Under my tower speakers -- Isoacoustics Gaia, other options?

@OP, you've been around long enough to know that everything matters. This includes vibration. The link below should be required reading for anyone after good sound. This article is informative and debunks all the hooha about spikes.

A novice reading this thread would be forgiven if he was to heed the advice so far which is to use spikes. The majority say spikes which is not true. If you merely seek stability then spikes will help but the aim here is to get better sound.

The author uses a tuning fork to illustrate his theory and reasoning.  I made up an old tonearm and cheap cartridge to measure the amount things vibrate and by using a signal genny could see first hand and at what frequency the vibrations were occurring. Simply rest the stylus on the concrete floor, wood floor, furniture, audio rack etc. and measure the output with your multimeter at intervals. Doing this is far far better and more enlightening than random noise on a forum. Most of the posts here are recommending spikes but unfortunately they are wrong.

I met Max Townshend at the XFI Premium show in Veldhoven, Holland in 2019 and we had a long chat where somehow conversation also turned to his supertweeters which is another area for gaining more from your system. Regarding the topic of interest here, he had 2 identical pairs of speakers matched for height and using same source, amp, cables and of course acoustics. Switching between the pair with factory feet and the pair on his platform was not at all subtle. Pricey, yes, but way better value than the Gaia footers I installed on my OB speakers. I heard very little from the Gaias on Isoacoustics carpet spikes on medium pile carpet on concrete.

Don't concern yourself about rigidly coupling to the floor. Intuitively it would seem that the more solid the mount the better but some guys are suspending their speakers from the ceiling on fishing lie or similar and reporting improvements.

Ok lets assume a speaker weighs 40Kg and the woofer cone weighs 40 grams. What's the ratio in mass? it's 1000:1 which translates to 0.01dB  Do you think you will hear that???

This was not intended to come off as a lecture 🙂  Please read the link.

@hilde45,  Hey  OP:    "Beyond that, the audiophile world has been misled as to their purpose"    Yes because as in most areas of commerce where there is a buck to be made it's climb on the bandwagon. 

I understand your reluctance to spend on something that does not appear to make sense when comparing it to the price of your speakers. How about: buy once, cry once.  I am trying to convince myself of this very quote. I bought Gaias after some poster convinced me by stating they were a poor man's Townshend device 😉

Anyone with a mild interest in audio and an awareness of the market could not help notice that easy to manufacture and with little to no understanding of the principle involved can produce a HIFI stand, complete with obligatory spikes. Witness the plethora of stands with spikes on offer.

Some of these amplifier stands/platforms on spikes are beautifully made and very attractive. I have seen photos of racks that I think most enthusiasts would love to have their gear on. With everyone and their uncle who owns a milling machine and lathe able to produce spikes from basic to exquisite it comes as no surprise that spike-momentum endures. A search on amazon shows what is available in the more budget market.

I am not saying that some of these component stands do not help, just that there are better ways of addressing the problem. I have long been dissatisfied with Gaias and the title of this thread attracted me, hoping to find positive results with something other than the annoyingly ubiquitous spikes.

The search continues  🙄

@tonywinga, good post. May I ask what you use under your components and speakers. I'm hoping you'll say rubber pads that cost $1 each on amazon 😀 

@hilde45,  if you do get the Towshend units please share your findings here.

@tonywinga, I ordered a set of nobsound  to compare with IsoAcoustics Oreas I have had in place under my Wadia DAC and an Oppo for a year, so am now familiar with the effect they are having on the sound of some components. Should  be interesting.