jimiles

Overall Rating
 5 of 5

Value Rating
 5 of 5

Used product for
1 to 3 months

Price Paid:  $0.00 from Music Direct

Summary:
Vibrapods proved to be a signficant upgrade to my Polk RTA 15TL speakers. The Polks are a large floorstanding speaker of early 1990's vintage. I used two Cusinart end-grain 14x17 chopping blocks for bases. The five vibrapods went on top of those (face up) in a pattern that achieved good load distribution. Finally, I heaved the Polks onto thier new homes. My first observation was very non-sound quality related; the chopping blocks slid efortlessley arcross my carpeted floor, making it a breeze to fine tune the speaker positions.

The difference was profound. It took me a moment to determine that I'd made things radically better and not worse! Oh yea...way better. Bass is no longer omni-present. Deep bass extension is way up (Down?!?). Bass over-hang is a thing of the past. Midrange clarity took a huge step forward on music. Dialog clarity on movies is just off-the-charts. I can't say enough about that last point.


The effects of isolation are additive. Isolating your Blu-Ray player is good, isolating your speakers is better, isolating both is just insane. Though I have not yet attempted it, I suspect there are serious video related improvements to isolating televisions and projectors. Please contact me with your results if you try this before I do!

Moral to this story; your existing system has a TON of potential waiting to be released. Before you consider a mega-dollar component or cable upgrade, apply a liberal dose of Vibrapods starting with your speakers and source components.


Polk RTA 15TL
B&K AVR-205i
Sony BDP-S300
AppleTV
Equitech 1.5Q
AudioQuest NRG5, NRG1.5, CV-6, Optilink-5, YIQ-3

Strengths:
Improvements that even your non-audiophile girlfriend can hear at price that won't have you sleeping on the couch.

Weaknesses:
Not necessairly a weakness, but you must pay strict attention to the weight capacity of each model.

Similar Products Used:
Iso Nodes <----these rock profoundly for isolating small devices.

Price Paid:  $24.00 from Audio Advisor

Summary:
Whoa!!! I can't believe the difference that a few little pieces of rubber acn make! Then again, the less vibration that my PlayStation 2 is subject to, the better the laser focuses. The end result? Much better sound (wider soundstage, more dynamic, and much deeper and controlled bass). Lest I forget the overall improvement in picture quality as well. All my games and dvds look much smoother, and have better contrast. One of the first improvements that I actually noticed was a pronounced lessening of my tv's scan-lines, when using the Vibrapod-equipped PlayStation 2. I must note that the effects are much more pronounced with the pods actually placed upside-down. Some experimenting, with key placement points might also be necessary.

Strengths:
Incredible improvement, for so little cost!!! Don't you love science, when applied correctly? In my case, am using a set of four Model 1s. All said, my initial skepticism is long gone!

Weaknesses:
Requires a little patience, in finding optimal placement of pods. Can be overly squished, if using improperly matched pods for weight of component (nothing that 15 minutes at 400 degrees can't solve, though!).

Price Paid:  $24.00 from audio ad.

Summary:
At first when I put them under my Sony 999es dvd player it made the sound very strident.Bugged the heck out of me.Luckily I read that you can place them face up or dpwn I tried the other way.All of the sudden it was strident but smooth, like an SACD is supposed to sound.They work well at taking care of vibration.I didn't notice any more clarity in image but more detailed bass.I just sent away for some more to try under my Music Fidelity A3-24 DAC.We'll see what happens next.If its more successful I'll write another review. gear:magnepan 12 speakers(front) mag-center mag mmg rears Rotel 1066 preamp Rotel 985 amp music fidelity ac2-24 dac transparent cable outlaw IBCM bass management

Strengths:
vibration management,tihter bass

Weaknesses:
get them the right side up

Similar Products Used:
none

Price Paid:  $48.00 from Audio Advisor

Summary:
I purchased eight Model 1s for use with my NAD C541 CD player and C420 Tuner. Currently, I have both units stacked (C541 on the bottom, feet removed) on top of a symmetrical arrangement of the 8 vibrapods on a really cheap ($14) wood rack. This rack is inbetween my speakers (B&W DM601S2s), and hence absorb a lot of vibrations (given that the rack is made of wood). I purchased the vibrapods because I discovered that my equipment was subject to a lot of vibrations due to my set up. I could feel these vibrations quite well at moderate volume when I put my hand on my CD player. Before I started using the vibrapods, I had thought that there was a lack of realism in instruments and vocals. After I installed the vibrapods, there was a significant improvement in realism of instruments (e.g. Sting - All This Time) and vocals (e.g. Celine Dion, Mariah Carey, Jill Scott) across most of my CDs. Bass was much more detailed and well defined, and a little deeper than before (e.g. Jamiroquai). Also, I found that instruments are better separated (e.g. Sting - All This Time). I think people will certainly have mixed experiences with the vibrapods, depending a lot on factors such as: - Quality of equipment and built in isolation (The NAD uses hard rubber feet) - Current level of vibrations experienced by the equipment - Set up in room of current equipment (e.g. racks, stands, etc.) I believe the improvements showed up very well because of the significant amount of vibrations my CD player was being subject to. I think these vibrations were creating errors in reading the CDs, which in turn reduced the detail retrieval capabilities of the C541. I would recommend the vibrapods wholeheartedly to those who know that their equipment experiences a lot of vibrations, especially for mechanical equipment such as CD players and turntables. There was a significant reduction in the amount of vibrations I could feel on my CD player. (but still not zero - for that I think I will need to ditch my $14 rack and buy a quality metal rack) You can try them yourself (in the US) at AudioAdvisor.com or from Vibrapod.com. Try them for up to 30 days, and if they don''t work for you, just return them. And no, I don''t represent Vibrapod or AudioAdvisor...I''m just a college senior.

Strengths:
- Significant increase in detail - Bass more well rounded and defined - Better separation of instruments

Weaknesses:
- A little short for my NAD equipment; I had to remove the feet on my C541 CD player.

Similar Products Used:
None

Summary:
First I put them on my CD player, then on my amp. The sound became somewhat better (not a huge difference)I then bought a third set for my preamp, and the sound degraded. I took them off and while I was puting the stock feet back on I had the idea of taking the setr off the power amp and using the two sets under my speakers, (now that I had two sets of the same model vibrapod. After putting them underneith my speaker in between the bottom of the speaker and the stand plate I realized that vibrapods work their magic best with speakers. I can't believe what a HUGE improvement I got. My speakers are so much less "wooly" sounding and now that they are decoupled there is less dirstortion wich means that I can push them farther then before. I love them!!

Strengths:
decouples speaker from stand

Weaknesses:
Does not work well with ALL audio equipment, it actually made my preamplifier sound worse!

Similar Products Used:
none