# IsoAcoustics Inc. Aperta and Modular Aluminum Speaker Stand Review Discussion Thread



## Todd Anderson (Jul 24, 2009)

Like most enthusiasts, I am forever on the hunt for cost effective, easy to implement, system improvements that can coax more performance from my home theater gear. The biggest roadblock is separating true game changers from snake oil prior to opening the wallet – after all, who wants to spend valuable coin on a product that simply exists within a system without any appreciable impact? If you’ve been in the home theater or two-channel game for a while, then you probably can jot down a laundry list of products that simply do not (and never will) live up to claims. That’s what makes the subject of today’s review a breath of fresh air.

*Read the Full Review*​


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## tcarcio (Jun 27, 2007)

Great review Todd. They really do make a difference in the demo videos I watched. I have the HPS SR70 speakers which are really commercial grade Heresy's. I sent them the dimensions to see if they have something that would work for me instead of the normal risers that come with the Heresy's that I was going to order. I have my speakers on carpet now so if they do make stands I can use I will have to put some wood or stone underneath the speaker for the stands to sit on. Thanks again. TC.


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## Todd Anderson (Jul 24, 2009)

Thanks, TC. 

They definitely have a product that will fit your needs - most likely a custom cut modular model. Based on the Weight of your speakers and the potential size of your speaker stands, you most likely won't need to put anything over your carpet. The folks at IsoAcoustics are very customer friendly...

The stands are the real deal. Very cool stuff.


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## tcarcio (Jun 27, 2007)

Sounds great, I will ask them about being on carpet when they get back to me. Hopefully tomorrow. I have been putting off ordering the risers because I really just don't like the look of them. Maybe this was why...:T


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## Todd Anderson (Jul 24, 2009)

tcarcio said:


> Sounds great, I will ask them about being on carpet when they get back to me. Hopefully tomorrow. I have been putting off ordering the risers because I really just don't like the look of them. Maybe this was why...:T


Of course it was why! :sn: Let us know what they say (and recommend). I'm sure there are others in your shoes...


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## tcarcio (Jun 27, 2007)

I absolutely will. :bigsmile:


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## Savjac (Apr 17, 2008)

Excellent review Todd, thank you very much.

My friend and I were just talking about a good way to raise and decouple the subwoofers from the floor. He noted that by raising his Velodyne off the floor a bit tended to tighten the bottom end and as such I was going to build something as well. This appears to be a good way to handle this situation and we wont have to construct anything. 
Again, thank you.


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## Talley (Dec 8, 2010)

Todd,

You should contact mapleshades and see if you can demo their products and do the same exact testing. They offer returns on purchased products so I'd assume you could do a demo for a review.

I'd be curious to see if you note any differences in their products as well. As we all know there is many many products available.


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## Todd Anderson (Jul 24, 2009)

Savjac said:


> Excellent review Todd, thank you very much. My friend and I were just talking about a good way to raise and decouple the subwoofers from the floor. He noted that by raising his Velodyne off the floor a bit tended to tighten the bottom end and as such I was going to build something as well. This appears to be a good way to handle this situation and we wont have to construct anything. Again, thank you.


Definitely! Just to note, the Modular stands lifted my subs 5-inches off the floor. The sub is completely decoupled... It's a great option.


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## Todd Anderson (Jul 24, 2009)

Talley said:


> Todd, You should contact mapleshades and see if you can demo their products and do the same exact testing. They offer returns on purchased products so I'd assume you could do a demo for a review. I'd be curious to see if you note any differences in their products as well. As we all know there is many many products available.


I'll check their products out...if something can be arranged, I'd be happy to write a review!


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## Talley (Dec 8, 2010)

I think your main difference in the audible differences will be heard over the 2 channel listening due to the stereo imaging. The decoupling/isolation provides less lateral movement keeping the voice coils/cones more inline than if they were just sitting on the floor/carpet. One key point I read in your review is by using this product you then can fine tune the alignment of the speaker and I'm assuming much finer/precision than just using spikes under a speaker which are rudimentary in their ability to achieve perfect alignment. Could this better alignment attribute more to the audible differences than the isolation itself? 

I suppose what I'm saying is... do we need isolation on the speakers as much as we need critical alignment... so if we had a stand that would allow easy precision adjustments on 5 axis (front/rear, side/side, up/down, tilt forward/reverse, tilt left/right) Something much easier to dial in than adjusting 4 spikes to get this accuracy.... which is why my uncle also says using the maple blocks aids in the fine tuning due to providing a hard surface vs. carpet to work with.


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## Todd Anderson (Jul 24, 2009)

There are lots of critical adjustments that can be made to speakers, each one bringing out better sound. Obviously, alignment is key. Getting speakers away from boundaries is another. Most HTS members, including yourself, are probably well aware of these various factors...so, I agree with you that positioning is a big deal. What the isolation stands introduce, more than anything, is managing the response of the speaker in the fore and aft direction, while resisting lateral movement which can cause a bobble-head like movement and lost focus.

I did touch on positioning in the review. These stands can be ordered to be much taller than the ones I reviewed (and can be adjusted to tilt)...so, technically, you place them on speaker stands, a desktop, etc, and truly align tweeter levels with ear level (if that's what you're aiming for).


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## Ethan Winer (Jul 21, 2006)

Todd Anderson said:


> The biggest roadblock is separating true game changers from snake oil prior to opening the wallet


I agree. Would you be willing to run Room EQ Wizard with and without one of these stands in place? I suppose the easiest test for you is with just one speaker playing, and the center makes sense because it's full range rather than just bass (subwoofer). You'll need a block of wood or a few books the same height as the isolating stand, because speaker height affects the response. A test like this would be much more valuable to me than subjective assessment, and I presume more valuable to others too.

Thanks!

--Ethan


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## Todd Anderson (Jul 24, 2009)

Ethan Winer said:


> I agree. Would you be willing to run Room EQ Wizard with and without one of these stands in place? I suppose the easiest test for you is with just one speaker playing, and the center makes sense because it's full range rather than just bass (subwoofer). You'll need a block of wood or a few books the same height as the isolating stand, because speaker height affects the response. A test like this would be much more valuable to me than subjective assessment, and I presume more valuable to others too.
> 
> Thanks!
> 
> --Ethan



Hi Ethan,

I did take measurements...with speakers height adjusted to keep it an even playing ground. Below are images (1/3 smoothing) of subwoofer only, two-channel (full range), and two-channel with subs.

Regards, Todd


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## Ethan Winer (Jul 21, 2006)

Todd Anderson said:


> I did take measurements...with speakers height adjusted to keep it an even playing ground. Below are images (1/3 smoothing) of subwoofer only, two-channel (full range), and two-channel with subs.


Excellent! Thanks Todd. But now you got me really curious. 

Since you have the data, can you post the same with no smoothing, and also hi-res waterfalls? Or better still, would you be willing to post the mdat files? This is something I've always been curious about, and nobody that I know of has ever measured isolation type speaker stands.

--Ethan


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## Todd Anderson (Jul 24, 2009)

Shoot me a PM with your email address and I'll send the files to you...would be great to have your expert eyes look them over...perhaps you can post some of the results you find interesting?


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## Ethan Winer (Jul 21, 2006)

Great, thanks, Done.

Last question for now: How well treated (acoustically) is the room where you did these tests?

--Ethan


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## Todd Anderson (Jul 24, 2009)

I'll get those to you later today!

As for the room...it's a 12X17X8 dedicated room, carpeted with pad. 

Front wall corner traps: 54" tall and 24" wide - 8" thick absorption 
Two front wall panels: 48"X24" - 4" thick absorption
Rear wall corner traps: 54" tall and 24" wide - 8" thick absorption, FRK facing
Rear wall binary slat diffuser - 6-feet wide, 5-feet high, with 2" thick absorption. centered on wall (1-ft from wall)
First Reflection points on walls treated with 2" absorption panels.

The room is completely blacked out, with minimal lighting, so pictures really are tough...but here are some images of the kinds corner traps and the rear wall diffuser/absorption panel after they were made...


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## Ethan Winer (Jul 21, 2006)

Awesome, thanks Todd.


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## Todd Anderson (Jul 24, 2009)

Thank you, Ethan! Look forward to hearing if you see anything of interest in the data. :T


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## Tonto (Jun 30, 2007)

Thanks, Todd, great review. This looks like a product that actually preforms. 

And thanks Ethan! This could be turing into a special thread. It would be nice if you could add other product reviews with real world comparisons. Really nice if Ethan would keep deciphering data or show you how he does it (thinking "Sticky" with different products under it). Even more so since he says that *NOBODY ELSE* is doing it! This is the stuff that has made HTS such a great site! 

Again, great work.


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## Todd Anderson (Jul 24, 2009)

Thanks Quentin - It's definitely a great product and Dave Morrison is an incredibly nice guy and passionate about what IsoAcoustics is manufacturing. I hope a few members dip their toes into the pool and report back... and it is great to have folks like Ethan putting their own spin on results. Hoping he finds something of interest buried in the graphs.:T


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## Todd Anderson (Jul 24, 2009)

I just received confirmation from IsoAcoustics concerning confirmed show dates for the coming year:

They are confirmed for CES, Axpona, RMAF and the Munich High End Show. 

There is a good chance they will have a presence at the Newport Beach show and possibly Capitol Audio Fest and the New York Audio Show as well.


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## Talley (Dec 8, 2010)

I sent my uncle a link to have him take a look and this was his comment:

"Old technology done a different way. MAPLESHADE is the answer. 40 yrs. of every tweak there is and I am sold."


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## tcarcio (Jun 27, 2007)

Sent them an email on 11/30. No response yet. :sad: OK, I just called and they said they would try and get back to me today.


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## Ethan Winer (Jul 21, 2006)

Thanks for your patience. As it happens, right after I posted asking Todd for measurements, I got swamped with a huge job editing a 2-hour music concert video for a friend. That's now done, and I have REW open with Todd's data in front of me. But I'm having trouble making sense of it. Todd, the sub-only comparison you posted shows a 5 dB volume difference over the "usable" bass range above 10 Hz. I don't understand how propping a sub up on a platform could reduce its output by 5 dB. 1 dB or less I guess could make sense. But 5 dB? Is there any chance something else changed?

For the 2-channel test the differences are all above the frequency range I'd expect a "vibration" product could make a difference. There's a small difference around 400 Hz, then not much difference until we get to 5 or 6 KHz. At those high frequencies, moving the speaker or microphone even half an inch could account for changes that large.

I also saved a waterfall decay times overlay, attached below, showing the 2-channel comparison with and without the stands. There is some difference in decay times, but it's really tiny so it's hard to imagine the difference could be audible. Since isolation stands like this claim to address "vibration problems," I'd expect a waterfall to be the most revealing of any differences!

Todd, I assume you don't live anywhere near me in western Connecticut, but if I'm wrong I'd be pleased to visit you and try a test together (if you still have the stands).

BTW, when looking for your location I noticed you listed solid state pinball as your first interest. My wife and I are _huge_ into pinball, and every day we play our four vintage (solid state with CPU) machines ranging from 1979 (Gorgar) to 1994 (Rescue 911). If you're ever in my area please stop by to visit and play pinball. :T

--Ethan





Todd Anderson said:


> I did take measurements...with speakers height adjusted to keep it an even playing ground. Below are images (1/3 smoothing) of subwoofer only, two-channel (full range), and two-channel with subs.


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## Todd Anderson (Jul 24, 2009)

Hi Ethan! Let me run the sub test again...and I'll send you the file....I ran a lot of sweeps - perhaps I erroneously deleted matching tests in the shuffle? Unfortunately, we are separated by quite a few miles. I'll send you PM. 

And, yes... Pinball is one of my passions... Right now I have a 10 game collection with games like 1981's Black Hole... Up through Williams era games like Bram Stokers Dracula and Addams Family... To recent Stern's like Star Trek and Jersey Jack's Wizard of Oz. I enjoy restoring machines and do some repair work locally when I have time. Likewise, if you ever find yourself in DC, let me know!


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## Ethan Winer (Jul 21, 2006)

Rather than tack on my analysis and tests to this thread, I started a new thread:

http://www.hometheatershack.com/for...udspeaker-isolation-products.html#post1384906

Thanks Todd for the inspiration to do this, and for the loan of the Aperta. I'll get it in the mail back to you next week.

--Ethan


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## dgmartin (Oct 29, 2011)

Reviewing tweaks is a difficult task you did very well! 
Just hypothesizing, likely it made less of a difference to the center channel since it is horizontal. By being horizontal the cabinet mass and driver forces are close to the mount and the mount works only along the driver axis whereas, on floorstanders, the speakers tries to "rock" front to back and makes use of the vertical stiffness/damping of the dampers as well.


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