… I moved down the hallway into my 2nd 'main' system, a 2.1 affair with 25Hz bass compliments of a sealed force-cancelling 2 x 9½" Dynaudio sub. Here I cater to the maximum mandate of playing lower and louder; on a reactive wooden floor no less. During their review, Grimm's downfiring motion-feedback subs had ridden it so hard as to kick off my upstairs hunt for effective sub isolation. My current solution is a quad of sound|kaos Vibra 30 wire-suspension footers under the Dynaudio; and Hifistay multi-level roller-ball isolators beneath the Albedo Aptica speakers.

Here's a look at Virtual Hifi's replacements. The Vibron XL just sat under the sub since Dynaudio's thread size was far too small; but bolted to the Albedo plinths whose threads matched. Though my inner cheapskate prayed for a miraculous draw of €159 Poles x CHF560 Swiss, the hifi heavens went radio silent. Though far superior to Dynaudio's stock hard-rubber footers, Greg's versions didn't act quite as subtractive on subtle bass bloom. Was the extra sound|kaos juice worth the squeeze though? That's where the severity of ear critique becomes (cough) super critical. Having unwittingly acquired a serious allergy to bass blur from Raal's ribbon headphones which are contagiously free of it, I consider myself hyper critical. Most people however are imprinted by the ringing endemic to ported bass. They'd embrace the Vibron's small difference whilst smiling all the way to the bank. Under my Italian speakers meanwhile, I didn't hear my usual multi-stage ball bearings as having any advantages. That made the €99 quads of height-adjustable Vibron L a real find.

The implications are very rosy.

As a resonance sufferer and professional reviewer, I could justify serious performance racks from Hifistay and Artesanía, previously Grand Prix. Many households cannot because of budget, size and/or looks. Few double-duty living/listening rooms welcome bulky hifi contraptions. Instead one might shop stylish metal/glass AV furniture, more affordable bamboo-based hifi equivalents or an actual lowboy. Now add Vibron. By floating such furniture above the floor, we create the first resonance barrier just as any reputable hifi-engineered rack does. By adding more beneath the actual shelves if possible; or otherwise between shelves and components, we add our next layer again how a multi-stage performance rack would. We can do this over time and be selective about which particular kit responds the most. It's a winning strategy to address the problem without creating domestic discord. But before we even go there, getting our speakers and/or subwoofer off the floor is the first step. They're the biggest vibration generators hence most potent polluters. Mechanical resonance is noise. Noise is not the signal. Ergo, noise is distortion. It's as basic as that; HiFi 101.

Having ascertained that beneath this smaller sub, my Swiss wire flotation scheme was still more effective than Greg's polyurethane thermoplastic, I knew that the difference delta would only get bigger downstairs where twin 15" AudioTechnology woofers man the beat. There Greg's Qualio IQ hog pride of place albeit port plugged and high-passed at 100Hz to exploit the cardioid sub's directional dispersion to avoid my 35/70Hz room modes. The speakers' restricted LF bandwidth makes them rather less critical than the sub. Could the Vibron L now match the sound|kaos Vibra 68 I had on the IQ for pennies on the Swiss franc? If so, a Vibron owner could move the 68 to a more mission-critical location.