Vibrapods and Speakers

My single experience was kind of like Redkiwi's. I use Linn Sekrits, which are monitors but not a normal kind of box. They have a dedicated steel stand that bolts onto the back of the speaker. I tried V'Pods under the stands (suspended hardwood floor) and was really impressed at first. Better, more extended bass. More detail against blacker background. But I took them out about 2-3 weeks later. I had begun to be annoyed by a subtle raggedness in the midrange, which especially got to me when listening to female vocalists. At first, I was puzzled and didn't even think of connecting the problem with the V'Pods, but when it finally struck me to try taking them out, the problem was solved, and I was a happier man, even though I lost the V'Pods' benefits.

I have found negative results with vibrapods under my Avalon Accoustics producs. The cones they come with (Rigid) seem to work the best. I think the solid cones provide a more rigid support for the cabinet, hence reducing cabinet resonance. I touch the cabinet and put my ears close to hear what the speaker cabinets are radiating to validate my approach. As with the above posts, I think this is very dependent on environment. Bottom line -- they didn't work for me -- they do wonders under my cheap DVD player for HT.

Doug and Redkiwi, it think it was my speaker system that was referred to in the TAS article, if it was Anna Logg's article. I've been using Vibrapods, with some success, under the 180 pound woofer/subwoofer parts of my speaker system, and I've been pleased in that they have made the bass region of my system a little more articulate. Poor things are probably squished, although we did use a lot of them. The main reason I use them instead of spikes, other than to avoid wrecking a nice hardwood floor, is that my living/listening room is a suspended floor, over a 10 foot deep basement. I found spikes made my floor something of a sounding board; the vibrapods have been helpful in decoupling the speakers from the floor. Cheaper than putting additional supports and a beam under the speakers in the basement. If I had a concrete or other non-suspended floor, I would probably use cones of some sort.

RC, I believe Anna Logg was also mentioned in the Sounstage article by Greg Weaver couple years ago, they both had Von Schweikert speakers and she told Greg to use the vibrapods on the speakers instead of the Black Diamond Racing cones that came stock with speakers, they both were very positive about the results. I am very positive about pods and monitor speakers where the pods are inserted between the stand and speaker. With floor standing speakers I am not sure if the overall effect is superior to spike/cone mounting, it definitely is different sounding. I am continuing my evaluation in this area, but appreciate any other members experiences.