Tekton Double Impacts

@mac48025

You should try the Roller Block Jr’s with and without the tops (carbine balls touching the component). I heard that in some cases they sound better without the tops. Supposedly you get more jiggle action. Which would equate to less dampening without the tops. If you put under wood then I would stick with the tops on or get something like a marble tile to put between the tungsten ball and the wood.

The other things is, you might be able to expand on your investment if you use 1 side of the RBjr’s. If so, you can buy 3 additional tungsten carbine balls and use it on another component.

https://img.usaudiomart.com/uploads/large/1008207-symposium-rollerblock-jr-hdse.jpg

Coaxial midrange/tweeter drivers for car audio have time alignment issues but don't sound terrible. My suspicion is that powerful bass frequencies travel all through the cabinet ricocheting of end points and arrive at midrange drivers as spurious noise, far more damaging to perceived midrange audio quality. Also, internal speaker reflections occur at tiny fractions of bass frequency wavelengths exciting much higher frequency content in a cabinet (unless it's a transmission line design). That's where RF and acoustic energy analogies part ways. Low frequency energy can vibrate smaller structures to be transformed into higher frequency content, think higher frequency buzzing from those trunk subwoofers blasting rap.

Does mixing in the RF world apply to acoustics? If it does than a 60hz cabinet horizontal plane resonance distorts midrange by +/- 60Hz while high frequency vibrations would obviously be much more damaging. Another thought is that the cabinet is small enough that it may not effectively couple that low of frequency, or the midrange driver mounting is to small an aperture to effectively couple those frequencies. Dali does some work on driver rigidity to eliminate resonances and distortion.

I do believe the horizontal plane distortion at low frequencies remains as an equal and opposite reaction but is not coupled into the cabinet material. Hence the directionality of the Gaia footers delivering optimium results.

While I'm no expert on the subject, Herbie's footers would seem to work great on hard wood or tile since the lossy material comes in better contact with the hard surface as opposed to carpet. Mapleshade products are interesting and I share Tom's sentiments on the blocks. Given how lively the DI cabinets are, it's not surprising an engineered sandwiched footer makes such a difference. I suspect first reflection point treatments on the walls and ceiling could fall into the same level of improvements. Room correction still delivers large improvements for me, but will find out more as I treat my room.

Merry Christmas everyone. Really enjoyed this thread over many months.

I’m considering the GAIA II footers for my DI’s, but am worried about what everyone is saying about the weight limits. I would hope that IsoAcoustics would produce a product that is at or close to 100% effectiveness within the stated weight limit parameters.

Hearing that dealers are telling customers that the GAIA II footers lose effectiveness at upper weight limits (100lb Double Impact vs 120lb GAIA II weight limit) is like hearing that an amplifier markedly increases THD towards the upper limits of stated power. Red flag. Is this the dealers trying to get a more expensive product (GAIA I) sold, or is this a case of poor specifications?

@bliptrip

I agree 100%

@david_ten The Herbies Giant Gliders with an isolation shelf makes sense as a 90% solution, especially with carpet. Since I'm on a budget, the law of diminishing returns and value has to be obeyed. Did you say you were using some one off composite platforms or do I have you confused with someone else?

I could always try some spare particle board shelves as an A/B comparison, better conduction into the shelf but doubt without substantial acoustic attenuation. Perhaps isolation pucks sandwiched between 2 shelves and the Herbies. Could be more trouble than it's worth and just stick to the Herbies alone. So many possibilities!