It’s the time of year for saving money!
Regular readers of Audiophile Review know that we rarely do reviews; our companion site, Home Theater Review, handles that job, most admirably. But occasionally I come upon an accessory that doesn’t fit into the HTR review format. SVS’s SoundPath Subwoofer Isolation system footers are just such a product.
Available in sets of either four ($49.99) or six “footers” ($69.99) the SoundPath isolators are basically replacements for the spikes or rubber feet that you find on most subwoofers. They consist of a metal cup with a large, soft, rubber donut inside. The system comes with a variety of different length bolts for attaching SVS isolators to a subwoofer in place of the original stock feet.
By isolating a subwoofer from the floor it’s resting on you can vastly reduce the amount of floor-borne vibration a subwoofer produces. Reducing floor-borne vibrations can clean up your bass response by reducing your domiciles potential for vibrations, buzzes, and other amusical results caused by your domicile’s various components trying to vibrate in sympathy with your subwoofer’s sonic emanations.
I’ve tried the SVS system on three different subwoofers, the M&K MX-700, Velodyne DD+10, and Earthquake Supernova, in each case the SVS system vastly reduced the amount of vibration transmitted into my floor, walls, and the rest of my house. My office is directly below the master bedroom in my home. My wife immediately noticed the difference in the amount of bass leaking upstairs – instead of hearing ONLY the bass now she hears more of the midrange and upper frequencies and only at substantially higher volume levels.
Before the SVS isolation system I used a thick pad of high-density closed cell foam to isolate my office system subwoofer from the floor. The SVS system is noticeably superior to my home-brew solution.
When you consider how many apartment and condominium owners have sound-leakage issues with renegade bass frequencies, and how well the SVS isolation system reduces bass resonance issues, perhaps SVS should consider selling their isolation system through home-improvement retailers such as Home Depot and Lowes as well as on their site and through conventional HiFi retailers. The SVS subwoofer isolation system is one of the most cost-effective bass isolation systems I’ve heard.
