Boy, Oh Boy! Towshend!
Ideally what you want is a floating effect isolating the component. In addition, if you can also get some vibration transfer out of the boxes (everything except turntables) that is ideal. Floating doesn't work for me with my thin floor standing speakers, so I went with a multilayer platform that does an excellent job transferring vibration with some isolation, but not as much as podiums or roller blocks. The only product I've seen that does both are the Symposium roller blocks. They are a little more expensive that Townshend podiums, however for most weight applications, you only need 3 of them (3 points determine a plane for those who forgot geometry) and they become a little less expensive. Under my turntable where I don't need vibration transfer, the podiums work great, and I have them screwed into a seismic platform (sitting on top of a wall mounted shelf screwed into the wood studs). That makes it much easier to level and you don't have to worry about optimal podium placement. This platform however is solid powder coated steel without sublayers, so there is no vibration transfer which is ok since there is vibrating box. Power supply is separate. It adds a couple hundred to the price, but it is worth it to me. |
goose520 posts08-20-2021 12:27amI compared the gliders to the podiums and agree with millercarbonThat's good to hear, I'm looking forward to receiving my Podiums (waiting on shipment from UK). |
’That's good to hear, I'm looking forward to receiving my Podiums (waiting on shipment from UK).’ size 4? The beauty of the Townshend that it makes every one of your upgrades better. From a fuse to a power supply. The Podiums really should be the first upgrade people make. Unfortunately for me it was my most recent. But if I would have ever known the difference it would have been the Podiums before any dac, preamp etc. The Podiums allow you to really listen to every piece in the chain Would have been perfect to audition equipment with them in place you will have a big smile shortly after install. Money well spent. Not sure of the cost of your speakers but if the Podiums where 10% of their cost you are getting a hell of a return on your dollar. |
Hi all, I am very interested in the Podiums and I am about to order them. My only hesitation is the size. The base of the size 4 is matching exactly the depth of my speakers and is a bit wider ( so adding the pods area it looks like a good match) whereas the size 5 will give me more room under the speakers. in terms of weight both are ok ( my speakers are 320 lbs each…). I am more inclined to order the size 4 but what would be recommended ? Thanks Alex |
The difference is cosmetic/aesthetic so get whichever one you think will look the best. To my eyes as long as the Podium is at least as wide as the speaker then they have a balanced appearance. If you go up in size to the next bigger one it gets you nothing in performance just a different look. Because drivers are mostly on the front baffle this puts the center of gravity just a little bit forward. What this means is if you get a bigger Podium you will have a bit of room to put the speaker a bit farther back on the Podium. But again this is all for how it looks. They are so easily adjustable you will be able to easily balance perfectly either way. Anything like this I always call John Hannant at Townshend, he has always had great suggestions and has yet to steer me wrong. |
My Podiums arrived and I installed them last night. Interestingly one of the first things I noticed was the greater depth perspective and placement of performers/instruments in depth and in relation to each other. Probably the most important improvement is in tonal discrimination and clarifying of small details - you start to notice all manner of things in familiar music. These are preliminary impressions so far but hard to hear this as anything but an emphatic improvement. I posted some pictures in another thread elsewhere if any ATC owner is interested how they look - I'll add these to my Audiogon system in due course. |
Your speakers fit perfect!! The details as you mentioned. I have numerous hi Rez album rips that I thought where pretty quiet. Now surface noise and the pops and clicks are much more defined. Got to take the good with the bad. Check out Pat Metheny new album Side-Eye NYC. It’s live with some of the best percussion I have heard. |
moby2004- Yes you can adjust speaker position of the Podiums with the speakers on them. Just keep in mind each corner being on springs moves not only up and down but side to side. So after moving them be sure to check each corner to make sure they all still have clearance in every direction. I like to go corner to corner, give it a little nudge, and if it binds or rubs then adjust by pushing the base of the pod. Not the Podium, just the very bottom part. Being on tile you lucked out this is much easier than carpet. Tobes- That is by the way a good description of the sound. I have now heard these under 3 sets of speakers, all with similarly excellent results. The improvement with Brandon's Pendragon XL was like a whole system/room overhaul! When you talk about noticing new things in familiar music, for sure. It has been a while since I went through that with mine. When we set Brandon's up I heard the improvement but he is of course far more familiar with his room and music and was leaning forward mouth literally open gushing and finding it hard to believe how much more he was hearing. I was watching laughing, remembering what it was like for me. It really is hard to believe something like this can make so much difference. |
Hey @benzman - big Pat Metheny fan. How do you rate this album's content, not just SQ? I have so many of his albums that some of them are pretty similar to prior releases. For example, I have the From This Place recent album which I bought because I hadn't gotten anything new from him for a long time. It is a double album and it is solid for sure, but not much different from some of his other stuff and is not really distinguished like the White Album, American Garage, Offramp, Watercolors. Some other excellent ones, although great, I would not be able to tell you what album a given song came from - Still Life Talking, Letter From Home, Secret Story, Imaginary Day, We Live Here.....It could be that they were mostly only available on CD when I bought them, so they never get played on my stereo. Every time I buy an album where someone raves about SQ it seems like I am not big on the actual music. I am not trying to demo my stereo, just like listening to music. Of course excellent SQ is a big plus, but not the primary criteria, so your honest opinion is appreciated. |
I am a big fan of his older stuff. First Circle probably being my fave. The new album is a little more structured than recent stuff. Not crazy about the first tune but the rest is pretty nice. Does sound live, especially with the podiums. Live recordings with the podiums are really a treat. You can actually hear the audience layered in front of the performers. I was away from my system for four days and you really get a feel for how good things sound after a break. Only bad thing is I used to thing my Mercedes had decent sound system but not really exciting anymore with the addition of the new room and upgrades. |
I bought the Seismic Bars in 2015 when they first came out, I was unhappy with the supplied plinth that Tannoy provided with my speakers that I bought in 2014, the dealer that sold me the Tannoy speakers did not understand how or why the Townshend bars could be better than Tannoy’s own supplied plinth, so I invited him round to my home and we swapped between the two plinths/bars multiple times, he could not understand how much better the sound was, he fed this back to Tannoy, who probably ignored it :-( A few years later I was given the opportunity to try the Podium version, but I could not detect anything too much different in SQ between the podium ( more expensive ) and the bars ( cheaper) , so I kept the bars and am still very very happy with them :-) My floorstander speakers are Tannoy Precision 6.4’s and weigh 22kg, so my bars are Size 1, and they sit on a concrete ground floor in my lounge TV room that measures 6m x 6m My centre speaker - a Precision 6c sits on a strip of black sorbothane, and is only used for 5.1 movies, I thought about using some Size 2 bars under it, but I resisted because the centre speaker sits on top of a fairly substantial sideboard, that houses the amp and oppo player, so I convinced myself that it would not really help all that much ! My Tannoy speakers really punch well above their weight, and for what I paid for them, they sound twice as good as they probably should, all thanks to the Townshend bars. |
I have now bought some bars for my centre speaker, so cannot wait to re listen to all my Living Sound SACD's ( which are three channel masterpieces) - well most of them anyway, there are a few that are not my taste http://livingstereo.alongthehall.com/discography5.html fingers crossed it will be a nice treat with the darker winter evenings closing in !
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sorry audio guy but that's doing nothing you're still getting vibrations coming up through the floor into your speakers again until you isolate them properly you're still going to get some that's muddied up once you try to podiums you'll see the difference but if you don't have the money or you're too cheap just say so. |
Townshend and vibration control in general, and the Townshend seismic platform made a huge improvement for me under my turntable and I have treated my speakers with Symposium platforms because they are more stable since my speakers are tall and thin and I am paranoid that they would fall over if touched standing on top of the podiums or bars. Even put Symposium roller blocks under my amp and phono stage. Improvement not nearly as much as the turntable, which was a lot more than the speakers, but I think they still improved the amp and phono stage a bit. |
