Um..lots of money to listen to music huh...
Anybody have both Herbie's Cone/Spike Pucks and isoacoustics gaia's
My Spatial Audio X5's sit on pieces of granite which sit on top of carpeting with a concrete floor under all of it. Am very happy with the performance I'm getting now but was thinking of getting some isoacoustic gaia's for my speakers because of all the positive feedback. Never heard of Herbie's audio products before I started in on my research of isoacoustics. I'm wondering if there spike pucks do the same thing as the gaia's do? There pricing is attractive. So I was hoping to hear from someone who may have had both and could give me there feedback.
Thanks,
Steve
Thanks,
Steve
34 responses Add your response
@nyaudio98 , Gee, thanks for posting. NOT. If you can't answer a question without snarkiness, perhaps you should keep it to yourself. There many posters who don't have the knowledge that members, such as yourself, have. @OP, Using granite underneath speakers is promoted by Richard Vandersteen. If you can put spikes under the granite, so that it connects with the concrete floor, I think you would be in the pink. Isoacoustics and Herbie's are good products, but I think your money is better spent on other products. Especially as you have a pretty good solution already. Bob |
Whether you try the Gaia footers or Herbie’s products (Giant Fat Gliders or Giant Threaded Stud Gliders), I would try them directly on the carpet. The Herbie’s stuff comes with a 60-day trial period. Check our Herbie’s website. Like the previous poster Ray, my speakers are supported on springs and IMO they work and sound very good, inexpensive too. |
Townshend formerly used air-platforms as a method of isolating equipment and speakers from vibrations (i.e., Townshend
Seismic Sink) and have since switched to using pre-compressed, damped, springs in the form of the Townshend Seismic Isolation Pods, which serve the basis of their current line-up of isolation products for electronics, stands, and speakers, such as the
http://www.townshendaudio.com/hi-fi-home-cinema-equipment-vibration-isolation/hi-fi-home-cinema-equipment-vibration-isolation-platform/ https://positive-feedback.com/Issue75/townshend_pods.htm Some of us are using free-standing, damped springs, which are not as elegant a solution as the Townshend Pods but when properly sized and implemented may offer the same level of performance, or close to it, for much less money. |
@mitch2 . +1 I own Townshend products, too. I would have mentioned it, but they are considerably more expensive than Herbies and Isoacoustics, so I didn't think they would be something the OP would consider as the two aforementioned companies are geared for budget minded consumers. That being said, I think Townshend products are not only very well made, but do a great job of isolating equipment from external vibration. I put a platform under my preamp, and immediately noticed a marked difference in sound quality- much clearer/more detail. I got mine from a dealer on Ebay. He had great prices and shipped fast. PM me if you are interested in learning more. Bob |
Just try out the Gaias. I got my Oreas from musicdirect.com and tried different ones to see which gave the best results. The ones that didn't, I sent back for a full refund, minus the cost of shipping them back. No biggie. Knowing the weight of your speakers will narrow down the size of the Gaia footers. I'd go for ones that support 40-75% of the weight needed, and not just one that makes it by 10%. I learned the hard way as it makes a big difference. All the best, Nonoise |
@bdp24 , Thanks, that was the seller I bought my stuff from, too. @OP, I would check out the Townshend website to see all their products, then contact Select Hifi. I am using some platforms that I bought for my speakers, but the outrigger feet made them unusable (space consideration). John said I could use them under my preamp. I did, and was pleasantly surprised by the improvement in sound quality. You just have to make sure to buy the proper model, as they are based upon the weight of the equipment. B |
I used these for my moabs. Look on my page ,I need 6 feet to suspend a 150lb speaker. They work awesome. Link to feet. https://www.amazon.com/Nobsound-Aluminum-Speakers-Isolation-Amplifiers/dp/B07K9ZYP84/ref=sr_1_2?dchi... here’s a link to the outriggers. I think I spent about $90 per speaker. Best money for a tweet ever. https://www.amazon.com/Dayton-Audio-Outrigger-Speaker-Spike/dp/B07WFJDZGR/ref=sr_1_2?dchild=1&ke... |
@gdnrbob: What I did was get sets of the Pods and install them on the stands Sound Anchors makes for the Eminent Technology LFT-8b loudspeakers. The stand comes with 3 spikes, and the Pods can very easily be used in their place. The threading on the top of the Pod and in the bottom of the SA stand are different, so I located some adaptors that had the required threading on each end (ironically, provided with the IsoAcoustics GAIA’s ;-) . Owners of loudspeakers with outrigger bases can do the same, and save some $. A set of Pods is considerably cheaper than the Townshend Podium. All models of the Pod (each model for a specific weight range) are the same price, unlike the GAIA 1, 2, and 3. A set of 4 Pods is less than a set of the GAIA 2, and far less than the GAIA 1. |
I just purchased the IsoAcoustics Gaia II’s and carpet spikes for my setup. Got them installed and they are a very nice product and well built. I just couldn’t stand how big they were (I don’t need to see them) plus they raised my speakers 2” higher at their lowest adjustment. They worked well and seemed keep resonances down a lot. I actually have a couple of songs that I play at a certain level for sampling and once installed they made me want to crank it up about 2-3dB. While I had those I ordered the Herbie’s spike/sliders (regular size & titanium) which just arrived today so I removed the Gaia’s and put the OEM spikes back in and put the herbie sliders underneath each spike. Played my normal sample songs and was amazed at how these simple looking little pucks made the music come alive. I think the IsoAcoustics are nice but they seemed to kill the lively-ness of the room. Some people may like that and may work better but these pucks are staying in my system. I was skeptical of both products on whether either would help isolate my speakers and stands from a second floor wood subfloor with carpet. They both did but the pucks worked better for me. When you see them you think there’s not much to them but once in your head it’s kind of like they’re like little air pockets or shocks. They are keepers! |
Feedback on this, Jerry Ramsey at Audio Magic has been developing novel products from innovative technologies for many years. Whether liquid conductor cables, or products ranging from Audio Fuses to Black Out Paint for circuit boards based on EMI/RFI absorbing materials, these products have been both successful, and to some extent, head-scratchers. True to form, Jerry's latest creations, called CE Generators ("Clean Energy Generators" - $150 ea. or $399/3) are difficult to understand, but boy do they work. |
I will chime in only because I used the following before getting the Townshend seismic podiums. My room is on the second floor carpet over suspended wood floor. I used the following: 1) Herbies gliders, 2) Spikes through carpet to wood sub floor 3) No spikes 4) Flagstone platforms with spikes and sitting on the carpet. The Townshend was the only solution that firmed up the bass, decrease a bass node I was having, brought a larger soundstage and depth and helped place the instruments more accurately in the soundstage. I bought them on e-bay direct. |
@sjsfiveo, I have the same thing: concrete floors -> carpet ->granite slab ->speakers. Had Herbies footers for many many years. But the Gaias play on a different level - at least in my system. In my case they sightened the bass, improved the "naturalness" to the sound and made the sound stage wider. But also remember that there are others on this forum for whom the Gaias did not work per their expectation. I love Herbies products and use them under my preamp, cd player and power conditioner. Also have Herbie's tube dampers. |
Perhaps it has to do with the speakers that are being tested with these products. I have the Herbie sliders I use them under all of my spikes, including component stands. They allow me to move the stands when needed. And, I did have them under my speaker spikes until I purchased the Focal Sopra 2’s. The Gaia 1’s under these speakers way outperformed the Herbie sliders. The soundstage widened, deepened, bass tightened etc, etc, I also have the carpet spikes under the Gaia’s. ozzy |
I tried the Gaia 1's under my ATC SCM100aslt's about a year ago. Unfortunately I didn't find them an improvement over the basic furniture felt sliders I was using previously. I returned them. Yesterday I installed some Herbies giant stud gliders (fat dots with gliders and screw in studs attached). From first listen it was obvious the Herbies footers were an emphatic improvement. The whole soundfield has more clarity and floats more free of the speakers which disappear more as sound sources. Positioning of instruments in depth is better defined. The tone and texture of voices/instruments and particularly transients are clearer and more realistic. There's more delicacy and decay to sounds. It's like a layer of intermodulation distortion has been removed. Unlike the Gaia's they allow easy movement/repositioning of the heavy SCM100 towers and only raise the speakers 20mm. They are also inconspicuous, which I like. |
@sjsfiveo , I concur with the previous post. The new Townshend platforms have 'outrigger' feet, so they should support top heavy speakers without issue. I suspect using other Townshend products will yield similar results, but unless you are sure your loudspeaker won't tip over using -say the Pods or Bars-I'd be on the cautious side. Hey, why take my word on it. Contact Townshend directly and get their take on it. If you would like the name of someone to contact, PM me. Bob |
I bought some Herbie’s gliders a few years back as I was setting up a system in a third floor apartment and wanted to minimise impact on the flat below, I was using some Thiels at the time and laid them on their sides to fit the outriggers at the same time, though I’d used the outriggers in their last home. The result was a very harsh sound, particularly on piano. The apartment was a second home so after a week, by which time the harshness seemed to have diminished a bit I shut the system down and returned to my main home, not returning for nearly a year. When I did return and fired the system up the harshness was gone. I’d always put this down to the Herbie's needing to settle in from new. They do make positioning the speakers very easy. |
Burn-in for gliders, sheesh! Hard to believe but I guess I've experienced weird stuff in this hobby before. I've read a LOT of good things about Herbie's gliders at this point. More people seem to be raving about them than Isoacoustics. Maybe simply because Herbie's are half the price so more people have them. Thinking about going for Herbie's (titanium). |