Replacing the spikes in my Soundocity outriggers (Soundocity made me a set of outriggers with threaded holes) with the Isoacoustics Gaia 2 footers has improved the sound of my Merlin VSM speakers. They now sound more open and articulate than with any combination of Z-feet or other spikes, with or without outriggers, on the floor or on a platform, that I've tried. Like the Townshend products the Gaia footers completely decouple the speakers from the floor, allowing them to float. See:
we are putting them under our Kef Blades Persona 9H Legacy Focus Signatures Persona 3F and we bought a zillion sets of pucks to put under components.
The demo was amazing. We tried 3 pucks vs older style Stillpoints and the pucks seemed to me in a brief demo to outperfom the Stillpoints at a franction of the price.
I hope that more people in the industry will start to talk about this product.
The design is not just about isolation, but rather than to coordinate the speakers motion in one plane which is the back and forth axiss to the motion of the drivers is coordinated with any relative motion of the cabinet, which better couples the drivers wave launch into the room.
If you hear what we heard, you should be thrilled, I know of no other product at that price point which can make such a dramatic improvement in a system, as you can see, we are putting Gaia's on many of our most popular demo speakers.
I am expecting big things, especially with the Persona 9Hs I think they will also make the Legacy's even more remarkable sounding.
Please let us know your findings. We just got our first set of Gaias for the Persona 9H today, I will be assisting Dave install them tomorrow, if I can skip out of my office early.
How about a report regarding the pucks under various audio components? Which components offered the best bang for the buck? What improvements were heard? Thanks...
Which model would you recommend for Salk SoundScape 8 speakers? How defined are the weight ranges -- could I squeeze by on Gaia II with speakers at 126 lbs or would I need to pay double to get Gaia I?
Just ordered the Gaia 1 for my Focal Sopra 3s. Looking forward to them but wondering how hard its going to be to put them on. The speakers are pretty big and heavy
Finally, I received my special order of B&W 800D2's mounting plates. The installation of GAIA 1's was a breeze (actually fun). I was done under 45 minutes. And boy, the improvements were immediate....I am hearing better bass, wider soundstage and much much better focus. The speakers seems to have disappeared from the room.
I highly recommend GAIA's to anyone using OEM isolation feet. I just ordered two more sets of GAIA III for my rear 804D2 speakers.
Dear MMCELYEA, I'm part of the North American Focal home loudspeaker distributor team, as well as the IsoAcoustic Importer - so warning, lest anyone think I'm stepping in and trying to be the least bit commercial, I'll recuse myself now and ask everyone who's sensitive to these sorts of things to stop reading.
That out of the way; I do have direct experience installing Gaia 1's into Sopra 3's. Here are those installation experiences:
Place Sopra's in as close to the final location in your room as possible - the Sopra 3's with Gaia's, once installed, are harder to move around than before.
If you have carpets with even a low lvel of loft, use teh Gaia 1 spiked cups - these FIRMLY anchor the Gaia to the floor and deliver best sound by stabilizing and reducing horizontal motion induced by driver motion/air pressure
To remove the shipped spikes that ship with the Sopra #3 (Or #2), you'll need to take an allen key and unscrew the bottom rails about ten turns that attach the loudspeaker to the glass base plate - both sides front and rear, so the distance from the glass plate to the speaker cabinet increases — then you'll be able to fully unscrew the existing spike that comes with the speaker and screw in the Gaia. Once they are out, retighten the base to the cabinet - keep in mind the base is glass so don't over-torque the allen key as you could possibly crack the glass.
Something of importance I've not read so far in this blog, but hinted at by Audio Dr - these Gaia's are DIRECTIONAL — meaning you need to pay attention to the orientation of the feet relative to the orientation of the speakers cabinet. There's a notch cut into the stainless steel cup right above the IsoAcoustic name that either needs to point forward, or to the rear - do NOT orient this notch at a 90 degree right or left. Just facing forward, or backwards. Use the supplied knurled round thumb spacers to create rake angles if needed.
While IsoAcoustic does supply their Gaia range of stabilizers with set of four different threaded inserts, if your speakers require a different pitch or thread type, just call our office and ask to speak with Eric or Michael and we will send you a set that fits your speakers.
I also read a comment asking why we sell these in sets of four and not three. More speakers have sets of four holes in their bases/plinth than three. The question really is, why do we sell them in 4's and not 8's? If you have a subwoofer you don't need 8.
* WARNING — Subjectively speaking — I've been in the audio business since 1981. Rarely have I run across an accessory that so increases all the aspects of reproduced sound my system is capable of reproducing, than these feet. I have them on my speakers at home; I can't imagine not having them.
My finest regards - J.Bevier / Audio Plus Services
I read on the IsoAcoustic News page that they are making more thread sizes available to their dealer network. Does anyone know what thread sizes are available? I need 3/8" 16.
This is my first day (and night) listening to my system and speakers via the Isoacoustics Gaia IIIs. My speakers are extremely modest compared to the rest of my system since I've always been a "great speakers can't fix what's messed up in a previous component or interface" kinda person.
The Gaias took over from Herbie's screw-in glider feet (which are otherwise excellent, btw) on a very well constructed wooden floor.
I've been going through all my reference cuts (and yes, many are more sound-quality oriented than performance-quality oriented--I don't have the energy to list them here), especially those with challenging bass, spatial or other system challenges.
My results mirror those of the various magazine reviews you can find of the Gaias (e.g., Stereophile, Audiostream, HiFi+ and Audiopig), tighter, more extended bass, a larger and more clearly delineated sound stage, lowered noise floor, improved instrumental texture and better articulated edges (attack) of percussive instruments. I would venture to say that the Isoacoustic Gaia III's sonic impact is more along the lines of a component change rather than what might be characterized merely as a "tweak" and, believe me, this particular audiophool is fond of his tweaks!
These are incredible . Best 600 clams ever spent on audio . A isoacoustics rep at RMAF 2017 was saying new devices for components are coming . Anybody know when ? Or has anybody used the pucks on dacs , preamps , ect...
My concern is that the speakers are sitting on the stands without a secure coupling of the speaker to the stand. Will this limit the resonances from the speaker being transferred through the stand to the Gaia, thereby limiting their effect?
@valinar IMHO you should have your speakers settled onto the stands. By checking out the link below, you'll see a variety of reasonably priced products that could do that for you. http://herbiesaudiolab.net/spkrfeet.htm
Hifiman5 Thanjs for the response and link. However the Herbie products are represented as isolation devices. It is my understanding that the Gaias are designed to be the sole isolation for the speaker, advertised for use with tower speakers. I was hoping to reap the benefit of them using monitors on stands. It seems to me that as close to a coupling between speaker and stand as possible would be prerequisite to using the Gaias. For instance, I once had a pair of Dynaudio C1 speakers with their Stand 4 stands that bolted to the speaker, essentially making the speaker and stand one unit. After reading reviews of the Gaia 3’s I would like to try them if they would work. The alternative may be the Iso Pucks, using spikes for the bottom of stands. Thanks again hifiman5
Yep ctsooner, Musician's Friend (Guitar Center's online store) has them in stock. Everyone is selling the 2-pack for $59.99 (ten bucks off list). MF has a sale going on right now, 17% off your order---no minimum, with free shipping. That puts the IsoAcoustic Puck at $50/pr. Each can support 20lbs., so three is enough for many pieces. Buy three 2-packs for $150, enough for two components weighing up to 60lbs. apiece. Not a bad deal, assuming they work!
I just got my ten Isopucks two days ago . Just incredible ! Improvements are as others have experienced . I placed three under my macmini , two under my hard drive , Three under my digital amp , and two under my dac/pre . The imaging is clearer . Bass is improved especially at lower volumes . These things are a must use ! Now need to get a few more for my oppo 105 . Question , Do these improve video quality ? I have my video projector on a table .
Thanks for the heads up on the sale bdp24 . I bought 4 more pairs of the isopucks just now from Musicians Friend. Two are on back order (annoying) as they stated "in stock" . Hope it is not a long wait for them.
I must start out by stating that I'm usually quite skeptical when reading how products such as these Isoacoustic isolators deliver such amazing results. So it was with little expectation that I purchased two sets of Gaia I speakers footers, figuring I'd return them if I wasn't happy. Suffice it to say they aren't leaving my room! I was quite shocked at how much they cleaned up the sound of what I thought was a very clean sounding system. The quieter background allows more details to emerge, more texture, more shimmer and air and a cleaner, tighter bass. If I didn't already have my components on Mapleshade brass footers and 4" thick maple platforms I'd be ordering the isopucks.....I still might order a set to try.
Thanks to everyone for sharing your experiences with these products and I apologize for doubting just how much they can improve the sound of a system.
Maplegrovmusic, I ordered 4 Iso-pucks to try under my cd transport. I can only hope they bring about anything close to what the Gaia I's did. I'll find out Friday.
HRS make the best isolation gear I've ever heard. I haven't heard this Companies gear but was told the it's kind of close to HRS for much less. I would think your couplers are awesome.
I am demoing a set of GAIA IIs under my PSB Synchrony One towers (Krell KAV 250 preamp, Bryston 9bSST amp). I did a back and forth with the stock rubber feet and the GAIAs. I do hear an improved difference in the music. It sounds bigger, not as muddled on the low end. I don't know what "sound stage" is. I can say the sound feels like it fills the room better, and is much more dynamic. I will end up ordering a set of IIIs (the right size for my speakers) when I can.
I highly recommend going with the GAIA I. You are at the limit of the IIs and I found that being at the limit of the IIs wasn't good. You will also get better stability with the larger diameter Is.
I concur with David, You really need the ones with those speakers,it will make a difference and you will get the best from the product.
Yes I know they are expensive but the sound increases you will achieve are priceless in my opinion and some folks continue to upgrade their systems with cables and components,when they just simply Ignore speaker isolation.
Go to the last few pages and you will see that it's a DAC thread, but he's in the middle of the rack/footer/platform shootout. It's an incredible thread that may interest you if you haven't seen it yet, but you will like the footer part of the thread.
I wish the dealer would not chime in. Everything is great. What % is the sound better. If you can answer that. It would be nice. I have VSM-BM concerns are with bass Also ? I kind of want 2 sets. Thank you
Guys, you can't put a % on anything in audio as it's so subjective. Every system is so different with a product like this, because your vibration situation is totally different if that makes sense. If you can afford the Gia or the HRS Nimbus, you probably are going to upgrade your system. He liked the HRS Nimbus over the Gia, but I think they cost more. You are the only one who can say if the extra is worth it.
Often times I see folks purchasing these 'upgrades' as they tune their systems. On occasion, if they took that extra money and made a component upgrade that they could have afforded, they would have been much better off.
I have what I (and many others) feel is a highly resolving system that I feel is true high end. It's not the most expensive, but most of my components are the sweet spot in the manufacture's lines that I have put together. I have been blessed to get the top Audioquest WEL balanced interconnect and I have some other top cables, some footers and a top power cord.
To me cables and footers are still the lowest thing on the totem pole. The way I think, they should never be used as 'tone' controls as so many try to use them as (if the sound is altered, then your not happy with what you have and you can't make it sound better wiht band aids (JMHO).
If your system is at the point that you love what you hear and you won't be upgrading components anytime soon, then cords, connects and footers are a perfect way to get the most out of your gear. NO doubt at all. I know Richard Vandersteen's new amps at 15k a pair for mono's (on my short list as a next amp along with a couple of others) have the HRS footers built in. I know a lot of designers who LOVE after market footers and use them themselves. If you aren't going to go out and get a few adn listen for yourself, you are probably best getting an HRS Nimbus if you can afford them, but the Gia's are probably a great value in most systems.
Hope this didn't come off as mean or anything. I'm in the hospital for rehab for a couple of weeks due to surgery last week. Hard for me to focus much (this post has taken me a while to type), but I think I got my thought out.
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