Vibrapods and Speakers

I have not tried this, but I do remember reading something recently in one of the high end mags, (TAS/Stereophile/Listener/Ultimate Audio) can't remember which one. That explored the same thing with similar results. I believe you have confirmed their "claim", or vice versa. To say the least, this is interesting and worth trying. It will be interesting to hear from other Audiogon members. Thanks, Doug

Hi Sam: I have tried both Vibrapods, Mapleshade Surefoot brass cones and Racing cones in the past though I have not tried the Vibrapods on my new Reynaud speakers (thanks for reminding me). The Pods do extend the bass and tend to smooth the overall response from my experience. I tried the Pods with my Castle speakers with good results but never ordered more and am using what I have under equipment platforms. I would also like to try the E.A.R. feet that Redkiwi mentions in a couple of threads but have been lazy and have not yet ordered them (they are even less expensive than the Pods). The large brass Mapleshade cones were quite remarkable, IMO when used between my metal stands and the Reynauds. Very smooth and detailed but with a somewhat thinner/cleaner bass than I had expected. I kept turning up the volume higher than I usually do (not sure if this is a good thing). As I mentioned in another thread though, using the cones is out of the question as the speakers are to precarious when perched upon them and a small earthquake (I live in LA) or a good bump from a passerby would send them falling to the floor. The Pods lower profile and larger contact area seemed to be a more secure type of installation. I had suggested that Brulee try the Pods with his B&W 805's (think it was Brulee) in another thread due to his complaint about the bass response in his room with the speakers, but don't know if he has tried them. The Pods "seem" to be a little woolier (is that a word?) or thicker in the bass than any cones that I have tried (Racing and now the Mapleshade's) though I am in a position to A/B both at this time and will give it a try. Anyway, I did like the Pod sound with my brighter Castle speakers but got sidetracked somewhere along the way.

Doug, it was TAS that raved about Pods under speakers. I tried them at the time but rejected them. I will try to find the time to try them again, but if my memory serves me correctly, there was a significant benefit in that cabinet resonance seems to all but disappear. Images seem more independant of the speakers. But as with most compliant vibration control stuff, all it was doing was moving the resonant frequency lower. With my Thiels it took me a few days to realise that I was no longer quite able to engage with how a female vocalist was singing - hard to describe, but the loss of musical engagement was very real. At the end of a week I was convinced that my musical enjoyment was greater without the Vibrapods than with them. This is not dissimilar to my experiences with bladder products - that they improve some of the sounds, but do damage to the music.

RedKiwi: I read somewhere about a speaker designer that did not go out of his way to eliminate speaker cabinet resonance and vibration, he instead tuned the speakers using the existing vibration. It may have possibly been Reynaud the manufacturer of my speakers, but I cannot remember. I have always suspected that removing too much vibration (on any component) may actually degrade or "un-voice" the sound. It all boils down to what we specifically like as far as the sound goes, but the logistics of it all (tweaking and fine tuning) gives me a headache sometimes.