Townshend Seismic Platform Review

I'm sure the relative performance of the Townsend Seismic Platform and Gaia footers depends largely on the floor they are isolating the speakers from. You don't mention what your floor is made from in the review. This would be very helpful to any readers who may be considering this platform
 
The Floor is concrete with a thin carpet over it. You can also check out my system on the Members Systems page.

ozzy
 
Hear Here said:
I'm sure the relative performance of the Townsend Seismic Platform and Gaia footers depends largely on the floor they are isolating the speakers from. You don't mention what your floor is made from in the review. This would be very helpful to any readers who may be considering this platform
Click to expand...

Having experimented with springs tempered to the weight of my speakers at 80 kg & also having tried the Townsend Seismic Bars on both wooden & carpet covered concrete floors I can advise your assumption is not correct. Using springs made a significant improvement to the sound top to bottom similar to that experienced by Ozzy. In our experiments we were able to place a wooden "chock" under the speakers to negate the spring's effectiveness in a matter of seconds allowing for genuine comparisons of with & without springs.
 
I agree with all of the observations Ozzy made in his review. I use custom sized podiums for my BeoLab 5 speakers and the positive differences across base, midrange and high frequencies are evidently clear: especially bass and midrange lock in beautifully.
 
I can also attest that on my Meridian DSP8000SE speakers the Townshend Seismic platform does a profound difference to the clarity across all frequencies. Highly endorsed.

Also no contest against other brands/platforms. These isolate the best from the floor. Have had wooden floor and now. Carpet/concrete.
 
Great review, Ozzy!

I can also vouch for the absolute and amazing effectiveness with a huge return on investment using the podiums under my near 300-pound Legacy Valor. The effects in total frequency range, 12 Hz - 35 kHz improvement, imaging and rendering of total space is well beyond my best hopes.

Incredibly effective and like one post above, readily verifiable through simple tests.

Two Legacy Aeris customers and 1 Whisper XDS report the same. Additionally, a Magico M6 and an MBL Extreme user I consulted prior to purchase said the same.

Sent from my SM-G998U using Tapatalk
 
Nice read. I was always curious about these.

I have Magico Q3s weighing about 120kg a piece so I wonder how on earth I could get them on there without breaking myself or scratching / damaging the podiums.

And I see that at this weight it's just on the border of the E and F load capacity, so which one's best?

Does anyone have any tips?

Thanks!
 
Hi, they will customize it to your speaker weight. I got the podium pair done to support my Rockport Avior which weigh 100 kg each!
Just call them
Cheers
Sujay
 
pietpara said:
Nice read. I was always curious about these.

I have Magico Q3s weighing about 120kg a piece so I wonder how on earth I could get them on there without breaking myself or scratching / damaging the podiums.

And I see that at this weight it's just on the border of the E and F load capacity, so which one's best?

Does anyone have any tips?

Thanks!
Click to expand...

It was demonstrated to me by Peter MacKay of Magico when he was kind enough to fine tune by A3's in my room that the sealed aluminum speaker of Magico should not be anchored or isolated like wood or other types of speakers. The energy form the cabinets need to travel to the floor by the included spikes or Apods. I was using Giai II under them at that time. So, I would not consider going to a platform. What are you trying to solve from your speakers?
 
Thanks guys,

I also heard about Magico saying that Magico's best being coupled to the floor.
I had my doubts created for a couple of reasons.
One is that Magico themselves sell Apods or Mpods etc. which do some coupling magic, so they might just say that so there's more chance you'll buy their solution. Aka marketing.
Secondly, I heard many good things about all kinds of solutions other than spikes, like the iso-acoustics and Townshend. Also from people with Magico's.
Thirdly, and maybe the foremost reason, when I just installed the Q3s they were still on wheels, so somewhat higher and not anchored to the floor like a spike would. I expected that the SQ would improve when I'd place then on the spikes. But the contrary was true, was my impression. The stereo image reduced, especially loosing on height of the stage and I experienced no improvement in the lower end, for example.
So that made me wonder... should I just raise the speakers again or buy Apods or something similar. I find the Apods disproportionately expensive here in Europe (€5500) which I'm not willing to pay without being able to try them out (and dealer here don't do home demoes).
So, looking for more affordable solutions came to mind and Townshend has very good reviews.
Whence my interest here.
I'm also still wondering if a more simpel large block of granite would be what I seek.

(My floor is wood on concrete, btw)

Cheers!
 
When I bought the A3's I used the included spikes. And a month later the Apods were available from Magico. At that time they sold for $1500 for the eight. My first thought was is Magico just now coming out with these to make more money? So, I did some research and the Giai II were available for 1/2 the price. No one had any reports as to which performed better. I went cheap and got the Giai II. Used them until Peter setup my speaker with them and then we removed the Giai II and went back to the spikes. The sound and sound stage just anchored itself. I then bought the Apods for the A3's and noticed a noticeable improvement. Again the energy from a sealed aluminum speaker like a Magico needs to send the energy to the floor.
 
swedegoingwest said:
I agree with all of the observations Ozzy made in his review. I use custom sized podiums for my BeoLab 5 speakers and the positive differences across base, midrange and high frequencies are evidently clear: especially bass and midrange lock in beautifully.
Click to expand...

What is the size of podiums that you use for the BeoLab 5?
 
pietpara said:
Nice read. I was always curious about these.

I have Magico Q3s weighing about 120kg a piece so I wonder how on earth I could get them on there without breaking myself or scratching / damaging the podiums.

And I see that at this weight it's just on the border of the E and F load capacity, so which one's best?

Does anyone have any tips?

Thanks!
Click to expand...
With a good friend and some calm planning, I was able to readily get a pair of Legacy Valor (mine as built are 298 lbs each) on Townshend podiums. If you go this route, feel free to write me; happy to explain the methods used on a short call.

If your speakers are at the top of load rating for category E, then I suggest the next category up.

Sent from my SM-G998U using Tapatalk
 
I have my 100 lb. speakers on Townshend Podiums. They are on a second story carpeted suspended wood floor. Needles to say I consider them an essential component since they cleaned up some bass resonance frequencies transmitted by the floor. Improvements were a better soundstage, imaging and elimination of some ugly bass nodes. I bought some one inch adhesive floor sliders and attached them to speakers so I could fine tune their placement on the Podiums without damaging / scratching the Podiums.
 
Hi guys, I am considering buying a pair of Townsend podiums to go under my Kharma DB 7’s.
Has anyone tried these under Kharma speakers, and had positive results? I have no issues currently, but thought these might offer more of an upgrade than cables lets say.
Mike, since you are a Kharma dealer, do you have any thoughts about this?
I also notice they recommend you set the speakers right on the podium surface, not sure I want to risk scratching them, so would probably try with the outriggers and spikes first.
I live in an apartment building too, so think these may reduce noise travelling through the floor.
 
No Quarter said:
Hi guys, I am considering buying a pair of Townsend podiums to go under my Kharma DB 7’s.
Has anyone tried these under Kharma speakers, and had positive results? I have no issues currently, but thought these might offer more of an upgrade than cables lets say.
Mike, since you are a Kharma dealer, do you have any thoughts about this?
I also notice they recommend you set the speakers right on the podium surface, not sure I want to risk scratching them, so would probably try with the outriggers and spikes first.
I live in an apartment building too, so think these may reduce noise travelling through the floor.
Click to expand...

No experience with Khama db7 though I have used the Townshend podium under my Rockport Aviors (220 pounds) for over 6 years before I ended up selling my Aviors. I set them up directly without footers as recommended. A cable upgrade and a vibration solution are I guess two different things. All I can say is that the podium made a substantial difference. The bass response is way better in terms of articulation and slam. And I guess the difference is larger with ported speakers, which the Kharma and Rockport are.
I currently have the Marten Parker Trio diamond which come with their custom footers made by Isoacoustics and hence my Townshend podium are up for sale. Let me know if you are interested to buy. Happy to discuss.

Cheers

Sujay
 
No Quarter said:
Hi guys, I am considering buying a pair of Townsend podiums to go under my Kharma DB 7’s.
Has anyone tried these under Kharma speakers, and had positive results? I have no issues currently, but thought these might offer more of an upgrade than cables lets say.
Mike, since you are a Kharma dealer, do you have any thoughts about this?
I also notice they recommend you set the speakers right on the podium surface, not sure I want to risk scratching them, so would probably try with the outriggers and spikes first.
I live in an apartment building too, so think these may reduce noise travelling through the floor.
Click to expand...

Never tried them. I have a customer with them on his Avantgardes and they are as wobbly as F!

Clarisys is designing, in partnership, a new self leveling platform which will be interesting. It may extend it to other applications/speakers, I don’t know. It apparently brings any resonance down to 8hz. But right now it’s just in the very early design stage before anybody asks me “what’s the price?”


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro
 
The Townshend podium is ‘wobbly’ by design! Does feel a bit unstable at first but they are super stable and quite effective, as I wrote. Having said this, the isoacoustic OEM footers on the Marten are excellent as well.
 
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