First impressions of the Isoacoustic Gaia 1’s


On my KEF Reference 5’s.

While I normally hear little to no change with “Tweaks”, I installed them Saturday evening and found immediate spatial differences. Just about every album sounded more open. I told my wife, who helped me install the Gaia’s,  that if I wasn’t wowed, I’d send them back.

The room has wall to wall carpet and pad on the floor and when  I first received the Reference 5’s, they sounded flat. I put small hardwood flooring samples under them and it helped a little.  I then put a small slab of granite under each of them and they became much nicer to listen to. I was quite surprised at the change. 
The Gaia 1’s are sitting on the granite as well and so far, I’m very happy. 

It’s only been a few days, but I’m pretty sure they are “hear” to stay.

Anyone else have similar experience’s with speaker. Isolation?

JD

128x128curiousjim

@curiousjim 

 

I need the 1/4-20, long studs and my local dealer didn't have them, I contacted the company who didn't have any and had no time frame for when they would. Over the course of the year, I've kept in contact with them so as to not fall through the cracks and until my last email, was told the same. Late in March they told me they should be available in April but with no specific date.

I've even contacted several retailers in larger cities and offered to pay for shipping but no one has any. I'm thinking at this point, the parent company could have used just about any machine shop and had them made since their primary supplier doesn't seem to be able to provide them.

@jafant: An Esoteric DV-50S. I bought Arthur Salvatore's personal example of the CD/SACD player from him at a good price. Everything else in my system is tubed, except for a couple of spare SS power amps.

Not trying to start a war and being that as much as I love music and my equipment, I wish there were ways to improve the sound without replacing or upgrading.

It’s just MO that certain ideas or tweaks that people buy into may or may not be an improvement unless you believe they do.

As far as manufacturers are concerned, just like in the auto industry, profits are what counts.

They saw after people bought their new vehicles they would replace the ugly steel wheels with after market alloys so they thought why don’t we put them on as stock then WE collect the profit, same with sliding rear glass windows etc.

I guess the speaker builders are thinking the same thing. It’s all about the money.

I mostly agree with norton: audiophiles are sitting ducks when it comes to taking advantage of the placebo effect. Furthermore, science can explain a lot about acoustics, and even psychoacoustics; if a given tweak has no plausible scientific explanation for its effectiveness, I approach it with skepticism. BUT...it is also the case that not everything experienceable is measurable. People were enjoying savory flavors for centuries before neuroanatomists found the receptors for what is now called umami. The phenomenon existed, and was experienced, before it was scientifically understood.

That said, I remain skeptical about most claims for power cords and cables (especially "break-in" and directionality), and I don’t hear a difference either. And the Schumann resonance generator is not even a do-nothing box.

But sorbothane under the feet of my Scientific Fidelity Teslas did improve the clarity of the bass and the general cohesion of the soundstage. Not dramatically, but noticably.

By the way, I also own a pair of PSB Synchrony Ones. Because I like the sound of the Teslas better, I canibalized the feet for the PSBs, screwed them into the Tesla’s base, and THEN set the speakers on sorbothane disks. I won’t go back.

For what it’s worth, though, room acoustics—as pretty much everyone knowledgable here will agree—have a far greater effect on SQ than probably any tweak. But it’s a moot point. We have the rooms we have; few of us are in a position to build a room specifically with our music, and our music system’s requirements, in mind. Hence, the passion for squeezing just that little bit more out of what we’ve got.

@mrskeptic 

The bottom of the stud is a standard 12 mm with a notch on either side to tighten it into the foot.  Do you know anyone who knows how to weld? You can get a foot of the 12m and 1/4 20 all thread from Granger or Fastenal and for just a few bucks you can make your own.

All the best.

JD