The room is long 33 feet and I listen across the 16 foot side. Front wall is full of mounted African animals. Right side is all glass, two 7 foot windows and a sliding door. YUCK.
The Grimm MU1 and the Lampizator Horizon are producing a dream digital sound. I had the full Vivaldi stack and it was too flat and analytical for my tastes. The Gryphon EVO amp was also hard won after a Naim DR NAP 300 to Parasound JC1+ to M900u Luxman to ARC 160Ms. The EVO amp is even better than adding the JC1+ bottom end to the ARCs resolving mids, but it's even more rich and engaging. The two Tube traps on the front wall made a huge improvement in imaging and timbre. Way more contribution than the $1600 cost. The three 6 inch thick 2 by 4 foot GIK panels on the rear wall seemed to make no sonic contribution, but they look good. The Rockport Cygnus have a sound that is both extremely resolving, yet with no harshness that used to be the price paid for resolution. These speakers are highly recommended.
Can you tell me more about how important the streamer, Grimm MU1....is for your system? Did you try other AES cables before settling on the Shunyata Omega? I'm considering adding a dedicated streamer to my system and would be interested in your findings....
I won't be trying out any changes in cables. I'm interested only in what the Podiums will do for my loudspeakers.
There is no budget for dabbling with cabling. I can't believe I spent that much on the podiums, and they have a lot to live up to, but I believe they will, from the comments of those that are using them.in their systems.
Just to add to Millercarbon's comments. I too added the Townsend F1 interconnects and speaker wires, only because the pods made such a difference in exactly the way their website and the sales rep suggested they would. I had been in a pretty intense cable search with two interconnects and a set of SCs from Cardas and Shunyata with a retail price of 13K for three pairs of wires. They are great cables, I'm not knocking them, but I had selected them as tuning devices to deal with the ringing/sibilance that come to find out was a vibration problem solved by the pods. When I put in the F1 interconnects and speaker cables I was hearing a purity of sound, details and imaging that was better than my previous combo. As MC says they might be adressing the ringing in the cables, I don't know, but they sound great. I sold my other wires and even selling them used, pocketed thousands in savings and ended up with a better sound. I have also come to believe that interconnects and speaker wires should be from the same company. I don't know maybe PCs too. It's expensive and I thought it was both a cable marketing and magazine reviewer shill, but it turned out in my case a better approach. This is unless you have component issues you want to address using cables to tune it. Good luck and please keep us informed as you experience these products.
Your experience is similar to mine. I started with Pods under my turntable thinking that would be the biggest, and was surprised when the impact on my integrated tube amp was at least as big. With the turntable most of the improvement was eliminating resonance that was coloring instruments, and lowering the noise floor. With the amp it did the same but the biggest improvement was dynamics and a midrange/top end that was a lot more clean and clear and detailed. Similar to what you had, less ringing made the top end clean and clearer than ever.
Podiums were put off for last, just found it hard to believe anything could really be worth that much money. Didn't take long hearing them to know they are worth every penny.
The Townshend F1 cables by the way have a lot of the same effect. Pods eliminate physical ringing, F1 cables eliminate electronic ringing caused by impedance mismatch. Totally different mechanism, very similar result.
I will be posting about how they effect the sound of my custom built Tannoys. They have sounded great for years as they are, so any improvement will be a remarkable thing. Really looking forward to putting them to use.
Yes I did have significant improvements when I put the podiums under my speakers. I had Isoacoustics on them, but the pods are much better. I am not going to write up all the aspects of the sound improvements, just know for me it was great. That said I put both of my Ref 10 preamp cases on two platforms and that for me was even better. The sibilance or ringing I had been fighting went away. I was shocked. The next night I put my streamer on a platform and that was a great improvement as well. Townsend says the biggest bang for the buck is the speaker podiums. I’m my system I would say the electronics made the most important improvements. To expand on this point I had a vibration ringing problem they fixed. With the speakers they just made a good situation even better. They are a very inexpensive tweak. Much better value than chasing expensive cables(I’ve done that too). Please share what you find. Townsend is really on to something with these pods. Last point is I didn’t understand the product line before I started buying. They sell individual pods and corner pod sets and sometimes the individual pods fit better on shelves than the platforms.
I'm interested in your Townshend Audio Seismic Isolation Pods. I have ordered a pair of size 4 for my speakers, they will be in early next week.
Did you have a pleasant experience when you got yours installed? Everyone I have spoken to has been enormously impressed with them. Was your reaction the same?
