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

i like your way of thinking. i actually machine scissor jacks for fluid pumps

I started off using those small hand pump jacks - just use expanding air - I think from Home Depot. They just took too long and were too arduous. The metal hand jacks allowed me to set the heights I wanted, and worked really fast.
 
It is my understanding that the purpose of measuring a speaker's response at 1M is to minimize the room effects and achieve a quasi-anechoic measurement. Is that not so?
Room acoustic effects and noise from mechanical coupling are different things.

Still, when measuring at 1 m, you will see significant room acoustic effects. So the point I think doesn't quite hold.

But like I wrote before, measuring at the listening position (likely further than 1 meter) is most appropriate.
 
Thanks for the interesting report.

When I was looking to my turntable from floorboard vibration - my equipment rack would ache like a bugger with any footsteps on the floor - I tested all sorts of materials.
The best I could manage was using “ vibrometer” Apps on my phone and iPad, which would show differences in vibration transfer.

The isopucks made some difference, but not a lot. As I mentioned earlier, spring based footers made a way bigger difference. They essentially killed vibration transfer dead.

Which is why out of curiosity, I ended up, trying some under my loudspeakers which sit on sprung wood floors in my listening room.
When I played music at approaching loud, and especially if there was bass, standing near the speakers I could feel the floor vibrating, and I could also feel the Ottoman on which I would place my legs vibrating as well.

When I put the Springs under the speaker, there was no vibration on the floor, and I didn’t feel that vibration on the Ottoman.

It all seemed to clean up the bass quality, and the sound generally speaking, but it also felt a bit odd, like I didn’t “ feel” the sound as much anymore. Kind of like what I get from electrostatics versus a good old box speaker.

I ended up buying some isoacoustic Gaia footers to get a sort of in between effect - they seemed to isolate enough to tighten bass and clean up the sound a bit, but still coupled enough so they didn’t totally lose that “ room feel” and impact.

I also also tried all sorts of layers of different materials as a platform beneath the speakers - some where commercial offerings used in some studios, which to me didn’t help the sound at all. (in most comparisons, I was being careful to keep the height of the speakers constant. )

I tried MDF, combined with different layers in between or on different spikes or footers. I ended up… for looks and simply to raise the speakers even higher as much as anything… building a thick granite base, with car sound damping in between the granite slabs, and that slab placed on short wide spikes into the floor. I think that was an exercise mostly in moving resonances around, not in getting rid of resonances. But the end result For me was just about perfect in terms of bass quality and tonality of the speaker, as well as raising the soundstage.

Here’s what I ended up with;

View attachment 413734

Thank you very much for sharing. Photo helps understand much easier. May I ask what those pucks are sitting between speaker outrigger spike and granite plate? Are they spring loaded feet that you mentioned earlier or something else? Thank you
 
Thank you very much for sharing. Photo helps understand much easier. May I ask what those pucks are sitting between speaker outrigger spike and granite plate? Are they spring loaded feet that you mentioned earlier or something else? Thank you

No, they are not the spring footers.

What you see in the photo are: barely visible under the back of the speakers are is acoustic Gaia 2s.

At the front of the speaker there is an outrigger with speaker spikes, which are spiked into a hockey puck that is sitting on the granite base.

I went with the hockey puck and speakers spikes for the front of the speaker because I couldn’t actually detach the supply spikes from that outrigger in order to put on the Isoacoustic footers on the front.

The other thing is that the combination of adjustable spike and the hockey puck allowed me to angle the speaker just right to get the proper response from the tweeter and midrange (which is heard best from an angle just below the tweeter).

I had a bunch of hockey pucks left over because I had tried hockey pucks beneath the speakers, combined with spikes and all sorts of stuff. frankly, the hockey pucks combined with spikes were one of the of the best solutions I ”heard” in my experiments.

FWIW: here are the spring footers I tried first under my speakers because they were very cheap:


They stopped vibration quite a bit to the floor. However due to possibly a combination of their vibration cancelling effect, and also raising the speaker, I found the tonality of my speaker more than I wanted (too lightweight in tone).

I next tried some more expensive, more dedicated commercial product.
These speaker isolation bars:


The idea with those bars is that the springs are selected for the weight of the particular speaker, and are also dampened with a rubber casing. As well, the speaker bars are angled so that your speakers are not raised up from the floor, so you’re not going to risk the change in tonality from raising speakers - just get the effects of isolation.

They seemed to work as advertised when I tried them. They pronounced isolation effect in terms of the speaker floor interface. But less change in tone. But it turned out as I mentioned that I preferred a bit more coupling to the floor as sort of in between solution, which is what I achieved.
 
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No, they are not the spring footers.

What you see in the photo are: barely visible under the back of the speakers are is acoustic Gaia 2s.

At the front of the speaker there is an outrigger with speaker spikes, which are spiked into a hockey puck that is sitting on the granite base.

I went with the hockey puck and speakers spikes for the front of the speaker because I couldn’t actually detach the supply spikes from that outrigger in order to put on the Isoacoustic footers on the front.

The other thing is that the combination of adjustable spike and the hockey puck allowed me to angle the speaker just right to get the proper response from the tweeter and midrange (which is heard best from an angle just below the tweeter).

I had a bunch of hockey pucks left over because I had tried hockey pucks beneath the speakers, combined with spikes and all sorts of stuff. frankly, the hockey pucks combined with spikes were one of the of the best solutions I ”heard” in my experiments.

FWIW: here are the spring footers I tried first under my speakers because they were very cheap:


They stopped vibration quite a bit to the floor. However due to possibly a combination of their vibration cancelling effect, and also raising the speaker, I found the tonality of my speaker more than I wanted (too lightweight in tone).

I next tried some more expensive, more dedicated commercial product.
These speaker isolation bars:


The idea with those bars is that the springs are selected for the weight of the particular speaker, and are also dampened with a rubber casing. As well, the speaker bars are angled so that your speakers are not raised up from the floor, so you’re not going to risk the change in tonality from raising speakers - just get the effects of isolation.

They seemed to work as advertised when I tried them. They pronounced isolation effect in terms of the speaker floor interface. But less change in tone. But it turned out as I mentioned that I preferred a bit more coupling to the floor as sort of in between solution, which is what I achieved.

Thank you so much for sharing detailed info, Matt.
 
Here you are

This one is with the pucks:

And this is without the pucks:

Not sure if any difference can be heard through the recording but I do hear it with my ears (even from the other end of the room)

Sorry, but you would need to put a microphone at fixed distance 1.5-2 meter from the loudspeaker and record the sweep at a rather moderate to high volume, with and without the isolators. I extracted the sound files from the videos but they are are not really useful for analysis.
 
No, they are not the spring footers.

What you see in the photo are: barely visible under the back of the speakers are is acoustic Gaia 2s.

At the front of the speaker there is an outrigger with speaker spikes, which are spiked into a hockey puck that is sitting on the granite base.

I went with the hockey puck and speakers spikes for the front of the speaker because I couldn’t actually detach the supply spikes from that outrigger in order to put on the Isoacoustic footers on the front.

The other thing is that the combination of adjustable spike and the hockey puck allowed me to angle the speaker just right to get the proper response from the tweeter and midrange (which is heard best from an angle just below the tweeter).

I had a bunch of hockey pucks left over because I had tried hockey pucks beneath the speakers, combined with spikes and all sorts of stuff. frankly, the hockey pucks combined with spikes were one of the of the best solutions I ”heard” in my experiments.

FWIW: here are the spring footers I tried first under my speakers because they were very cheap:


They stopped vibration quite a bit to the floor. However due to possibly a combination of their vibration cancelling effect, and also raising the speaker, I found the tonality of my speaker more than I wanted (too lightweight in tone).

I next tried some more expensive, more dedicated commercial product.
These speaker isolation bars:


The idea with those bars is that the springs are selected for the weight of the particular speaker, and are also dampened with a rubber casing. As well, the speaker bars are angled so that your speakers are not raised up from the floor, so you’re not going to risk the change in tonality from raising speakers - just get the effects of isolation.

They seemed to work as advertised when I tried them. They pronounced isolation effect in terms of the speaker floor interface. But less change in tone. But it turned out as I mentioned that I preferred a bit more coupling to the floor as sort of in between solution, which is what I achieved.
you can use a cloroprene pad and get as good or better results i would add. seismic means its secured from vibration. you need to screw the speaker to the seismic device, then screw the seismic device to the ground for it to be a seismic isolator
 
the really soft sorbothane material is a chemically altered neoprene, and its "okay". beleive it or not engineered high quality neoprene is actually better at vibration isolation. sorbothane is a similar makeup to wesuit neoprene. engineered neoprene is not the same as wetsuit neoprene. but sorbo is very similar to wetsuit neprene type material.

I wish more engineering data was available on the topic of speaker isolation, as that's what I actually care about.

I was trained as a physicists and have spent almost my entire adult life working as a software developer. If I could find a good source of engineering data i think it would be an interesting project, to make a spreadsheet or webpage that allowed people calculate what materials and shapes they can use to isolate their speakers.
 
I use an isoAcoustics Delos platform under my Technics SL-1200G turntable and I find it makes an audible improvement to the sound. Of course a turntable is a mechanical device and, just like shock absorbers affect how a car rides, isolation could make a difference in a turntable. I have not found that they help ampa, preamps, DACs, etc. (based on my hearing). However, after spending a number of years as a card-carrying audiophile, I have a collection of such devices, and I use them. What the heck, can't hurt, right!
TT's are highly vibration-sensitive devices, so isolators could definitely help with them. Preamps with microphonic vacuum tubes in them might also benefit.
 
I wish more engineering data was available on the topic of speaker isolation, as that's what I actually care about.

I was trained as a physicists and have spent almost my entire adult life working as a software developer. If I could find a good source of engineering data i think it would be an interesting project, to make a spreadsheet or webpage that allowed people calculate what materials and shapes they can use to isolate their speakers.
i just go along with analytics devices and they are more sensitive i think than audio devices. the type of isolation methods there directly apply to audio. there alot of information about vibration reduction in those fields.
 
i just go along with analytics devices and they are more sensitive i think than audio devices. the type of isolation methods there directly apply to audio. there alot of information about vibration reduction in those fields.

I've not really seen much with regards to audio, at least not enough that's i could write anything to compare materials with. I've never been super keen on sorbothane, neoprene, and similar materials because they have all been known to leach plasticiser over time.
 
I've not really seen much with regards to audio, at least not enough that's i could write anything to compare materials with. I've never been super keen on sorbothane, neoprene, and similar materials because they have all been known to leach plasticiser over time.
if you want i can send you random shit to try i just need to know weights of items really. i like duplex effect
 
I'm looking to reduce the vibration in my 1st floor room (2nd floor for the americans) caused by my subwoofer. If my feet are on the floor the bass sounds more boomy, but if I hold my legs up off the floor it's much better...

Are these isoacoustic stands good at removing the vibration in the floor, or should I look into Sorbothane?
 
I wish more engineering data was available on the topic of speaker isolation, as that's what I actually care about.

I was trained as a physicists and have spent almost my entire adult life working as a software developer. If I could find a good source of engineering data i think it would be an interesting project, to make a spreadsheet or webpage that allowed people calculate what materials and shapes they can use to isolate their speakers.
Gary Koh of Genesis Speakers posted this a while ago: Understanding Loudspeaker Coupling/Decoupling
 
I have this stuff under my TT and my external HD, it dampens vibrations and sound from the HD quite well, so it should (at least in theory) do the same for the TT, whether it has any audible effect, for the audio, who knows.

View attachment 413653
With a turntable, that makes a lot of sense, since the padding could prevent vibration from the speakers from exciting the turntable, creating a positive feedback loop that could cause runaway acoustic mayhem. It could also be useful for vacuum tube equipment that may have microphonic tubes in it. I don't see it working all that well for solid state equipment like streamers or power amplifiers, since those are pretty immune to vibrational feedback.
 
Maybe we need footers that don’t cause water bottles to shake on top of a speaker, like the ones demonstrated by Jay here:


Only 12 grand!
 
Maybe we need footers that don’t cause water bottles to shake on top of a speaker, like the ones demonstrated by Jay here:


Only 12 grand!
Maybe he is on a wood frame floor with deviation and with the footers it dampens the vibration from the floor structure? Either way I don't see this being a noticeable improvement at all. This reminds me of in the 80s where bracing the back of the speaker against the wall was said to tighten the bass.
 
If one want to buy isolators for speakers that are weight-adapted, the Sylomer pads from Sonic Design acosts around €30 for a set of 8. It might seem a bit expensive for what it is but far more cheap than the esoteric dampers. No need to buy those expensive isolators, just waste of money, IMO
 
I'm looking to reduce the vibration in my 1st floor room (2nd floor for the americans) caused by my subwoofer. If my feet are on the floor the bass sounds more boomy, but if I hold my legs up off the floor it's much better...

Are these isoacoustic stands good at removing the vibration in the floor, or should I look into Sorbothane?
Try the rubber feet designed to go under washing machines. Can be had for £5 for a pack of four.

Maybe it won't work in your situation but no real money lost if it doesn't. I find them quite effective.
 
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