Marigo Audio composite shelves used in conjunction with their H1 footers are the best I've heard/owned. I started with Mapleshade maple shelves (with Goldmund cones, later replaced by Audio Tekne carbon blocks). I then went to the Adona rack and shelves. Now using the Adona rack with the Marigo shelves and footers. Ron Hedrich at Marigo offers a 30 day money back audition on his products. Good listening.
The Best Isolation/ Vibration Footers per component - what's your experience?
Hi everyone,
There are probably a dozen of threads out there on Isolation/ Vibration footers out there, but there hasn't been thus far one been that combines the following two assumptions:
1. Isolation/ Vibration effectiveness differs per type of component (from source to speaker).
2. The above with Most Popular brands available as per July 2020.
Some of the most recognised brands thus far:
The reason for starting this thread is that in the past few months I have been reading that the Critical Mass Centerstage 2 footers are beating all or most of the above solutions from the other named brands. However, it seems that the Arya Audio Revopods are also beating most of the brands in some high-end select forums and groups as well.
Do you use and or have/ had any experience with the above and where did you place them and why?
Here is my setup currently.
1. Source/ Network player: Star Sound Technologies Sistrum platform
2. Pre-Amp: No footer yet (Artesania Audio rack)
3. Amplifier: No footer yet (Artesania Audio rack)
4. Power conditioner: Harmonic Resolution Systems Nimbus & HRS platform footers
5. Power supplies for source: Stillpoints
6. Router: Stillpoints
7. Speakers: Stillpoints
I found out that this works the best in my system, but would like to know your experience as I found that using these footers and their effectiveness really depends on the component. Specifically, I would like to hear your experience with Arya Audio and Centerstage 2 footers?
There are probably a dozen of threads out there on Isolation/ Vibration footers out there, but there hasn't been thus far one been that combines the following two assumptions:
1. Isolation/ Vibration effectiveness differs per type of component (from source to speaker).
2. The above with Most Popular brands available as per July 2020.
Some of the most recognised brands thus far:
- Arya Audio
- Artesania Audio
- Aurios
- Black Diamond Racing
- Critical Mass Systems
- Gingko
- Harmonic Resolution Systems
- Harmonix
- Iso-Acoustics
- Shun Mook
- Silent Running Audio
- Star Sound Technologies
- Stillpoints
- Symposium
- Townshend
The reason for starting this thread is that in the past few months I have been reading that the Critical Mass Centerstage 2 footers are beating all or most of the above solutions from the other named brands. However, it seems that the Arya Audio Revopods are also beating most of the brands in some high-end select forums and groups as well.
Do you use and or have/ had any experience with the above and where did you place them and why?
Here is my setup currently.
1. Source/ Network player: Star Sound Technologies Sistrum platform
2. Pre-Amp: No footer yet (Artesania Audio rack)
3. Amplifier: No footer yet (Artesania Audio rack)
4. Power conditioner: Harmonic Resolution Systems Nimbus & HRS platform footers
5. Power supplies for source: Stillpoints
6. Router: Stillpoints
7. Speakers: Stillpoints
I found out that this works the best in my system, but would like to know your experience as I found that using these footers and their effectiveness really depends on the component. Specifically, I would like to hear your experience with Arya Audio and Centerstage 2 footers?
88 responses Add your response
Two potential challenges: 1) your list of recognized brands is not comprehensive (can it ever be?) 2) any rating of "effectiveness per type of component" simply does not exist, even if it could be "measured' So, this inquiry is destined to generate responses like, "Here is what works for me." What value will these kinds of comments have, for you, other than introduce more recognized brands that are not yet familiar to you? A statement like "effectivenss really depends on the component" has no meaning, no use! Does it? You go from findings that are specific to your system and then are looking for broad generalizations that are not system-dependent? Nice try. |
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OK, I am just looking for experiences of people, no need to get hostile sgordon1 (I don’t see why people on audio forums/ sites or even facebook get all pumped op all the time, aren’t we all just sharing for the love of the hobby?). Even if you are not, I can just say you come across like this, just saying. Maybe I am indeed looking to see what worked for people on what kind of equipment. Even if it’s just highly subjective. Secondly, I don’t think that others in general will propose a lot of different brands from those already named above, since I have seen on different forums and sites that they are the most talked about/ popular. Thirdly, if people make a persuasive argument of what worked for them and they think why, I might try it myself. Now it can work or it won’t work, if it doesn’t I’ll just get it out of the system and look for a different solution. Easy peasy. Unfortunately, where I live in HK the dealers will never let you try before you buy, which is absurd. So we can only gain information from reviews, forums or maybe friends we know who have tried. Hence why this kind of input is greatly appreciated. @EBM I know you are a big fan of Symposium, but I am looking for people who have actually also tried the Arya Audio and Centerstage 2 footers. |
The 3 best are Critical Mass Center Stage 2 1 1/2 inch,MAGICO Q pods and Alto Extremo Lyd 1 am using them in my system at present with great sound improvement.Also using Symposium Ultra Stealth stands for amp,line conditioners and best of all Symposium Osiris rack with all Copper legs and 2.5 super balls Using Symposium stands for MAGICO speakers all stands with copper spikes..Thanks be well!! |
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I have been listening to stereo equipment since I was a kid....always tried to make a solid base....and never hear anything that, vibration, or noise.Was I just lucky or is this another scam ?yes I guess speakers on a marble or wooden floor will move with vibration....but amp noise or preamp noise ,turntable noise ...Really.i see people pictures with two sets of hockey puck size feet on a bread board then on a marble base are you kidding me ???? |
i swear by my sandwich, because of results and low costs: quartz feet, granite plate, sorbothane, granite plate, 4 cork underglasses small plate ,bamboo plate, sorbothane, speakers + concrete load ... Relative isolation and very good coupling/decoupling resonance controls because of the varieties of the different materials... All my gear is on my desk on top of these sandwiches...Cost very low.... :) |
+2 For Herbie's Products - For the cost -- if NOT a stopping point -- an extremely inexpensive way to get ones feet wet (no pun). In some cases, the expense is so trivial, pieces can be unregreatably "handed-down" to an secondary system, a relative, friend or a desk drawer... IsoAcoustics products also offer a lot for the money. If indeed the previous comments about Stillpoints are correct, getting off the flavor of the month train (so to speak) keeps one out of Hogwarts! (yeah, I don't know exactly what it means either, but it sounded good) :-) |
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As crazy as I know it looks, anyone seriously interested in getting the most out of their system and audiophile dollar really should spend some time reading mahgister and studying his system. https://systems.audiogon.com/systems/8221 His Six Laws are all right on the money. I haven't tried half the stuff in his system but a lot of what he's doing is exactly what I'm doing, only he's doing it on a budget with creative DIY. Matter of fact my system addresses all the same "embeddings". https://systems.audiogon.com/systems/8367 Mahgister even has a picture of power conduit outside his room. Well I have treated the AC power all the way back to the breaker panel, and even the power meter. Probably no one believes it even after reading Mikes comment about my having achieved "audiophile nirvana". But the truth is last time I went to Seattles best audio salon and listened to $1.3 MILLION dollars worth of statement Wilson, AT and D'Agostino it really could not hold a candle to my system. Sorry. Be lying if I said otherwise. NOT because those components aren't better than mine. They probably all are a lot better than anything I have. But they have done nothing with them. They just plop them down in the room with zero embeddings. That's how important this stuff is. Whichever way you do it, just do it. |
As crazy as I know it looks,millercarbon, everybody will laugh at my last homemade creation.... a reverse engineering of a costly tweak... " Twin fans combing sound" room enhancement..... Cost: peanuts, 2 unused hot summer fans.... :) But anybody can laugh, My motto is, listen with your ears, create your own heaven....Hifi cost peanuts....If you want.... By the way i believe you for the 1.3 millions system comparison.....I know that firsthand.... Electronic components design are mature design without great impact for the last 50 years except some....The greatest impact comes, not so much from the choice of an electronic component over an another one (upgrading myth) but comes from the embeddings controls methods.... I discover that by myself with listening experiments.... P.S. i never post a photo of my grid of stones.... Too crazy.....You can see only a small part of it in my room next to the Schumann generators.... :) |
Since you didn’t mention your budget I’ll second mrmb’s statement the Isoacoustic line offers a lot for the money. They are not inexpensive by any means, but recognizably improve your systems performance in exactly the ways they advertise and reviewers say they will. Hard to believe, but true, at least with my system. Being cynical, even after a considerable research, I honestly thought, they’d not make much difference. I was wrong. After demoing their Orea feet one only one component, I ended up splurging and putting them under all the system components including their Gaias under my Magicos. Spent my whole economic stimulus check on them. For more money, and you know the sky is the limit on high end audio products, you might be able to wring out even better performance from the products you named, and are most curious about. Good luck with your choice. And please let us know how it turns out. Mike |
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+1 regarding millercarbon's recommendation to check out Mahgister's system. Never seen anything like it: https://systems.audiogon.com/systems/8221 |
You go from findings that are specific to your system and then Pretty sure you can point a telescope any direction, peer as far out into space as you want, across billions of light years, and find the same laws of physics as right here on Earth. Yet you think these things are specific to your system? Nice try. |
Hi Richard, I just finished designing and building a custom walnut butcher block 7-tier system to hold my gear - 1-1/2" thick platforms on 1-3/4" x 1-3/4" legs, and honestly, I didn't spend much at all on the isolation points and rubber feet for the base, but the whole thing came out pretty sweet and the guys at Parts Express were a big help. - the black chrome Dayton Audio ISO-4C adjustable isolation cones were $30/set of 4 - the Penn-Elcom Rubber Cabinet Foot (four of 'em are holding up 300lb of gear and shelves) are 67 cents each. I'd post some pictures of this thing, but I don't know how on this board. No idea if this is any help, but anyway, my 2 cents! |
I've got a mix of stuff, black ravioli big feet under my power conditioner (this sounded poor to start with but bass came in in spades after a few days). Stacks of 2 black ravioli mk1 pads and oak cones under most of the rest of my gear. Stillpoints ultra ss under subwoofer. Townshend speaker bars and pods under my monitors and stands. I have a solid wood hifi rack which is an IKEA tv consol. My floors are solid wood on concrete. Digital streaming system. |
+1 regarding millercarbon’s recommendation to check out Mahgister’s system. Never seen anything like it: https://systems.audiogon.com/systems/8221My system is an experiment in the making....I will prefer to own millercarbon system, but the money were lacking... :) But dont be fooled by the appearance, my audio system is fully satisfying and i will live with it happilly...My discovery is the embeddings of an audio system is all that matters....The price, the look, are secondary elements.... Upgrading is often an illusory response coming from lacks and defects that cannot be remedied by a piece of electronic equipment.... How to embed a system is the key.... In this thread the question is first how to mechanically controls the internal resonances and second how to relatively isolate from the external vibrations.... This is only ONE of the THREE embeddings, and the least powerful but a necessary double task that ask for more than meet the eye for his solution.... My particular low cost answer to this task is the least refine response in my homemade triple embeddings solutions to this day.... In the future i want to add springs and quartz sand bed to the rest of my solutions for this particular embedding task ( the sandwiches with layers of different materials is my only solutions for now and that work well for now).... |
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Make your own and pretend they sound great.HELLO!!Do you think that my 2 years incremental increase is incremental addition placebos one after the others? If so, how do you explain the complete transformation of the same components in a 2 years period? Hallucinations ? Or do you put your faith in marketting new electronic components only? Or are you envious of a very low cost hi-Fi ? Or are you sceptic about this very real possibility because you are unable to create it for yourself, except by paying big amount of money ? Or have you put your only faith in measurements and nothing else? Or do you think like some that audio is synonymous with adding " electronic components" for any problems that manifest ? Or do you think that it is impossible for someone to solve problems in an audio system without buying some "specialized" trade-mark only components? Or do you like to pick a post at random and object to it without any reason to except for expressing your urging " mood " right now ? HELLO ! « Some object, other breathe... » -Groucho Marx « Make your rant and pretend they only pretend...» - anonymus demagogue |
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Seismic isolation is a most interesting topic and done correctly can produce considerable improvements in sound quality. Recommended reading: http://www.barrydiamentaudio.com/vibration.htm Brands worth checking out: Ingress Engineering Symposium Townshend Stacore Taiko Audio Machina Dynamica Imo spikes and rubber isolators are not the way to go. A lot of these solutions simply alter the sound but won’t improve it. Any material change under a component will change the sound and in most cases not for the better. My suggestion for a reasonably priced and effective seismic isolation system: three Ingress cup and rollers arranged in a equilateral triangle on a square of 30mm thick slate supported by either: inner tube with very very little pressure. When you press on the corner of the slate you want 3 oscillations per second. four springs such as those by Machina Dynamica that are the correct rating for the total mass four Pods by Townshend Audio correct for the total mass Custom made isolation solutions available in the U.K. |
Put your turntable and electronics in an adjacent room and run speaker wires through the wall. Nothing works better. I used my ex-laundry room, which had the advantage of having three higher amp, dedicated outlets, once I replace the dryer breaker with two 110's. Luckily, as an electrician's son, who wired houses in the summer, I knew how to run another dryer line from the panel. |
Interesting discussion, I have tried most of the suggested items mentioned earlier and settled with still point Ultra 6 on my analog TY and centerpoint on digital equipment. On my analog transport and tubed phono I use magnetic levitation for excellent results. Various different footers, cones and spikes have had little benefit on my speakers that are 153 pounds each. FWIW, core audio designs makes wonderful racks, diffusers and stands that have significantly elevated my reference system on timber and soundstage, Enjoy the music. |
I got the original large Mod Squad Tip Toes many years ago to place under a B&K ST140/McIntosh MC225/B&K EX442 Sonata and Music Reference RM5 mkII preamp and was a believer. Let a friend borrow them and never got them back. i was working selling audio gear at the time (early 90’s) and they started coming out with ultra expensive metal or brass cones and I thought it all snake oil. The original Tip Toes @ $7/each made a big difference and I couldn’t justify spending gobs more. A couple of years ago, I was lucky enough to find more Tip Toes. I also have large hard rubber stoppers from Home Depot or Lowe’s for $2.75 each that I place under my speakers to decouple them from the floor or stands and they are good enough for me. I refuse to get into the minutiae of it all. |
I recently made the decision to go with Symposium Acoustics products. Speaking with the owner (Peter) helped me a lot to understand his technology and application to my components. I first went with the Segue ISO and Rollerblock Jr + for my turntable and the Segue with Rollerblock Jr + for my phono stage. What a meaningful difference that made! Much better clarity and definition in the mid-range and excellent definition in the bass region, especially for bass guitar and percussion. Soundstage became a bit wider and deeper, as well. I'll next be adding the Rollerblock Jr + for my preamp and power amp along with the Foundation Ultra Rack. Their Osiris Rack is more desirable, but is beyond my budget. Next after that will be isolation/vibration control for my new speakers (once they arrive next month). While there are other very nice isolation/vibration control products on the market I am quite satisfied in choosing one brand. And, I believe, the Symposium Acoustics brand has a lot to offer in choices and quality of performance. You just can't go wrong in using products from their assortment, from modest and up to the most elaborate, depending on your budget. |
Mnpctech are Made in USA and make custom replacement feet,
https://www.mnpctech.com/collections/turntable-lsolation-feet
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check out solid-tech feet of silence. I have them under my TT because they were the only thing that solved an acoustic resonance problem that I was experiencing. Very unique design. It actually suspends the component and the feet absorb all the vibration. The sound difference was so dramatic its like I pulled my system out of the mud. very satisfied with their performance |