Isolation platforms for Cube Audio Jazzon speakers


Townshend platforms are clearly excellent, but are there any more affordable alternatives?  I can't drill into the bottom of the speakers.  At the moment, I have the speakers on MDF pieces of wood supported on the corners with rubber/foam/rubber clad pads and really have no complaints, but I know how much SQ improvement I got with Iso-Acoustics GAIA footers under my Spatial Audio speakers, but have no way to mount them on the open bottom of the Jazzon speakers.  Thanks for any suggestions.

whitestix

@david_ten 

Milimeters of change in cabinet height will "giveth or taketh away" due to TQWT enclosure and it’s bottom porting. Your room flooring, speaker positioning, and room are also ’actors’ in this play. : )

Hi David,

You’ve   owned the Nenuphars speakers for sometime now and are very familiar with their set up characteristics. No doubt your contribution here is very much appreciated and valued. It’s important to recognize the necessity of maintaining the appropriate speaker front tilt alignment.

Charles 

David,

I put this same question to Cube Audio a while back and got this response:

"Hello Mark,

The simplest way is to make a platform with a slightly larger cabinet outline at a local carpenter, with acoustic polymers placed underneath. It may be a rubber element that dampens vibrations very well. 

We have often seen such solutions in rooms with long pile carpets.

I hope that this solution will be helpful."

 

Best regards

Ewa

David Ten infers the efficacy of maintaining the "tilt" angle with the small rubber domes in the rear of the speakers and the spikes in the front to perhaps to give the bottom-firing bass response to be optimal.  I personally dislike speakers with a tilt and at the moment have the speakers level with rubber/foam blocks from McCarr Masters under the corners resting on slightly oversized 1/2" MDF pieces of wood on my carpet.  Not addressed in the response I got from Cube Audio is the issue of whether the opening on the bottom of the Cube speakers is optimized with the factory "tilt" similar to sizing a bass port on the back of speakers, which is not trivial a matter.  

I started with the factory tilt on my thick wool carpet and it clearly muffled the LF response.  Leveled up on the wood platforms with rubber/foam blocks on the corners yielded a massive improvement in the LF as might be expected.

Any thoughts, David?  

 

@whitestix  Mark, your approach will be (should be) dictated by the type of flooring you have. As you found out with your thick wool carpet having that platform makes sense. What you put under the platform is really your call. I'd encourage you to experiment with platforms of larger square areas and even material...should you be up for it. : )

I know you know this, but writing this out for others who may come across your thread: the reason for the platform is for dispersal of the sound waves from the bottom port (IF the Jazzons / Nenuphars are in a carpeted room, the thicker / deeper the carpet the more critical this becomes).

 

Regarding the second half of your above post...with respect to the tilted design.

I think we can infer that there were clear headed reasons why Cube chose the design approach they did as they developed these speakers.

 

HOWEVER, this is a personal hobby and we make our compromises and trade-offs and have our aesthetic preferences.

IF you want your Jazzons LEVEL keep them level.

If, at some point in the future, you want to change things up...it is both an easy fix to make and an easy one to evaluate as an audiophile.

David,

A very reasonable and erudite response, pointing out alternatives.  You and Charlesdad are always helpful with your responses.  Thanks very much... I will experiment.  

I had my Dynaudio C1 Signatures playing for a week and loved the directness and detail of their performance, but I like the Jazzon's even more.  The Cubes just sound more like musicians playing in the room and not like speakers playing music in the room, to put it one way.  There is such an effortlessness and ease to the music with the Cubes and they love Don Sachs/Lynn Olson's new 300b monos.  

There is such an effortlessness and ease to the music with the Cubes and they love Don Sachs/Lynn Olson's new 300b monos

Sublime I have no doubt.

Charles