Matt from Audio T Cardiff takes a deeper look into the story behind one of our favourite brands, IsoAcoustics, and how we can better isolate the components in our Hi-Fi systems.

As promised, I’m following on from last month's blog and talking about IsoAcoustics; what makes them tick, how they got into the audio business and the evolution of their purpose and design process. But, more importantly, how IsoAcoustics can help fine-tune your Hi-Fi components from turntable, amplification, right down to your speakers.

So come with me now, and let’s take this journey and see where we end up…

Last month I invited you to join me as I continued on my personal journey through Hi-Fi and talked about the importance of dedicated furniture and the difference it makes to how our components sound. But I’m not stopping things there… Although people don’t realise it, there’s more to isolation than meets the eye (or ears), and this is where IsoAcoustics comes into the equation.

Like many Audio T customers, I own a few IsoAcoustics products which I use in my personal system. At the time of writing this, I have Orea Graphite isolation pucks under my turntable and speakers. Before I talk about the difference it has made in my system’s sound, let's talk a little about where IsoAcoustics as a company....

So where did it all begin?

Like a lot of great audio innovations out there, IsoAcoustics was born in the recording studio. This is where the now company president and co-founder of IsoAcoustics, Dave Morrison, and co-designer and inventor, Robert G. Dickie, both from Ontario, Canada, started.

Dave and Robert's ideas took shape whilst working with television and sound studios such as CBC (Canadian Broadcasting Corporation) back in 2010, using their patented speaker stands to help isolate and control the speaker system within the studio. But isolation work with CBC studios wasn’t only limited to speaker stands. Dave also worked on the structural side of the very building they worked in, using isolation treatment under the suspended floors, helping to create the perfect studio recording environment.

Dave’s passion for sound and attempting to recreate perfect audio has helped many studios around the world. All their hard work and design resulted in the birth of IsoAcoustics in 2012. The rest, as they say, is history…

“How do IsoAcoustic products work?” I hear you ask!

First, imagine a perfectly still pond. Now imagine throwing a stone into said pond. When the stone hits the water, you can clearly see the ripples expanding across the water’s surface.

What does isolation have in common with ripples in a pond, I hear you ask? Well, this is how sound waves work. They radiate in all directions away from the source, the only significant difference is that we can’t see them.

The issue with isolation when it comes to Studio, Hi-Fi or Home Cinema equipment is that we’re not just dealing speakers, sound waves and standing waves (the bouncing of sound waves between fixed points). We also have to deal with vibrations created by the physical components.

All of these waves and vibrations are moving the air around us, which affects our listening space and, more importantly, our listening experience and thus the enjoyment of music.

There’s a lot of physics involved in all of this. For example, when a loudspeaker cone moves forward pushing air, the opposing force wants the enclosure to move backward. In an ideal world, the cabinet would not move or vibrate at all. But that is only achieved with an enclosure of infinite mass, which is a physical impossibility.

But that problem isn’t limited to just the cone and cabinet. A loudspeaker will sit on something, whether that be the floor, a desktop or speaker stand, each surface will have the same problem opposing forces and vibrations. The unwanted resonant frequencies and vibrations from the speaker work their way through the surface they sit on. Obviously most floorstanding speakers will use spikes to attempt to quell these effects by dramatically reducing the touching surface areas… But that’s not enough.

So, I guess that leads us on to question of “How does an IsoAcoustics product help to counteract these problems?”

A great example of one of IsoAcoustic’s products and how it controls this very problem is the Aperta speaker stands. Dave Morrison and Robert G. Dickie effectively developed a floating speaker stand that has two specially designed upper and lower platforms that manage how sound reflects within the two structures.

Internally, rubber bushings are used in the top and bottom plates, which the connecting rods push into. These bushings enable front-to-back movement of the connecting rods while minimizing side-to-side motion, effectively creating a floating speaker stand with each connecting rod decoupled from any outer casing.

A very similar design principle is used in other products in the range, such as the Gaia isolation feet and the Orea pucks.

Time to weigh-in

For those not in the know, rubber is measured by tensile strength, the composition, and the thickness of the material used. So, each of the varying models of Gaia feet and Orea pucks have different weight-load options, meaning you can get the right isolation for your specific product - from small desktop speakers, to the biggest floorstanding monoliths or to massive monoblock power amplifiers.

The great thing is IsoAcoustics has simplified the way to find the right products for your equipment using their product selection wizard, which you can find on our site here. Trust me, it’s such a valuable tool!

So, to answer the question, “What Do these products do to help with unwanted vibrations in equipment?” The answer is that they effectively help to remove most of these unwanted vibrations, reducing noise and providing us with the best listening experience possible. Take, for instance, my personal setup. As you may know, I’m quite limited with space and trying to control frequencies such as bass and also things like acoustic feedback became somewhat of a problem in my room.

So how did I fix these issues in the room and fine tune my system.

If you read last month’s blog you will know I bought a Solidsteel rack to compliment my system., but I didn't stop there. I had to think about how to control vibrations toward my turntable, causing the feedback issue I was experiencing.

I have used the Orea Graphite pucks at three points under the turntable. The effect of using these has eliminated the feedback and tightened up the sound from my turntable source. I have also used the Oreos on my speaker stands as my Dynaudios have to sit pretty close to the wall. Using the pucks have on the speakers gives more control on the bass frequencies and opens up the mids, giving the speakers a more focused and detailed sound.

In conclusion

IsoAcoustics is quite an amazing company, and Dave and Robert have come up with some true engineering marvels, bringing near perfection to how equipment sounds in the studio and in our homes. My best advice is to try their products and listen to the differences they make to how your Hi-Fi system sounds. It's surprising in a good way, trust me.

Thank you for taking the time to read our blog!

Matt - Audio T Cardiff

If you have any questions about any of the equipment featured in this article, or any other Hi-Fi or home cinema enquiries, be sure to Contact Us.

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