Cheap tweak!

[corndog71]

A buddy of mine was at one of the local hifi shops and got to hear a demo of Isoacoustic speaker stands.  He said it really improved the sound of a pair of inexpensive bookshelf speakers.  They're made up in Canada with lots of fancy engineering but the best part is they don't cost as much as your typical hifi tweak.

I was able to pick up a pair of their ISO-L8R155 bookshelf stands for $100 at the local Guitar Center.  They were developed for studio monitors.

I just tried them on my X-LS and they definitely improve imaging and soundstaging.  I can't wait to try their new subwoofer model.

http://www.isoacoustics.com/

 

[corndog71]

This past weekend I got the larger ISO-L8R200 stands for my X-Statik speakers.  $150 with free shipping from Sweetwater!  (Great customer service too!)

If you're looking for squeezing every bit of resolution from your speakers then these are one of the most effective tweaks I've found.  The first thing I noticed was bass definition.  Less boom unless there's supposed to be boom.  Drums sound more like real drums.  The soundstage spread out a bit further and seemed less coupled to the speakers.  Overall clarity improved as well.  I found myself listening to more music and forgetting about the playback system.

Highly recommended!

BTW, these have a 60 pound limit so if your speaker is heavier then you'll need 2 pairs.  The smaller ones I described above can handle 30 pounds.

 

[bainjs]

Thanks for posting.  Pretty impressive videos on the Isoacoustic website.  I ordered a small set from Amazon to try with my Orcas.  I'm hoping they'll make a great sounding speaker sound even better.

Joel

 

[Doc B]

For what it's worth, I did a little experiment regarding isolation recently. I needed a single large diameter (IIRC about 4") o-ring for a project and had to source it through McMaster Carr, meaning I had to order 10 of them. So when I was setting up the three sub woofers on the hardwood floor in the home theater I put them each on a couple of the extra o-rings. As I hoped it cut down the energy transmission of the bass into the floor and cleaned things up quite a bit.

 

[corndog71]

I just found out  Dynaudio is including them with some of their speakers!  Focal is using them in demos too.

http://dynaudioprofessional.com/bm-series/bm-mkiii-series/