Isolation - this time it's speakers (and Gaias)

I don’t have experience with the Townshend Podiums but believe they are more effective than the Isoacoustics Gaia in terms of performance. I don’t think I have read any negative experience on the Townshend Podium as most owners found it to be a solid improvement. The success rate of the Podiums should be 100% while the Isoacoustics Gaia is around 70 to 80% maybe, as there are few owners who found the system to sound worse with the Gaias.

The Podiums are too rich for me so I have settled with the Gaias. No complaints on their performance!

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I am using Gaia ll since months under Focal Aria 926 on a wooden floor.
It’s been a great upgrade, and I would say that in my case the tighter bass is the minor effect overall.
What surprised me is the increased 3d effect, sounds seem to float freely, much better than before, in the air.
Definition and accuracy in mid-high frequencies has as well improved, that’s obviously a consequence of the benefits on bass/midbass.
Great product Indeed.

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Our experiences of Gaias are obviously different. I found Gaia 111s under my Spendors took some of the life out of the music. Townshend Podiums on the other hand were excellent so that’s what I settled for.

I’m expecting delivery of Titan 808s shortly. Anyone have experience of placing these speakers on Gaias or Podiums ? I will try isolation under the 808s after they have run-in.

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I’m not entirely convinced that Gaias under my SBLs enhanced them - more detail and brighter from memory.

They were such a pain to fit I couldn’t face removing them again so they stayed primarily to protect the wooden flooring.

On balance though I’d suggest most comments I’ve seen have been positive.

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I have Orea under my arc 40a as the Gaia ii I have are not rated for the weight. Similar positive effects though

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That’s what I use under my speaker stands, and Herbie’s Giant Fat Dots between speakers and stands. Everything falls in place in a way that’s hard to describe and hard believe. I’m looking to compare at some point the Giant Fat Dots to the Iso-Pucks, which are basically Gaia’s for bookshelf loudspeakers. In the meantime I’ll keep enjoying Herbie’s products, there’s tremendous value for money in them.

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Excellent write-up of your findings. Thank you for that. I had the Gaia II under my Dynaudio Contour S 3.4 LE loudspeakers where they made a massive (yes, I think I can say that) difference. Exactly as you described: cleaning up the bass which also opened up the mids. I did remove them at one point to check my findings, but had them back under the speakers after 2 hours.

However, when switching to our current Elac Navis ARF-51 speakers I also tried the Gaia’s and guess what: no noticeable difference at all! That was a big surprise as the Navis sounded even slightly better on the provided spikes.

So, try before you buy!

Some pictures:

BR,
Richard

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The weight of Dynaudio Contour S 3.4 LE is 33.3kg.

The weight of the Navis ARF-51 is 21kg.

The Gaia 2 worked well with the Dynaudios as the weight of the speakers fall within the optimal range (32kg to max 55kg for a set of 4).

You didn’t hear any difference when the Gaia 2 is used on the Elac because the weight of the speakers (21kg) is not within the range of the Gaia 2 (32kg to 55kg). The GAIA 3 would be the suitable for the Elac (up to 32kg).

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You know, I believe I saw a couple pictures of audio show demo rooms for Focal where they were using the Gaias. I could be mistaken, as the pictures might have been from a dealer or someone other than an official Focal/Naim demo room. Perhaps one of our moderators would know?

Also, someone asked about other small tweaks that folks on these boards generally recommend. I think Powerlines and EE Ethernet switches would qualify, although a bit more expensive than Gaias.

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A demo of side-by-each Focal Aria 926 pairs, one with Gaia IIIs, one without, with a SN3 and remote speaker switch, is a regular inclusion in the Focal/Naim travelling circus here in the colonies. The demo that sold me on the Gaia was a few years ago, and with Kanta 2s.

Andrew

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Have used Gaia 3 with ProAc D30RS speakers, and now use Gaia 2 with ProAc K3 speakers, and have been very pleased with them, much tighter bass etc… as others have reported. On a suspended wooden floor.

They came up recently in conversation with a well know naim dealer in UK who also recommends them - he reckoned they give about 70%-80% of the benefits that Townsend podiums deliver. I can’t confirm this having never tried podiums, but that was his view.

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Thanks - I asked.

I had got the impression that there was a strong consensus on upgrading ethernet switches - and that it was that there was never an audible difference unless the old one was dreadful/ broken. Is that wrong?

On Powerlines, there certainly is a strong consensus in favour. I use a basic 4-into-1 Hydra unchanged for about 20 years. I recently gave a dealer that I have known for all that time every opportunity to sell me 4 Powerlines instead, and was interested in his advice to do as he has done himself and stick to my Hydra instead - Naim really cares about star-earthing and common supplies.

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I use Gaias under my Neat Iota Alpha’s inplace of the spikes on a laminate floor over concrete base, like others for me they gave tighter deeper base, improved soundstage and better separation of instruments in the mix. No, not night and day, blows it out the water etc etc, but more than enough to justify the cost. In our world £300 can be easily spent on upgrades that only make a subtle difference, these were much more than that for me in my room, with my system NAC 82/2x Hi Cap/NAP 180.

I also use the Orea pucks under my Innuos streamer and DAC plus their zaZen platform under my CD5.

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They turned my cheapie Focal Chora 816 floorstanders into Arias I think. Huge difference as I’ve said elsewhere. I don’t think I mentioned I have hardwood also.

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Floorstanders on Gaia3’s onto a suspended wooden floor here.
No negatives to report - adds clarity throughout frequency range and imaging helping musicality.
Try for yourself; there are enough keyboard warriors out there that haven’t even tried products they are rubbishing so I feel obliged to post my actual experience. :grinning:

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To me it was night and day. Brought the speakers to a different level.

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Gaia IIs - the best upgrade I made previously on my B&W 804 D2s now on my PMC twenty5 26is

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Nice to see you have retained you wine pic

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@NickofWimbledon. I have had the gaia 2s on my Kanta2 for last 18 months. They rest on isoaccoustic carpet spikes (relatively thick carpet/underlay). Once set up there was no going back. Like so many others here, I agree there was a marked improvement in bass and soundstage. With the overall cost including spikes being circa £900, and representing about 12% of the value of speakers, proportionally it was a worthwhile and cost effective purchase.

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I have used Gaia II under my Dynaudio Confidence C2 Platinum for years, pretty much since right after I got the speakers four years ago. They really cleaned up the bass, making it tighter, more refined and along with that resolution and definition across the range improved as well, as did accuracy in the soundstage.

My 88 lb speakers stand on a 92 yr old 2nd story hardware floor.

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