Should I get GAIA feet for my LS50 Metas to minimize noise transmission?

[curiouspeter]

We have downstairs neighbors but no one ever complained. However, I want to minimize vibration just in case. Currently, the speakers are on the matching S2 stands on spikes and discs. We have engineered wood floors with sound-absorbing underlayment.

Should I get some GAIA feet to improve isolation? Or should I just get rubber feet? Or should I just stay with the spikes?

I am happy with the sound quality now but I also do not mind some improvements. Will I have to run room correction again after new feet?

It is not always easy to get a hold of neighbors in our building because there are a lot of part-time residents.

 

[Hipper]

I'm not sure that transmission of sound through your speaker feet is the biggest cause of any sound travelling through the floor.

Trying to stop sound going to your neighbours - up, down or side ways - is difficult as sound travels through buildings of unknown structure in strange ways. My best idea is if you lower the overall sound that you blast out from the speakers, that should help. I've achieved this in three ways, mostly unintentionally as I was just doing it to get better sound.

1. Reduce ambient sound - noise in the room and noise coming into the room from outside - traffic for example. You can then lower the volume.
2. I use lots of bass traps. This absorbs the biggest enemy - bass volume and particularly boomy bass (this is where in a typical listening room, some bass frequencies play louder then others. Bass traps help manage this - so do subwoofers and DSP/EQ).
3. Have the speakers closer to your listening position so the volume doesn't need to be so loud. I use this version of The Thirds:

http://www.barrydiamentaudio.com/monitoring.htm

If you still think it's necessary to try and isolate your speakers there are a range of items you can place under them, from feet, springy objects and sheet type material. A lot of them are quite expensive:

https://www.gcaudio.com/tips-tricks/a-brief-survey-of-isolation-devices/

You could also try this cheap bicycle tyre method - see third 'chapter' called 'Roll Your Own':

http://www.barrydiamentaudio.com/vibration.htm

On this site we like to see measurements to justify claims by manufacturers. Most manufacturers do not offer these. They just make claims like

delivers unbelievable acoustic isolation that will bring out clarity and openness from your speaker like you’ve never heard.

The sound stage blossoms to open up a three-dimensional image of natural, spatial sound.

which I found on the Iso acoustics site. This ticks a lot of boxes but is it true? There are no measurements that I can find to justify these claims.

If you insist on these feet I suggest you ask to trial them and try and also get a friend to listen in. It's going to be hard to compare properly because of the difficulty of setting them up but if you are honest with yourself you could do it.

Search for GAIA on this site. Here's one example:

https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/gaia-isolation-anything-in-this.37602/

I appreciate about the part-time neighbours but the only way to really know if they can hear your music is to listen in their property. Some people will appreciate your consideration. And some might not of course!

 

[fpitas]

Honestly, even if you want to try absorptive feet (and that might work), there are far cheaper solutions. Large rubber or polyurethane feet are available from industrial supply houses at a much more reasonable price.

 

[curiouspeter]

1. Reduce ambient sound - noise in the room and noise coming into the room from outside - traffic for example. You can then lower the volume.
2. I use lots of bass traps. This absorbs the biggest enemy - bass volume and particularly boomy bass (this is where in a typical listening room, some bass frequencies play louder then others. Bass traps help manage this - so do subwoofers and DSP/EQ).
3. Have the speakers closer to your listening position so the volume doesn't need to be so loud. I use this version of The Thirds:

I am not as concerned about airborne noise as we have concrete floors. I doubt anything above 40 Hz will get through. The LS50s do not get loud at lower frequencies. I normally listen at 60 dB (average) or below anyway.

I am more worried about mechanical transmissions. I can occasionally hear impact noise (e.g. construction) from other units. A neighbor also said she could hear the garbage disposal from the upstairs unit (not us).

 

[NTK]

There is no need to over-spend on vibration isolation feet. Simple viscoelastic elastomer pads will work just as well or better.

You can find a wide variety of selection from Isolate It!.

Isolate It! | Vibration Isolating and Damping Products | Sorbothane

Isolate It! Products for vibration isolation and damping. We carry the total line of Sorbothane vibration damping products along with an expansive line of our proprietary vibration dampers.

www.isolateit.com

Speaker Decoupling

What is the correct product to decouple (Or isolate) my speakers? Isolate IT! Sorbothane Hemispheres are specially designed to help decouple your speakers and allow your speakers to perform to their full potential.

www.isolateit.com

These Sorbothane isolators are used for vibration isolation in serious industrial/scientific applications such as in optical benches, whereas Isoacoustic mounts are spikes aren't. The rubber pads do have a tendency of leaving residues and/or sticking to the surfaces. So you may want to protect your surfaces with a non-slippery film or thin sheet.

 

[Todd k]

SVS makes very affordable sub/speaker isolation feet. They do a great job of eliminating floor vibration. I have them on my 2 15” monolith subs. I have the gaia footers on my revel salons. The SVS are a fraction of the cost of the gaia.