soundlogic wrote: Thanks for the response Mod...is it safe to presume that you’re comments on the Triton 1 also applies to the Triton References, since that is the speaker I am using with the Gaia’s?

Yes, same for all the Triton Towers.

I have had the Gaia II footers with carpet spikes under my Goldenear Triton One speakers for about 4 months. I have tried four different spike/cone/footers with these speakers as described below.

I originally had the speakers installed in a room with carpet over a concrete slab using the factory supplied spikes. I had good results with Audio Point brass cones under previous speakers (Wilson W/P 7, Dunlavy SC-V, Mirage M-1), so I tried the Audio Point 2.0's on the Triton Ones. Unfortunately, this did not work well at all. Dynamics were restricted, transients were softened and the sound became dull and lifeless. I actually preferred the sound of the speakers sitting flat on the carpet with no spikes or cones at all compared to the Audio Points.

Next, without expecting much, I tried the Track Audio stainless steel spikes ($119 from Music Direct). These resulted in a nice improvement over the stock spikes with tighter bass, better defined images and a more dynamic presentation. I was pleasantly surprised by how much of a performance increase the stainless steel spikes made.

I then moved to a new house with a second floor music room over the garage that had carpet over plywood flooring. I tried both the stock spikes and the Track Audio stainless steel spikes to see how each worked in the new room. I was disappointed to find that while the Track Audio spikes were still better than stock, it wasn't to near the degree of improvement they had been on the concrete slab.

I used the Track Audio spikes for about 2 years before installing the Gaia II footers with their matching carpet spikes. The Gaia's made the largest improvement of any of the previous solutions. Bass became even more defined and articulate, images are more three dimensional, stage depth improved and the speakers disappear into the sound stage to a greater degree. The overall sound is more relaxed and enjoyable while revealing more subtle details.

This experience has demonstrated to me how different floors can have an impact on which speaker supports will work best. It would have been interesting to see how the Gaia's would have performed against the Track Audio spikes on the concrete slab, but for my current environment, I am very pleased with their performance.

BSavage, thank you for the nice contribution. My curiousity for the members that use the Gaia’s on their TRefs is: The Gaia’s raise the height of the speaker substantially, so are you raising the rear to angle the tweeters down? Or do you notice a difference in the presentation that needs to be addressed? Thanks in advance for your comments.
Tim

I can't comment on the TRef's, but on my T1's the added height of the Gaia II's is not an issue in my system. I was very worried that it would be because I'm only 7' away from my speakers. My ears are at the exact height of tweeters without spikes (can't remember the measurement). Obviously the spikes and eventually the Gaia's raised the tweeters but it was not detrimental to the sound. Immediately after ordering the Gaia's I looked into ways to elevate my chair, but eventually decided to try a couple different cushions to add to it. As it turns out I didn't need to raise my ears because I don't hear a difference with my ears up or in their original position. As for the Gaia's themselves, I love them for the same reasons echoed here in many other posts. I would highly recommend them.

When installing the Gaia's I left one thread exposed on the back feet which is providing a very slight tilt, but I'm honestly not sure if that is helping.

soundlogic,

My experience with speaker tilt parallels Brumtech's response above almost identically. When I installed the Gaia II feet on my Triton One speakers, I too was concerned about the increase in height, so I backed out the rear feet one and a half turns to tilt the speakers down slightly in the front. This left the logos on the feet facing the back side of the speaker.

My ears are about 8.5 feet from the speaker baffle when seated in my listening position. I initially listened at my normal seat height and was very pleased with improvements the Gaia II feet made as noted in my previous post. I then added another seat cushion to raise my ear height, but heard no perceptible difference in the sound. I added yet another seat cushion to raise my ear even further and again, no difference.

I then removed all three cushions and sat on the bare couch frame and this time I did note a slight softening of the high frequencies. The sound wasn't quite as airy and cymbals lost a little bit of shimmer. However, it wasn't a big change and I may not have even noticed it had I not just compared it to the other seat heights.

At my listening distance of 8.5 feet, there seems to be a fairly broad range of ear height for achieving optimal sound with the added height of the Gaia feet. It would likely be a narrower range of acceptable ear heights at closer listening distances, but the length of the mounting studs on the Gaia feet allow for quite a bit of adjustment to compensate.

For those that are a tad on the fence with this idea, I found this video quite interesting, especially when viewed with headphones. If nothing else the music selections used for the demo were worth seeking out for further listening IMHO


Also, believe it or not, I was able to hear the difference on my la-top with this demo from Paul McGowan: