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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
bdp24's avatar
bdp24
9,478 posts
 

There IS that consideration, @ozzy. The Sound Anchor speaker stands I bolted the Townshend Pods onto are even more stiff and rigid (and filled with sand) than is the thin sheet of steel used in the Podium and Platform. For lighter components (phono and line stages) I don't think the lack of a platform is consequential, but that is just a hunch.

With my Townshend Rock turntable, I set the table on a Torlyte shelf (who's old enough to remember Torlyte? ;-), the shelf on a set of four Pods. The final incarnation of the Rock (the Mk.7) incorporated a set of Pods into its' structure, using the Pods as the tables' suspension.

For those with enough $, sure, spring (ha ;-) for the Podium/Platform. Me, I gotta do it on the cheap. For the price of a single set of Podiums, one can get three sets of Pods.

curiousjim's avatar
curiousjim OP
4,199 posts
 

@ozzy 

The Reference 5’s have a heavy steel plate bolted to the bottom with small bumps where the spikes screw in. If I got the Townsend Platforms, would I remove my steel plate and sit it on their steel plate?  Does the Townsend platform screw into the holes formerly used by the spikes?

Thanks.

JD

bdp24's avatar
bdp24
9,478 posts
 

@curtousjim: No, the Townshend Podium does not screw into the holes of ANY loudspeaker or it's bottom plate. The Podium is just a metal plate with Pods bolted onto it. If you want to keep the Reference 5's bottom plate (I would), just install a set of Pods in place of stock spikes. You COULD remove the stock plate and set the now-baseless speaker on the Podium, but why?

The "magic" of the Townshend Seismic products is in the Pod itself, not in the Podium or Platform plate they are bolted onto. The Podium and Platform models are offered for loudspeakers which don't have a bottom plate or base; yours already do. As I said above, I bolted Pods onto the bases Sound Anchors makes for my loudspeaker, in place of the stock spikes.

havocman
350 posts
 

if you think the ISO acoustic Gaia sound good then you should try the Townshend podiums, they're much better at speaker isolation but they cost three times as much as the iso acoustic but well worth it.

havocman
350 posts
 

bdb24, only the podium is for speakers, the platforms are for electronics like CD player or DAC

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