Hi FST251

GDHAL has described the difference the Gaiia's make in sound quality. I too have them on my T Ref's and have loved the uptick in sound quality, including tighter bass. In my case, I have wood floors on a concrete slab. A number of forum members have added them to Triton towers with success on a variety of floor surfaces. A bit more on how they work. In addition to decoupling the speaker from interacting with the floor and hence the room, they have very different resistances to forward/backward vs. side to side speaker cabinet movement. They need to be installed with the vertical line on them facing exactly front, or back, as they allow side to side movement but greater resistance to front to back movement. This is because front to back movement caused by speaker driver forces on the cabinet move the cabinet in reaction, which can lead to perceived blurring of frequencies at the listening position because the drivers are moving back and forth leading to subtle frequency changes where the listener is sitting.

I don't know which of the two improvements, floor/room decoupling, or front to back cabinet stabilization, contributes more to the sound quality uptick, but there is a definite improvement.

As GDHAL said, worth a trial, many satisfied GoldenEar tower users.

Happy listening!

Rick

rjohn79395 wrote:

...... In addition to decoupling the speaker from interacting with the floor and hence the room, they have very different resistances to forward/backward vs. side to side speaker cabinet movement. They need to be installed with the vertical line on them facing exactly front, or back, as they allow side to side movement but greater resistance to front to back movement. ......
Rick

Hi Rick. Certainly not meaning to get into a p'ing contest with you, but I think it's the opposite. They resist side-to-side movement and allow front to back movement more so. Check out this extensive review of the product www.audioholics.com/gadget-reviews/isoac...aia-isolators-review ... search for the word "lateral".

I put SVS sub feet on my T Refs, T1s, and SC XXL. They seem to improve the bass quality on the T Refs. Since I use the T 1s for surrounds it was harder to tell any improvement, but decided to use them anyway. I have my center on a custom made wood cabinet.
Maybe they made a little improvement on the center. I noticed a bigger improvement in clarity when I added 3 layers of carpet pad a little wider than the speaker that went back to the wall, covered with a black cloth for cosmetics under the center. My center is at the top front of a 22" deep cabinet and the tweeter is in line with the T Ref tweeters. The SVS feet are a simple rubber pad that allows the speaker to move in all directions. I'm not sure how they would compare to the Gaia feet, but are a lot more budget friendly, especially when you use 19 of them. My front and surrounds are on tile over a concrete slab.

GDHAL wrote:

rjohn79395 wrote:

...... In addition to decoupling the speaker from interacting with the floor and hence the room, they have very different resistances to forward/backward vs. side to side speaker cabinet movement. They need to be installed with the vertical line on them facing exactly front, or back, as they allow side to side movement but greater resistance to front to back movement. ......
Rick

Hi Rick. Certainly not meaning to get into a p'ing contest with you, but I think it's the opposite. They resist side-to-side movement and allow front to back movement more so. Check out this extensive review of the product www.audioholics.com/gadget-reviews/isoac...aia-isolators-review ... search for the word "lateral".

Hi GDHAL

Thank for posting. You are a great contributor to this forum ant I too am not interested in a p'ing contest. . Yeah, saw that, and saw another review awhile ago that said the opposite. I guess it doesn't matter which is more accurate (though front to back cabinet movement from driver forces in theory would alter perceived frequency at the listening position). Looked for anything official from IsoAcoustices on their spec's on the subject and haven't found much. Guess it doesn't matter all that much. The Gaiia's definitely work, and I suspect the main factor is isolating the speakers from floor and room interactions.

Glad you're enjoying yours also!

Rick

Late to the party as usual, but maybe that's a good thing...

I'm using Gaia IIs on my TRefs on a suspended wooden floor with laminate flooring. There is no carpet between the floor and the speakers. I found the Gaias improved midrange clarity for me compared to spikes and disks. I would not want to go back.

When I went poking around on the IsoAcoustics website a ways back, I found a technical discussion where they showed lab measurements that indicated the Gaias reduce cabinet vibration. The thinking was that vibration travels down the cabinets to the supports and reflects back up into the cabinet, which complicates the cabinet vibration. This can also lead to unwanted driver movement. The Gaias change the boundary condition at the floor and reduce this reflection. The implication in my mind is that they absorb vibration.

I think GDHAL is correct in that they also help decouple vibration from the flooring and reduce the level of vibration transmitted into the flooring. Probably both things are going on.

My TRef cabinets with Gaias have more compliance laterally than they do front to rear, but I think this is more a function of the support feet distances from the center of mass of the speaker. The distance between feet side-to-side is narrower than the distance front-to-back, so there is less resistance to motion side-to-side. With the Gaias, my TRefs have a low frequency rocking motion side-to-side of a few hertz that is underdamped (once started, it takes several cycles of vibration to die out). Front-to-back is a little higher in frequency, but with similar damping. Both rocking frequencies are well below audio frequencies.

Pure speculation department: It is possible that a rocking mode can get excited by driver forces and produce frequency modulation in the drivers. By shifting the rocking frequencies down to well below audio frequencies, there may be less interference of cabinet rocking with drivers. This may be part of the reason for the sonic improvement.



Charlie

Thank you all for the feedback. I appreciate this! My dedicated 2 ch listening room is in my basement on concrete flooring. If the Gaia can improve midrange clarity that is definitely a bonus! I feel my bass definition is pretty good with the room treatments I have so far but I am building 4 more bass absorbers when I get to it to add to the 2 corner traps, 1 ceiling trap and 2 sidewall traps I have so far. If it can become even better defined even if by a little I'll take it! My soundstage width and depth is fairly good so far but even more clarity will be welcomed.


I always wonder if the T Ref's midrange clarity is much better than the 1.r's but I have a hard time thinking it is $3500 better, I always get the impression the big difference is in the bass. Maybe midrange clarity is much improved and some day I can upgrade to them. I just feared that the bass will over whelm my listening room since I am already working hard to get it under control.

Thanks for all the insights and opinions everyone.
Fred