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  3. 1007412696

Tweak worth 100X It's price - Vibrapods

While I WAS not a big beleiver in the "tweaks" of audio to a any appreciable extent, I must rave about the performance recieved form these littel rubber pods. I purchase a few a couple months ago to place under my electronics and I was extremely happy with the result from the pods in combination with soem MDF particle board placed under the equipment pods combination. Rather than go into extreme use of adjectives regarding the improvement that was expereinced, just let me say that EVERYTHING opend up and became better. I thought my system sounded good but this little, cheap tweak was eye (ear?) opening.

I was extrememly happy with the imrovement to my electronics and then I thought - Why not the speakers also? I bought and installed pods for each speaker and
installed them. This was "as big" if not a bigger improvememnt to overall sound. I was experiencing some bass control problems around the real low end. These problems were now gone along with all the other distortion that I was experiencing and really not even knowing it or knowing it and blaming it on "room colorations".

You have just got to try these things. At $6.00 a pop you can't go wrong. Plus you can get a discount for quantity purchases usually. You will need a minimum of 4 per compopnent. $24.00 bucks that will make your system sound like you just put $2,400.00 into it.

I am a personal user and this is not an ad but I got my pods, along with a plethora of help from CJAudio/Video through this (AudiogoN) site. (www.cjsaudvid.com) Craig will take good care of you.

Feel free to email me (mackpat@apk.net) if you have any questions / comments.

I can also send you a picture of the stands i built for the speakers to incorporate the pods / and the Legacy supplied spikes if interested.

Relevant System Info:

Processor: Aragon Soundstage
Amp: Aragon 8008BB
Speakers: Legacy Classics.
CD: Denon 5 disc carousel.
Interconnects: HT ProSilway II (Pre - Amp)
Monster Coax Digital (II) (CD- Pre)
mackpat

Showing 4 responses by sean

sean
6,231 posts
 
George, you bring up a good point. Where have Sam and Red disappeared to ? While i know that Albert has been laying low due to being busy, house reconstruction, etc..., it seems as if more than a few people have wandered off. That list should also include Angela and a few other regulars such as Joe aka Trelja, etc... I know that some folks have taken up "dual residency" both here an on the Asylum, but is there REALLY a need to stop contributing on one / both forums ??? I just hope that everything is okay with all of these folks. Sean
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sean
6,231 posts
 
Ernie, i agree and disagree. There are folks using Pods between the woofer and mid / tweeter section on VR-4's, supposedly with very good results. I could see how isolating the two sections MIGHT offer some benefit. Then again, i would think that sorbothane would work even better. Only problem is that it is WAY more expensive.

My Father has Pods in an MDF sandwich ( carpet / mdf / pods / mdf / speaker ) and has been having better results with bass definition and lack of boom. This may be due to the fact that his speakers have a downloaded woofer though. Doing this ( somewhat ) changes the loading characteristics that the driver sees. Only problem is that i've noticed that the speakers tend to lean and / or twist after a while, probably from vibrating itself off of the center of the platform. I'm sure that this affects the imaging, etc... Need to find another way to attack this problem. Sean
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sean
6,231 posts
 
My Vibrapods are all from the earlier runs and "bleed" that oily substance also. As Bob mentioned, any mild cleaner will normally remove the residue. If one was worried about such things, something like tin or aluminum foil, plastic from a sandwich or freezer bag, etc.... placed between the pod and the component should work fine.

As to HDM's comments, i'll let him know. Part of the problem is that he probably didn't get the "right" weight rating for his pods and they are "maxing / mushing out" somewhat. It probably doesn't help in the fact that he likes to play everything on that system ( music and ht ) at pretty good volume. Since his speakers are rated into the low 20 hz range, the pods are probably absorbing a good amount of "flex" from the woofer blowing right on the sheet of mdf that seperates them. The "flexing" or slight "absorbtion" of energy that the pods may be doing could be one of the reasons that his bass cleaned up somewhat too. Sean
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sean
6,231 posts
 
Sam: I don't know the technical name for the nuts that you are talking about, but i have called them / heard them referred to as "Castle" nuts. This may / may not be correct.

Dekay: I think that those racks are still available but Audio Advisor stopped selling them for some reason. Last time i checked, they were still available on the manufacturers website. That was quite a while ago, but it was WELL after AA stopped selling them. I checked into going the same route that you did but found something that tickled my fancy a little more.

Ernie: I think that the added weight of the marble or granite on the suspended floor would tend to muddy the bass further. I ran into a similar situation when i changed racks a while back. I went from a lightweight rack to one that weighed about 175 lbs and the bass went to mud. I now have a rack of similar design but much lighter and the bass is back to normal.

I think that varying weight in different locations on a suspended floor alters both the resonant frequency of the floor itself AND the amplitude of the signal that it contributes when excited. This is probably why some people notice drastic differences with various tweaks such as racks, different speaker stands, various isolation components, etc.. What may work phenomenally in a system with a "loose & saggy" suspended floor with very audible improvements may make no difference at all for someone with a solid foundation under their system. Just a guess though... Sean
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