IsoAcoustics Gaia speaker feet

I bought them after hearing a demo at the Bristol Hi-Fi show a couple of years back. I was initially surprised that they allow for speaker movement in certain planes - something I have spent decades trying to prevent. But, as long as they are fitted correctly (see instructions), this doesn’t seem to matter!
They make a big difference to my Dali Epicon 6. Bass initially seemed to be diminished in weight and authority but after a while I realised that ‘bloat’ had been replaced by clarity and precision. The orchestral bass drums at the opening of Mahler 3 now had pitch as well as oomph! I can now hear exactly how (very) low these boys can go! They do dump a lot of vibration into the floor (mine is oak) so I made sure the speaker cables were lifted off the floor. All of my electronics is on spikes and isolating platforms on dedicated furniture so that didn’t suffer.
Recommended! (And I agree they look nice, too.)

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Hi Alan,

Good to hear they made a big difference to the sound.

Interesting that they dump a lot of vibration back into the floor though as I was hoping/thought this would of been the opposite and less vibration transmitted into the floor and back up through the electronics…

Hi all I use the Gaia underneath my Neat Xplorer speakers. As I have to place them 6 inches from the walls they make a hell of a difference

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I’ve had the Gaia III under my PMC 20.23s for about a week now. They were cheap - a shop in Paris is selling them for just over 300€ (yes, two boxes of 4…), delivered to my door.
I’d like to be able to say that I was entranced, that I sat there all night in the inky blackness with a grin on my face, rediscovering all my cds (as some have)… all I can say is that after a week, the jury’s still out. All these “improvements” are only incremental at best: there are so many factors that can affect our enjoyment. Yes, the violin seemed perhaps a bit more firmly in the middle (Moeran’s violin concerto, Tasmin Little), the piano slightly more defined (Debussy, Bavouzet), but it might be just an impression. Anyway, they look nice, they were cheap, and with the kind of suction effect, they may be less likely to topple over if I’ve had too many Jamesons…

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Three weeks later… the Gaia IIIs have improved the sound. The difference is not generally obvious, except on certain recordings which sounded overly harsh (Brahms Sextets, Capuçon et al.) and are now more pleasant. Voices appear less distant (voice + piano, for instance). Not much difference at the bottom end, but then I listen mostly to classical music, and there always seemed to be enough (PMC 20.23).

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I put the Gaia iii’s on my Spendor A7’s. For me, the improvement was immediate. The soundstage/imaging opened wider and the low end was changed (for the better). I have a sub woofer and I had to dial the gain back to neutral (was bumped up just a bit previously), as the speakers themselves produced a more solid but not boomy bass. What an easy tweak to buy into. Of course, try for yourself to see if they work for you in your system/room.

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Fascinating :+1:t3: ATB Peter

So other Gaia users - should the speakers seem wobbly if you push them laterally or rock solid?

I have some for testing purposes and I’ll probably keep them as I can’t be arsed with the hassle of removing them again!

Early thoughts are thinner sound but with extra nuances all over the place esepcially the timbre of higher frequency notes and vocals.

Yes they have abit of give to them as part of the isolation but I would not say wobbly. Ensure you get the nuts tight enough but not over tightned.

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Laterally (side to side) they are quite wobbly, front to back just a little bit (at least if your speakers are deeper than wide). That’s why you have to orient them correctly, they should have resistance vs. the (longitudinal, front to back) membrane movements.

My Monitor Audios are 17 cm wide and 30 cm deep. Side to side they can be moved by several degrees out of vertical, front to back very little.

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In terms of the nuts I managed to get most of them virtually tight top and bottom - perhaps this is not recommended I’m not clear from the video.

Worst thing was the SBLs - no way i could turn them upside down to put the Gaia’s on!

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They can be a pain to fit, they where on my last speakers as the plinth made it really hard to get them finger tight as it had a recess where the spikes would go.

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Somewhere, video or manual sheet, it says that the bottom nut toward the Gaia shall only be tightened by hand (so I suppose this gives a recommended range of tightness). I believe toward the speaker they shall be somewhat tighter, because in the video they say to tighten them toward the speaker while the Gaias are still a quarter of a turn out of position, and then turn the Gaia the final quarter. They mention explicitly that this is to get a nice tight fit against the speaker

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I’ve seen a 2019 video for setup, but the current Gaia IIIs have a hexagonal nut for the speaker interface and a spanner which also seems to be able to tighten the lower end of the ‘screw’ into the Gaia support due to the presence of a machined bare area on 2 sides of the ‘screw’.

This is true, mine have that too. As far as I understood from the materials, you are supposed to screw the screw into the gaia with the spanner, then counter hand-tight toward the gaia with one of the nuts. Screw the other nut onto the other end of the screw, insert screw into speaker for at least 5 turns, when reaching desired depth keep the label print of the Gaia a quarter turn from final position, then counter tight against the speaker with the other nut. Turn Gaia the final quarter turn to secure tightly.

If you look at the feet and wobble the speaker, you will see that some move more and some less. I am not sure but it seems logical to level in such a way that all 4 feet have similarly free movement, instead of one or two feet taking most of the load. I guess that all 4 feet should have enough pressure so that the suction cups pop when u lift them

Edit: As the print has to look forward (or backward), the feet have to be turned at least 180 degrees. For finer adjustment of leveling you may probably untighten the nut against the foot and adjust with spanner, then retighten.

Man, now I have started improving the leveling (I got mine also recently) and am sweating like a pig on Sunday evening. Thanks very much :wink:

Edit: Give them some time between rounds, they take a few minutes to settle down after changing

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Bugger — back in grade 7, I should have known that French would be much more useful than Latin in later life… :joy:

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Indeed, there were very few Naim dealers in Roman Britain.
Incidentally, the Gaia 3 have gone up to about 340€.

Adding to the other comments on movement when fitted, they do flex a little if you apply force to the speakers, that’s by design and to allow the energy created by the speaker cones to dissipate and not end up transferring to the floor they sit on.
The silicone base of the Gaia feet are domed and act as a suction pad against the floor, mine sit on oak parquet and they need a lot of force against the side of the speaker to displace the suction.
The ones I have are with a hex nut against the speaker base and a round knurled nut against the Gaia. they should be tight but don’t require excessive force. The round knurled one can be tightened off a little more using pliers or mole grips with a cloth between them and the nut.

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I’m afraid I also have a negative experience with Gaia 3s, under my Kudos C20. I also would have loved to like them, but, as said in the thread, there was a deeper low end and some mid to treble extension with some punch, but all the sensuality given by mid and upper bass was gone, leaving a rather dry and analytical sound. Not pleasant at all to my ears. Gone are the Gaias, and back to the original spikes, and I have now recovered the pure joy of musicality, which is back again.
Arnaud

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