Subwoofer Footing - Connect or Isolate?

a newer vibration management theorem known as high-speed resonance transfer.

Word salad. But go ahead. Splain it to me.

My subs went from BDR Cones to Nobsound spring to Townshend Pods. The last was a big jump with 5 subs but the difference was a surprise. Instead of the obvious improvement in bass that was expected the difference was immediately apparent even in music that seemed to have no real powerful low bass. The whole room opened up becoming larger, the speakers disappeared even more and the sound stage became even more enveloping. I think this is because when really low bass is done right you don't hear it so much as feel it, and this feeling is expressed in the sensation of being in a larger space. I know that sounds crazy but talking to others who have done Townshend under subs that is what they hear as well. I haven't touched the level on the subs yet at times it feels like they are turned down, until something happens and I realize no there is at least as much bass as before only cleaner now. So yeah you are missing something. Pods are cheaper than bars, I would try Pods if you can.

I can save you the trouble, REL will tell you their product is so perfect nothing can possibly ever be better, except their next one. 🤣 That is not a knock on REL. That is what they all say. No amp maker will ever tell you their amp needs a power cord or a fuse and no speaker maker will tell you to use a Podium, and caps? Forgetaboutit!🤣🤣

With that sub you will probably only need 3-4 springs per footer. This will leave you with 12-16 springs left over, enough to make another set of footers to use under another component. You can make additional footers from MDF, acrylic or wood. Drill some 1/4" divots the way Nobsound does to hold the springs.

The improvement from under the sub will be okay, not nearly as much as Townshend Pods but at least as good as other stuff mentioned. Combined with using the extra set under a CDP or whatever you will find hard to beat for $30.   

You do not by the way have to put them under the existing factory feet. They can be used just inboard of that, and with a spacer can wind up with almost exactly the same height above the floor as now.

Have any of you guys who are so sure about springs actually tried them?

Again, note the difference between those who have done and those who talk as if they have done. Would be nice if all the people repeating nonsense about springs would include a statement to the effect they do not really know what they are talking about, because they have not tried. 

Have you actually tried them? Because everything you are saying is proven wrong the minute you actually try them. None of what you are saying actually happens. So have you actually tried? Or is it all blather?

Knowing how to build subwoofers is of course a completely different subject.

oldhvymec is right. Springs are of course the best thing to put your speakers on. All speakers, sub or otherwise.

Yes the springs do need to be matched or tuned to the load. Duh. Too soft and the spring will fully compress and cease to be a spring. Too stiff and it will not compress at all and once again cease to be a spring.

In between these two extremes, where the spring is matched to the load so that it compresses about half way under load, this is where the load becomes an independently suspended mass.

This is a range, just as it is a range for cars. People with actual experience tuning suspensions will know the idea the spring being a function of the cars weight are nuts. They will have a hard time explaining why a 1200 lb F1 car uses springs 5X as stiff as a 4000lb sedan.

In cars or audio tuning matters. Read mahgister, he has tuned his by adjusting the weight and noticed a change with as little as 1/4 lb.

Another factor is damping. Fine tuning weight matters a lot more with undamped springs because the adjustment is really resonance tuning. Damping controls resonance making this sort of tuning much less important. It still matters, but damped springs like Pods have a very wide range of outstanding performance compared to ordinary springs.

The moving mass of even a large woofer cone and coil is only some tens of grams. The mass of all the rest of the sub is some 30 to 40 kg or roughly ten thousand times as much. For sure some acoustic energy is lost on springs. For sure if you know Newton, f=ma, it is infinitesimally small.

Again, note the difference between those who have done and those who talk as if they have done. Would be nice if all the people repeating nonsense about springs would include a statement to the effect they do not really know what they are talking about, because they have not tried.

Go and try it. Then get back to us.

The reason Matt says "tend" is because he doesn't know. If he did know then instead of pasting ad copy he would say springs and decoupling "are" better. Because he would know. From experience. https://systems.audiogon.com/systems/8367 Five subs. They have been on Cones, springs, and Pods. Springs are better than Cones. Pods are much better than springs. "A musical sound that works and enhances the main speakers, this will be lost if you isolate the sub" oh really? Read the listener comments. Please.

Put it on springs. Much better. Nobsound springs if you can only afford $30, or if you want the best then Townshend Pods or Bars. Pods are virtually as good but cost less and I think look better, as in you hardly see them.

The curling stone is maximizing vibration feeding into the floor, walls, and ceiling. Vibrations travel through all these setting the whole room ringing. A lot of what you think is bass response or room acoustics is really the sub exciting the walls turning them into speakers muddying the bass and everything else. Travels into all your components distorting them as well.

Springs eliminate all that, allowing the speaker to radiate into the room sound waves not sound waves plus mechanical vibrations. The improvement in clarity is not subtle, not if you go Townshend anyway. But even Nobsound will be a big improvement from what you are doing now.