The goal of my article was to raise this question from the 2nd paragraph in the review:
Any journey—
any inquiry—starts somewhere with questions and observations. My personal experience with the IsoAcoustics GAIA isolators paired with different speakers and placed on different flooring substrates taught me that indeed this is an area that we as audio enthusiasts need to explore more.
The ultimate question is: Do isolation products "work"?
If they do, to what extent? Or, are they actually destructive to a speaker's performance? Do some flooring substrate materials benefit more? (What I perceived and hypothesized is that the substrate material-speaker interaction plays a clear role in the "performance" of the IsoAcoustics product). If yes, what are those substrate materials? What are some use cases where isolation products may make sense? Are there a set of objective standards and measurements that can be developed to then measure and compare them?
This is all part of the discussion I wanted to start. I hope that discussion will lead to further exploration with broader measurements, standards, and conclusions. And to someone's question, yes, you have PSB, Dynaudio, and others who are offering IsoAcoustics isolators as part of their speakers.
I
also hope this process re-emphasizes that speakers and the rooms they are placed in are part of a larger system. Therefore when we talk about any speaker in a room, we need to remind ourselves continually that the speaker-room interaction is an organism.
I can think of no better place than Audioholics for questions and discussions like this to take place with tough questions and rigorous debate. That's the gem of
@gene 's vision and what contributors like
@Matthew J Poes have brought to the site.
As to the point of price— just look at the con in the review
. Yes, they are expensive. Yet put it into perspective. The GAIA III for speakers up to 70lbs is roughly $240. That's not a big hit. That's more in line where most enthusiasts would have their speakers.
Speakers in the 100+lb to 200+lb range don't cost $500. Those speakers are going to cost thousands if not tens of thousands of dollars. That enthusiast
will pay more in sales tax than the $800 or $1,000 cost for a set of IsoAcoustics isolators! The IsoAcoustics GAIA and TITAN are beautifully built and of course someone would want something that is aesthetically designed and built well to pair with a $15,000, $25,000, or $70,000+ speaker. There's nothing wrong with accessorizing your gear with beautifully designed audio jewelry.
Finally, I had very specific goals in mind for the IsoAcoustics product for my setup. I found the GAIA to be a great solution for me in my setups—especially for heavy speakers on hardwood floors with no marring, scratching, or residue.
I'll leave you with this. Many years ago at our previous home, the tonearm of my turntable would physically skip if someone would walk in a certain area of the hardwood floor. I purchased some Sorbothane isolators along with some Vibrapod isolation feet. Not only did the combination of the two isolation products stop the tonearm skipping, someone could now
jump in that area of the floor and the tonearm wouldn't miss a beat. The Sorbothane left residue markings on my cabinet and the top cracked. EDIT: Here's the link to the Sorbothane feet I had used:
https://www.crutchfield.com/S-tiD3NRvHfwb/p_703SQFEET/AudioQuest-SorboGel-Q-Feet.html
Believe what you want about isolation products. Isolation products do
nothing? My experience tells me otherwise. I think there's something there. I'm looking forward to what I feel is the much needed and necessary research into this area—to prove or disprove. And it will be great to say it all started on Audioholics first.
