![]() The heavy steel platform is supported at each corner by Townshend’s Captive Load Cells that extend beyond the perimeter of the platform, providing a stable base. The Podiums arrived fully assembled and nicely appointed with a black crackle finish. Engineered “floated” floors are not uncommon in recording studios and even in some costly dedicated listening rooms. Rather than amplifying or tuning the bond between the floor and the loudspeaker by coupling with footers, Townshend aims to eliminate the interaction at the root-to sever what is essentially a feedback loop of mechanical dysfunction and spurious vibrations between the speaker and the floor or, as Townshend describes it, to break “the acoustic connection between the floor and the speaker, preventing the passage of deleterious vibrations both to and from the speaker cabinets.” I found another way of looking at it: The Podiums become a newly suspended floor over my existing one. The Townshend approach heads in the opposite direction. But it struck me at the time that the “improvement” seemed to occur in a fairly narrow band of the midbass-resulting in an amusical emphasis that once heard couldn’t be ignored. My initiation into this practice took place in the 1970s when I placed the popular Tiptoes brand of aluminum spiked footers beneath a pair of AudioPro subs, and immediately noted an improvement in low-frequency control and pitch definition. Back then, this was the accepted way to remediate resonances and colorations. My ATC SCM50 active towers were ideal candidates.įor myself, and TAS readers of a certain age, the mechanical isolation of components, especially speakers, means mass-loading them or coupling them to the floor using pointed footers or some variation thereof. I promised myself that when I finally had a stout pair of loudspeakers on hand, I would arrange to review the Seismic Podiums. My head-scratching encounter with the Seismic Isolation Podiums more than piqued my curiosity. Known for its distinctive tonearm-damping trough, Townshend Audio had, REG concluded, shown “what remarkable results can be obtained, not by flinging mass and money at the problem…but by inspired engineering.” That ’table garnered a Golden Ear Award in 2011. But Townshend Audio is also celebrated for preamps, super-tweeters, cables, and perhaps most prominently the Rock 7 turntable, reviewed by Robert E. But what exactly were they?Ī brief backstory: Max Townshend and his Townshend Audio team have built a small kingdom on the basis of innovative isolation/decoupling technologies among their products are Seismic Sink platforms and stands (reviewed in Issues 148 and 114 respectively). The brochure I grabbed called them Seismic Isolation Podiums. This was my heart-stopping introduction to premium speaker isolation, Townshend Audio-style. The loudspeakers were sitting on heavy platforms elevated at each corner by some mysterious pod-like footer. I looked down and found the cause for my alarm. But no, it merely sprung back into its original vertical position, reminding me of my Bozo the Clown inflatable punching bag from the 1960s. In panic, I removed my hand as quickly as possible ready to catch the speaker if it toppled over. Suddenly the entire speaker began rocking in place, pitching gently to and fro. I walked up to a pair of slender floorstanding loudspeakers and casually placed my hand on top of one of them-the classic audiophile move meant to gauge weight and stability. ![]() It happened on the main exhibit floor at a trade show, quite by accident. I will just keep the mixer thanks for bad customer service and I won’t be purchasing from Seismic Audio anymore.T rue story. ![]() So I checked with shipping costs and it would be about $40 to return the mixer and for my return will only be $118 minus the $40 to ship it back. I explained that it should be a prepaid return because of the circumstances, he actually had a serious attitude about they will not pay to return it back. So I called Seismic Audio and a man answered the phone, so I explained to him the situation and that I wanted to return the mixer because of the description saying about the rca outputs not being accurate and could he please send a return label but he was blunt about saying well we paid to ship it to you so it’s on you to pay to ship it back. It actually has no rca outputs that I can use for sending a stereo signal to 2 powered speakers and use the volume control on the mixer. However I want to return the 4 channel mixer because in the description it says it has 4 total rca outputs but actually doesn’t, it has tape in and record out, and those are for using an equalizer. The products seem to be of decent quality for the price. ![]() I ordered an Aftershock 18” active Sub and a 4 channel mixer and have ordered about 3 times in the past. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Details
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |