Personally I find the Gaia a bargain not only for their performance but the clean elegant looks. It’s not only rubber and springs but the machined chrome metal housing. The build quality is high and for the price they charge it appears reasonable to me. If the footers don’t look good or elegant, I wouldn’t have considered them.
The other reason the Gaias are sold in a set of 4 instead of 8 is the Gaias can be used below the equipment rack.
I was just wondering if the Gaias installed on the Kudos are placed directly on the wooden floor or the separate black platform as shown in the photo above?
Hi,
I’ve choose Franc Audio Ceramic disc (fat) with great results! they cost about twice the price from Gaia’s…
I did not hear the Gaia’s in comparison…
I prefer (among other things) the FA in terms of design and the way the spikes seat on them…
With my Focal Scala it’s a must.
A very clear upgrade.
There’s a couple of mentions above of good deals on Gaia’s at the moment. I’ve had a look around the internet but couldn’t see anything - any pointers? Thanks
Ryder you’re right the Gias are nice and shiny and my current solution is not aesthetically pleasing.
Previously, I had been simply using the Gias placed directly on the floor.
It arose by accident. The monitor stands were lying around and I needed somewhere to park the kudos on their spikes when I was trying out the audio Vectors on the Gias.
Interestingly, we, (the two experienced guys from my local Hi-Fi dealer, and I) discovered that the Gias sounded different, depending on the extent to which they were screwed into the base of the speaker, and better the bigger gap between speaker and the floor. To the extent that we needed longer threads since they became unsafe when screwed in one turn only.
Has anybody else tried this type of fine-tuning? This was particularly noticeable on the audio vectors.
And the design of the Gias is such that you can’t tighten up the knurled nut properly. There’s not enough space to use your fingers and you can’t use a spanner so they recommend using pliers which cannot grip properly since they form a V and you end up scratching that lovely shiny surface. So if you have to move the speaker, they are forever, working themselves loose and making it unstable.
Not a fan, I’m afraid. Something of a grudge purchase for me, but accept they can be sonically useful in some, but not all circumstances. I may well sell mine in the future.
Hope this doesn’t infringe forum rules. AudioT are currently doing an offer of a free Isoacoustics accessory with any Gaia purchase. I got a free ZaZen1 isolation platform for my TT.
Hi John, when I first tried the Gaia II last year, the sound got worse so I reinstalled the footers several times until I achieved the desired result. Yes, they appear to be rather fiddly. I didn’t really manage to ascertain the ideal set up of the Gaias (which is a shame) but just like you found that they sound different after the height was adjusted. I did some minor adjustments to the gap between the top and bottom nuts and that somewhat improved the sound to an acceptable level.
With the recent purchase of the Gaia III for another speaker last week, it was an instant success with the first installation although I’m not sure if things could be improved if I fiddle with the height of the screw. The screw went all the way into the base of the Gaia while it went halfway into the thread of the stands. It’s a very small gap between the top and bottom locking nuts. Yes I agree it is very difficult to tighten the nuts. I only do it with my fingers. I actually used the fingernails on both hands to tighten the nuts.
If the floor is not leveled, perhaps check if all footers are loaded properly. To exaggerate, 1 footer may be hanging in the air while the remaining 3 footers are pushed firmly to the floor. That may affect sound quality
Hi @Argyle_Mikey I am in a similar boat. Currently experimenting with items I had on hand to see what happens, being laminated 25mm bamboo on 5x7cm pieces of closed cell foam hot water pipe sleeves (3 on the front, 2 on the back). I have Dynaudio Sapphires on thick carpet/underlay on bouncy wooden floor, so speakers now move quite freely, about 2cm, at the top. Changes are not night and day and too much time and other tweaks between comparisons, so I may reverse it back to spikes to get a better picture. Definitely less noise through the floor, however, which was one of my side issues.
Hi Artoly,
That’s quite a lot of movement. Did you notice any deterioration in the image, when playing the usual test tracks (how far forward and to your right the dog barks at the start of “Amused To Death” is my go to for this) ?
Hi Argyle_Mikey. Thanks for introducing me to that album. I see why you use it for imaging tests, with dog well off to the right, chatting people off to the left and guitar between the speakers. As I can’t in good conscience (to the downstairs occupiers) revert to my past go-to of spikes on big screws through the carpet (as was recommended by the local Naim dealer back in the day), I have been comparing with and without the foam over my carpet floor under the wooding slabs (i.e. varying levels of isolation, but not decoupled vs. coupling). To be honest, I don’t think I was able to tell the difference between these in my system. Perhaps I’ll try larger mass slabs sometime. My speakers are 140cm high, so even 20mm at the top only translates to +/- 2-3mm vertical movement per foot. I am curious, anyone, how much movement this highly scientific ‘average one-finger light wobbe test’ produces with Gaias or Townshend’s?
Hi Artoly, my Townsends probably move 5mm side to side when pushed gently. I’ve used 2 Naim shims in the process of getting my Facts to sit solidly on the platforms. They rest on the podiums without spikes. ATB Peter
It’s tricky to judge, but I’d say that the movement of my speakers on brass discs, squashed into Vibrapods is rather less than 5mm, in any plane.
If you have any spare Vibrapods and (small diameter) footer discs, give it a go. It was one of those “wow” moments for me. Looks terrible, can’t be marketed as something innovative/pricey, sounds great.
I was clearing out my loft the other day…and bingo I found 12 big audioquest sorbothane puks … which I had used under valve amps in the 80’s/90’s. I cleaned them up and they are perfect…I then put 3 in place between my S12 speakers and my Solid Steel tripod stands… They support the S12’s really well - and there is a sort of gummy movement to the speaker if holding the speaker at the top and attempting to rock it. The stands are still spiked to the floor. I have not really tested this fully - but initial findings are: there is about 90% less vibration in steel of the stands (which I would think is a good thing) - the bass appears cleaner - not hugely so but I could detect it…I would say it sounds slightly leaner… The speakers appear to sound nice and open … The jury is out at the moment - I think I will need to give it time…
I use Townshends isolation Speaker bars, more affordable than the later speaker platforms following the same principles of course. Once you get these level you do have a little space either side to adjust your speaker positioning. I was absolutely shocked when listing to my PMC’s floorstanders having positioned these, I just seemed to gain across the sound spectrum. I later installed a platform under my CDS3, and later added the super tweeters, I really can’t speak highly enough of their products, whether you believe in the science or not, to my ears they have always improved things.
They rock in terms of sound but otherwise only when I nudge them looking for my next CD to play! On a serious note, it was like upgrading my speaker, Townshend indicate you will notice a little base loss, for me, nothing like, just seemed to hear more of everything with much greater control, they also look great, not important but certainly an added bonus.
Just back to Wimbledon from our Tasmanian holiday cottage. Here, I have Gaias between my B&W 804 D3s and a bouncy wooden floor.
In Tas, we are replacing the floor with local-wood laminate over concrete. Speakers are Neat Xplorers, and my experience in the UK means they will be getting Gaia IIIs on our next trip.
I will also probably swap the Naim A5 speaker cable for Kudos KS1, more for ease of bending than for the SQ difference.
