Dekepled with Kepler

What have you done for me, lately? If that asked resonance control, I have an answer: Divine Acoustics Kepler. In the wake of their review, I acquired an M6-threaded quad for our upstairs Dynaudio S18 sub. What I'd used underneath it prior was a set of these Hifistay decouplers with roller-ball spike receiver and a barrel loaded with steel spheres. Those bits had repurposed from the Mythology rack. When I converted our 4-tier into the final 2+2 version, a quad of them became redundant because it got replaced with solid end caps. Now M6 bolts in the sub's belly receivers sat in Hifistay's shimmying dimples. Which was that as far as I thought back when I did it. Then the usual better enemy of good showed up and it no longer was.

Suspended upstairs wood floors, capable subwoofers and peace-loving partners a few rooms down on the same floor really shouldn't mix without effective structural disruptors. Coupling bass artillery to flooring that's talkative because it freely transmits resonances is a really bad idea. Whilst these resonances add output, that's delayed in time. It blurs transients, doesn't stop when it should, piles on fat and poof then migrates more or less unhindered across what for us equates the full length of a house. What one wants instead is to float the subwoofer so that mechanical energy transfer into the floor is disrupted. Not only does this make for happier marriages…

… it makes for better sound. When the blur of overlaid resonances disappears, finer detail, pitch definition and subliminal infra bass rise in its stead. This difference isn't subtle. Its scope obviously is relative to how 'dead' or 'live' a particular floor is. But I still think that most people sorely underestimate the performance percentages they leave in their floors which they could tap with proper isolators. That's true for subs as it is for extended loudspeakers played back loud on bass-heavy fare. Mechanical jackhammer action of moving mass transferring structurally undermines the music signal's clarity. As the Polish Kepler footers prove—€350/3, €450/4—an effective antidote needn't cost the farm nor look the funny farm. If you asked me right now what resonance control has done for me lately, I'd say "more than you probably imagined unless you actually tried it first".