Townshend Audio Podiums - current owners opinion on the merits of this product

I have a pair under Legacy Aeris speakers and think the Townshend's have many positive attributes. Most dramatically, they cleaned up boomy bass - or resonant bass, which had the audible effect of making the mids and highs clearer. I also feel due to the vibrations being dampened, it isn't transmitting all of that to the equipment, which can only help.

In overall perception, I can see where someone might feel there is less bass because bass is no longer generated into the floor and creating thick (but muddy) sound. However, bass is faster, more accurate, and less "one-note" sounding, so I highly recommend them.

rosami,

I just read your review of using the Townshend pods under your Thiels.(I own Thiel 2.7s as you may know from the Thiel thread).

It was very interesting and was a fuller description of what my own experience hinted at.

I tried some de-coupling type substances and pucks under a couple of my speakers.  It did change the sound a bit.  But one thing I noticed was less "floor feel" to the bass, and a change in tonal character in the bass, just as you noted.

I found I ended up preferring the speakers directly on the floor, even without spikes, as it gave more feel for the bass.

Sometimes we audiophiles are on such a mission to "reduce resonance" and have ultra clean sound that it can in some cases produce a more distanced "sound for the intellect" than the type of blood and guts impact we often grew up enjoying.

Piece of wood isn't going to change bass. Placing the speaker higher off the floor will obviously raise the woofer off the floor as well and that can certainly change tonality of the speaker sound. You don't need over priced piece of wood to do that. Buy a butcher board from IKEA.

I'm bit of a hypocrite I suppose since I am in the market for a pair of kenrick sounds stands for my JBL but they don't market them as anything but nice stands. I do not buy any of this reduce resonance stuff the marketing for Townshend claims. Sorry!

And pucks aren’t decouplers. Cut us a little slack. Decoupling type substances? Oh,you mean like Spam? The miracle in a can.

I installed the Townshend podiums in my system yesterday.  My brother who is musician / recording engineer thought the bass had tightened up and you could hear the plucking of the bass more distinctly, any haze was cleared up, the instrument placement was more defined and the sound stage increased.  He heard the same things I did.  So the system was improved and is sounding the best it has.