Amphion. AudioSolutions. Dynaudio. Gershman Acoustics. Kroma Atelier. Lyravox. Mårten. Perlisten. PSB. Pure Audio Project. Qualio. sonus Faber. Spatial. Wolf von Langa. These are some of the speaker brands collaborating with IsoAcoustics for Gaia footers customized for them on size 'n' finish. So the Gaia platform is a popular benchmark. Enter Theo's feedback section. "Auva 70 replace Gaia III under my PMC, leading to an obvious sound improvement." "Auva 50 offer a noticeable improvement over Gaia as if everything cleared up at all frequencies." "I'm actually a source-first fan but had to invest in room treatments because of too many standing waves. After installing absorber panels, I experienced an increase in spatiality in all dimensions and far more transparency. That I had expected if not to this extent. What surprised was the increase in dynamics. I was totally happy with my sound. In this setup I ordered Auva for my ProAc D48R. I wanted to know if their spikes could be surpassed. The concept sounded promising. This time too my expectations were exceeded. At a much lower price than my acoustic panels, the Auva had a comparable effect so more three-dimensionality, transparency and dynamics. No more vibrations from loose spikes plus that dynamic tight bass."

"Over the past two years I owned a variety of isolation/coupling devices including Stillpoints, Symposium Rollerblocks, IsoAcoustics component and Gaia speaker isolators. They all made some improvements but lacked the speed, transient attack and sharper image focus that my Audio Points Coupling discs and Speaker System provided. The moment I replaced those with Auva EQ, I heard far more low-level detail, texture, soundstage width/depth and image focus with more impactful mid-bass and bass presence. I also added Auva 100 speaker isolators and to my surprise they have similar attributes: tighter cleaner midbass/bass, more transparency, ambiance/spatial detail and laser-focused imaging that I can follow precisely within the soundstage."

Whilst purely anecdotal, I spot two takeaways. 1/ paying clients made the comparisons to rate Auva over Gaia. That should accord Stack Audio at least equivalence via a current benchmark adopted by major speaker brands. 2/ the boom/bloom which Auva diminishes can be misread as a room's standing waves. Yet price and physical stature of Auva are far smaller than effective room treatments. If domestic bliss and a holiday budget are high on our list, that's surely a consideration. Should we hear what we think of as room interference, perhaps start by isolating our mechanical transducers to see how far that goes? That addresses structural rather than acoustical resonance to treat a different cause of a similar sonic signature. Should modal room resonances continue to undermine our sound—they differ after all—PSI's compact active bass traps from Switzerland, one in each front corner, can bleed out the sub 150Hz band whilst taking up minimal physical real estate.

But today isn't about dimensionally triggered symptoms between wavelengths and our room's width, depth, height and diagonals. Today is about our floor's structural reactivity. It adds late gain to certain frequencies. Lateness causes ringing, droning and blurring. Cleaning it up equals prompter stoppages, more articulation, tautness and linearity. It means greater clarity from less LF mud infecting the vocal range. Calling this category isolators correctly describes its MO but not benefits. A clever marketeer might call such devices silencers or clarifiers to focus on what they do for us, not how? Decrapifiers as USB audio called their isolators back when? It's certainly descriptive and colourful if very informal. Hence Theo's Auva: AUdio Vibration Absorber. "Just wanted to let you know that I booked your samples for hopefully delivery tomorrow. I included a large variety of threads for this assignment just in case and a quad of Auva EQ for components of 1-16kg if you want to experiment at any point." The EQ differ by combining particle with viscoelastic silicone absorption to carry discrete weight ratings. For speakers and subs, Theo avoids all springiness so their wave launch enjoys an inert not flexing foundation. So zero viscoelastic but extra particle-filled chambers for our loudspeakers: three for today's Auva 70 [bottom right], five for the bigger 100 [top right]. The EQ has one particle chamber on top and an inverted silicone cup below all encased in aluminium outers. With my hardwood floors, I'd stick to the felt protectors of the speaker Auva and forgo their spikes.

My size 7 shoebox carton from Blighty was surprisingly heavy. It disgorged this assortment of metalware. One more set of Auva 70 hogged the floor to not bust my lens coverage. With extra thread adapters to cover confused and metric at 3/8th, M6, M8, M10 and M12, I was in screwer's heaven. Theo's extra adapters feature a squared-off section on their threaded posts to allow tightening them with the included keys. Likewise for the nut touching the speaker. The memo was crystal. Let nothing wobble. Be of manly grip and torque. For my first wrist wrangle I hoofed it upstairs to remove aftermarket blunt-nosed cones from under a set of Albedo Aptica which usually seat in Hifistay roller-ball isolators. When not in use, I can lift out the speakers and set them down on parquet without pockmarking it with the stock spikes and risk my renter's security deposit.

Here's my before…

… and the moments after.

Under romantic circumstances, "unholy decrap" in response to "how was it" shouldn't do unless we're dweebs. In an audiophile so never-ever nerdy context that didn't start out at ground zero to chill out hot hopes? What should the proper declaration on a lively suspended 1st-floor floor be? In loose lingo, holy less crap. That's because expectations of little if any difference via the Korean isolators proved too pessimistic. These Italian speakers run an invisible inner steel spine. That bolts to a heavy steel plinth. That construction creates excellent vibratory evacuation into the floor. Now add that contrary to looks, these compact small-driver 2-way towers with hidden Helmholtz resonators to cancel primary organ-pipe resonance in their tapering transmission line do a useful ~35Hz. At bass, vibrational traffic intensifies. Any device that does a better job of disrupting this traffic so the primary one of music travelling through the air is purer must have benefits. The ever-green question is, how much and does it seem concomitant with the cost; or can similar gains be had elsewhere for less? If we equate structural resonance with dirty aqua from a water-mains issue, it matters naught what we subsequently put into our water to taste and look better. The dirt remains. Unless we filter it out, our chai or coffee won't taste right. Ergo, no structural resonance attenuation, no cleaner sound. We might identify a stronger dirt filter in a superior speaker/floor interface. That's always possible. We're simply attending the same juncture. We can't look elsewhere for a solution when the problem doesn't move. In short, we won't find elsewhere gains of this type. We might only find else-what gains; perhaps Auva 100. Taking this to its obvious conclusion, pursuing a speaker that costs an extra €1'200 saved on two Auva 70 quads won't make a dent. Even a far bigger budget wouldn't. It should buy us a better tweeter or lower louder bass but will stir up the same mud, more if LF are stronger. Applying the same €1'200 to a DAC or amplifier won't upgrade in kind either if we're eyeing Auva 70. Then we already own components commensurate with their ask. We'd have to spend a lot more to improve our kit enough to make sense. With generalities handled, let's get to brass tacks.

Under very heavy EnigmAoucstics Mythology M1 solid-steel stands.