wonders in keeping the neighbour below happy

I believe we have a responsibility to go beyond making assertions and search for truth.

 

[DSJR]

I believe we have a responsibility to go beyond making assertions and search for truth.

The truth can be heard as well as measured you know That way, one can confirm our senses are flawed in this finding, or in fact, there's something to what we claim to have heard

Try it for yourself, even better if you have accelerometers and frequency/pulse generators to try to be objective about it. Simply stating it doesn't work with no data is just as bad as you infer I'm being by recalling experiences gleaned from many dems and many comparisons, but with no measurements...

If single, I'd probably look again at the paving slab route, so the stands would have something solid and secure to sit on, rather than thick carpet/underlay... Either that, or spike through to the concrete underneath (saves crushing the carper pile and underlay which, in this case, doesn't reform well).

 

[kyuu]

Simply stating it doesn't work with no data is just as bad as you infer I'm being by recalling experiences gleaned from many dems and many comparisons, but with no measurements...

This isn't a topic where this is no data on either side.

 

[olds1959special]

I had foam under my isofeet but the speakers weren't stable, I removed it.

 

[Curvature]

The truth can be heard as well as measured you know That way, one can confirm our senses are flawed in this finding, or in fact, there's something to what we claim to have heard

Try it for yourself, even better if you have accelerometers and frequency/pulse generators to try to be objective about it. Simply stating it doesn't work with no data is just as bad as you infer I'm being by recalling experiences gleaned from many dems and many comparisons, but with no measurements...

If single, I'd probably look again at the paving slab route, so the stands would have something solid and secure to sit on, rather than thick carpet/underlay... Either that, or spike through to the concrete underneath (saves crushing the carper pile and underlay which, in this case, doesn't reform well).

The method to find evidence on the personal side is in psychoacoustics, with controlled listening tests; for the physical side, acoustics, with measurements.

I posted a link to a small analysis above and have provided other data before.

 

[MattHooper]

You seem to be stuck with the notion that the speaker being poor. I can say that the speaker I tested (my own DIY) is built with constrained layer damping all around and has no problem with audible resonances of the enclosure. It is equally the surface where it is placed that can be poor (bench, desk…). Even the most inert enclosure must move due to woofer movement, even it is tiny. These tiny movements are transmitted to the surface and if you are unlucky, they may be amplified and cause rattling/distortion.

In most situations there are no audible consequences. The claim that can be made though is that, using isolation, there is no transmission of vibration from the enclosure to whatever the speaker sits on and no risk of amplifying those to rattling/distortion. You still have the possible rattling noise of objects in the room due to the sound transmission in the air. I once heard windows ratttling when using speakers having 8x12 inch woofers playing low frequencies at high SPL.

That said, sorbothane pads, DIY soft mouse pads, sylomer pads kan be purchased or made very cheap. Those expensive isolation products do not give any additional benefits.

As I mentioned: at one point when I was trying various footers and materials between my speaker and the floor, some sort of resonance was happening because my right speaker’s grill started rattling audibly with low bass which had never happened before. When I swapped out for different materials, it stopped rattling. When I swapped the other materials back in it rattled again. So something was certainly going on.

Of course that incident isn’t something I can show anybody here at this point, so it’s up to the reader if they want to believe it or reject it.

In that respect, whether anybody else believes it I know it happened so it becomes part of my own bit of data for how different materials can apparently affect resonances.

 

[Curvature]

As I mentioned: at one point when I was trying various footers and materials between my speaker and the floor, some sort of resonance was happening because my right speaker’s grill started rattling audibly with low bass which had never happened before. When I swapped out for different materials, it stopped rattling. When I swapped the other materials back in it rattled again. So something was certainly going on.

This is completely reasonable and plausible. What's not reasonable is pronounced changes to tone, imaging, timing, etc.

 

[MattHooper]

This is completely reasonable and plausible. What's not reasonable is pronounced changes to tone, imaging, timing, etc.

The rattling of the grill accompanied the bass being audibly exaggerated - even before some notes started rattling the grill the bass already sounded more pronounced.

It would be odd, wouldn’t it, if an increase in bass was sufficiently pronounced to start rattling a grill on certain bass notes yet not sufficient to be at all audible?

 

[Curvature]

The rattling of the grill accompanied the bass being audibly exaggerated - even before some notes started rattling the grill the bass already sounded more pronounced.

It would be odd, wouldn’t it, if an increase in bass was sufficiently pronounced to start rattling a grill on certain bass notes yet not sufficient to be at all audible?

There's no contradiction here. It was a mechanical issue.

Whatever frequency rattled the grille could have been below the threshold of hearing or masked. I don't know.

Anecdotes are mysterious for this reason: some tweak solved a problem whose cause was undiagnosed, and therefore the solution can't be evaluated.

 

[MattHooper]

There's no contradiction here. It was a mechanical issue.

Whatever frequency rattled the grille could have been below the threshold of hearing or masked. I don't know.

Then it’s not inherently unreasonable that the more pronounced bass frequencies were accompanied by a change in tone (emphasized bass).

Anecdotes are mysterious for this reason: some tweak solved a problem whose cause was undiagnosed, and therefore the solution can't be evaluated.

I agree, as I mentioned, that my anecdote isn’t going to be particularly informative or solve anything for anybody reading it.
I was simply reporting it for anybody to take what they want from it, and mentioning it for why I personally became more convinced that the bass emphasis I seemed to be hearing wasn’t just my imagination. Nobody else needs to be convinced, of course.

I was mainly replying to your earlier a priori ruling out the audibility of the bass emphasis that produced the rattling.

 

[MattHooper]

You seem to be stuck with the notion that the speaker being poor. I can say that the speaker I tested (my own DIY) is built with constrained layer damping all around and has no problem with audible resonances of the enclosure. It is equally the surface where it is placed that can be poor (bench, desk…). Even the most inert enclosure must move due to woofer movement, even it is tiny. These tiny movements are transmitted to the surface and if you are unlucky, they may be amplified and cause rattling/distortion.

As it came out in my “ Spring be beneath my speakers” thread, even Kieth elected to use a spring based platform for a set of his speakers (which I think were on a desktop).
I’m not sure why he would bother unless there was a possibility of the speaker resonating the desktop or…was he perhaps using a “poor” speaker?

 

[Curvature]

Then it’s not inherently unreasonable that the more pronounced bass frequencies were accompanied by a change in tone (emphasized bass).

I don't think you understand. We can't know. You can't transfer your experience to us. If you had made measurements, we could have examined the situation together and you could have examined it yourself from the perspective of a third party.

One of the points of the scientific method is access to perspectives outside of one's own. This is why anecdotes are not useful. The value is not in what happened, it's in the investigation. It comes down to the reproducibility of experience, being able to make a specific event occur many times by arranging the circumstances correctly, making that experience consistent across many people, and decoupling, if you will, the experience from the person.

If you and others in this thread who tweaked their way out of vibrational problems don't investigate the event enough to be sure (remember, the goal is not to convince only yourself), then we are stuck at not being able to know. It's like a person who overdrives the inputs, causing clipping, and buys a new amplifier instead of turning down the gain. Perhaps that amp had lower gain by default, and the problem vanished. The solution was not found in some kind of unsaid qualities of either amp, but in a definable issue of the signal chain.

Vibration and sound are mathematically related. Vibration always has to be taken into account given that sound energy travels through all mediums. But we have known thresholds that this energy must meet to be audible or felt.

The only question is if expensive isolators, heavy platforms, special stands, and the rest of it are necessary. The data I've seen has convinced me that deliberate isolators beyond something very basic are not, leading me to doubt your stories of easily audible differences.

I've tried these tweaks at home. I've used foam pads to prevent desktop speakers from rattling stuff on my table. The rattling stopped, but the sound did not change.

I have seen attempts to measure differences. FR changes are commonly corrupted because of changes in speaker or mic position. Decay changes, if they even occur, are small and subject to masking or are difficult to assess because of room noise. Well, in the Isoacoustics article I posted and analyzed, we have laser interferometry in an anechoic chamber. I already posted my thoughts on what could be improved to make the experiment more comprehensive. It's a near ideal demonstration, by the creator of the product, that the product is unnecessary.