Attack of the PODs!
No they are not from Mars! They are from London: Designed, constructed, and shipped from London, England by the brilliant Max Townshend to American audiophiles like us, for the best replacement of the air filled bladder sinks of old. The PODs isolate your gear like it was suspended in outer space. They allow both tube and solid state gear to bloom in extraordinary ways. At $675 for a set of 4 Seismic Pods, tailored in weight to your specific piece weighing from 4-500 pounds, you will achieve resonance control you only dreamed of in the past! You can adjust the level as well! The Pods are a sonic miracle, and the best footers I know of in the here-and-now for maximizing the sound of valuable audio gear.
The biggest improvement I heard was with phono, specifically the E.A.R. 324 Solid State Phono Stage. I have tried numerous expensive tweaks under this mainly transformer coupled unit to enhance its sound, with only negative effect. With the Pods, it blooms and breathes like protoplasm itself has been infused into the unit. If you own a 324 and are reading this review, run, do not walk, to your nearest Townshend dealer and buy a set of Type A Seismic Pods!! You will achieve nirvana, and then some.
The Seismic Pods come in individual weight capacities of as little as 1-2 pounds per Pod, to as much as 64-140 pounds per Pod, in boxes of 4 Pods. Use 3 or 4 Pods anywhere under your gear... it is not critical at all. You just want the gear level and the Pods depressed about 30-70% of travel. This is easy to achieve. It took me seconds to do under each piece of gear I tried.
The Seismic Pods are more neutral than the bladder sinks of old, with less darkness and richness injected into the sound. The Seismic Pods sound like nothing at all! You may need to tweak your cables or tube-roll a bit, but it is worth the adventure. An entire layer of grunge is removed with the Seismic Pods, as easily as opening a cardboard box. The build quality is first-rate, and they look sharp under anything silver or black. Each Pod even has soft ends to prevent scratching of the gear or table.
More good news: The American Importer has lots of stock of the different weights of the Seismic Pods, ready to ship to the dealers, so no holding back or long ordering from England is necessary to experience this revelatory and cost effective isolation device.
From the Townshend Website:
- Eliminates structure-borne feedback between speaker and vibration sensitive equipment.
- Enhances clarity throughout the whole frequency range.
- Improves bass definition.
- Produces a wider and deeper sound stage.
- Neighbour friendly high level listening.
I agree wholeheartedly with these claims from Townshend, and find that they understate dramatically the clarity the Pods bring to the mids and highs! The Pods are a combination of air- and spring-loaded valves that are most ingenious. They are the better of two worlds of thought and practice, and a break-through indeed in support engineering in my opinion.
Summary
Townshend Seismic Isolation Pods are now available and are a true masterpiece of isolation technology and tremendous enhancement of sonic neutrality preventing floor born feedback. I think that they are amazing. They are priced right, and perform at many times their cost! Fabulous under solid state and tube gear, they are the best individual support devices I have heard to date. Like all devices of this nature, your results may vary from mine, but I sincerely doubt it!
A keeper! My highest BUY recommendation.
MSRP $675 for set of 4 Seismic Pods
EAR USA / Sound Advice
1087 East Ridgewood Street
Long Beach, California
90807
Dan Meinwald
562 / 422–4747 (Pacific Time)
[email protected]
www.ear-usa.com
