GIYA Owners: Have you found better footers?

[heihei]

I'm using the Stella Triple Swing and was lucky enough to strike up a great relationship with John who is the UK importer of Hifistay (he may now do Europe as well), so was able to demo these for an extended period, as well as the Ballerino. It worked for him as I bought 2 sets!

The design of these mean that the existing speaker spikes rest on the centre piece of the footers, so they don't actually attach to the speakers. From memory of when I had the Giya Spirits on demo, they have quite a few feet?

 

[sbnx]

The spirits and G1's have six spikes per speaker. Although when I owned them I only used four. I am pretty sure they added the middle two spikes to help provide lateral support and keep the speaker from tipping over. As long as you have the 4 spikes firmly planted the speaker is not going to tip unless someone intentionally pushes it over.

I don't know on the G3 but the G1's had the spike threads cast into the mold and was part of the outer rim of the base. There was only about 1/2" of thread. The spirits have the carbon fiber bottom and the threads are in that piece as pictured above. So the thread goes up into the bottom of the speaker. You can have quite a lot of thread 1.5" or so. For the Spirits I had custom spikes made with longer thread to allow more adjustability.

I am not a fan of any "squishy" feet. I really don't think they work well on the G1 or spirits as the speaker is tall and the "Squishy" feet make it far too wobbly.

RevOpods should work ok on the G3's if the idea is to have the speaker perfectly level. But if you are going to be adjusting Rake or Azimuth then the bearings in the feet are going to be loaded differently and you may not get the results you are looking for.

I would either have custom spikes made or buy a set of Track Auidio Spikes.

 

[Opabin]

I'm using the Stella Triple Swing and was lucky enough to strike up a great relationship with John who is the UK importer of Hifistay (he may now do Europe as well), so was able to demo these for an extended period, as well as the Ballerino. It worked for him as I bought 2 sets!

The design of these mean that the existing speaker spikes rest on the centre piece of the footers, so they don't actually attach to the speakers. From memory of when I had the Giya Spirits on demo, they have quite a few feet?

Seems like you had an ideal purchasing process, with time to audition and compare two different footers. If more dealers were like John in the UK, our purchase decisions would be considerably easier.

Though I'm left with a good impression from all I’ve heard about Hifistay, I’m going to give priority to other options. As described, the Stella Triple Swing requires the use of spikes on the speaker and I simply want to avoid that. With speaker terminals on the bottom surface, the Giya design requires that owners lay it down on its side every time we want to change cables or clean the terminals, a job that I do alone. With the stock composite feet mounted, that is an inconvenient but manageable task, but with spikes attached instead, I’d be concerned my grip might slip and the spikes would put a hole in the floor, or my foot. I’ll be happier with a footer that allows easy handling during these cable swaps… and sounds good too, of course.

 

[Opabin]

The spirits and G1's have six spikes per speaker. Although when I owned them I only used four. I am pretty sure they added the middle two spikes to help provide lateral support and keep the speaker from tipping over. As long as you have the 4 spikes firmly planted the speaker is not going to tip unless someone intentionally pushes it over.

I guess you don’t live in an earthquake zone! Personally, I would never feel comfortable with the wide-set middle feet removed. Why take the risk of having a sad accident?

RevOpods should work ok on the G3's if the idea is to have the speaker perfectly level. But if you are going to be adjusting Rake or Azimuth then the bearings in the feet are going to be loaded differently and you may not get the results you are looking for.

I don’t know if you’ve read post #1 in this topic, but I actually tried RevOpods and didn't like how they changed the music. And in spite of their small size, the top of the RevOpod is not so slim. For some of the G3 footer mounting points, the RevOpods could not be tightened completely because the top made contact with the carbon fiber Giya base before they were properly seated in the mounting points. They are a little too fat for the G3 mounting point recesses. Results may be better with the G2 and G1 Giyas, but it would be wise to check the fit before purchasing.

 

[Sa683s]

I guess you don’t live in an earthquake zone! Personally, I would never feel comfortable with the wide-set middle feet removed. Why take the risk of having a sad accident?


I don’t know if you’ve read post #1 in this topic, but I actually tried RevOpods and didn't like how they changed the music. And in spite of their small size, the top of the RevOpod is not so slim. For some of the G3 footer mounting points, the RevOpods could not be tightened completely because the top made contact with the carbon fiber Giya base before they were properly seated in the mounting points. They are a little too fat for the G3 mounting point recesses. Results may be better with the G2 and G1 Giyas, but it would be wise to check the fit before purchasing.

Yes, u do need to make delrin ring to help make fit for Revopod on G3

 

[sbo6]

I owned the Giya G2S2s and now have the Spirits. With both speakers I found placing them on a plinth with spikes to the floor and putting the speakers on Isoacoustic Gaias made an eye - opening difference in clarity and soundstage openeness. With each speaker I built my own plinth of baltic birch plywood and SS spikes. I find with the Giyas the mid - tweeter works well at near ear height, but it's really your own personal preference as you can always rake and toe - in the speaker if you wish.

 

[Opabin]

I owned the Giya G2S2s and now have the Spirits. With both speakers I found placing them on a plinth with spikes to the floor and putting the speakers on Isoacoustic Gaias made an eye - opening difference in clarity and soundstage openeness. With each speaker I built my own plinth of baltic birch plywood and SS spikes. I find with the Giyas the mid - tweeter works well at near ear height, but it's really your own personal preference as you can always rake and toe - in the speaker back if you wish.

Thanks for the detailed report on your impressive system. You are the 2nd poster to recommend Gaias, hmm…. May I ask what type of floor you have? Is it a suspended wood floor, or flooring over concrete? Along with that information, it would be interesting to know which device made a greater improvement, the Gaias or your plinth?

 

[sbo6]

Thanks for the detailed report on your impressive system. You are the 2nd poster to recommend Gaias, hmm…. May I ask what type of floor you have? Is it a suspended wood floor, or flooring over concrete? Along with that information, it would be interesting to know which device made a greater improvement, the Gaias or your plinth?

My audio room is on a second floor, so suspended ply with beams.

With regard to the Gaias or the plinth and benefits, with the G2S2s I experimented more (first time) and I found they both made a difference in their own way. The plinth, which I found 3" to work best raised the speaker which allowed further toe - in which yielded a better center image along with better bass definition. Then adding the Gaias gave more clarity and soundstage openeness.

With the Spirits, I built the plinths (this time 1.5" with spikes lowered as much as possible) and installed the Gaias at the same time and wow, I had forgotten how much of an impact the pair deliver. If you have a solid surface like concrete, I'd surmise the plinth may have less of an impact on the bass, but the height advantage helps dial things in IMO. To me the Gaias are a bargain and with the DIY plinths an inexpensive improvement.

I hope this helps.

 

[Opabin]

My audio room is on a second floor, so suspended ply with beams.

With regard to the Gaias or the plinth and benefits, with the G2S2s I experimented more (first time) and I found they both made a difference in their own way. The plinth, which I found 3" to work best raised the speaker which allowed further toe - in which yielded a better center image along with better bass definition. Then adding the Gaias gave more clarity and soundstage openeness.

With the Spirits, I built the plinths (this time 1.5" with spikes lowered as much as possible) and installed the Gaias at the same time and wow, I had forgotten how much of an impact the pair deliver. If you have a solid surface like concrete, I'd surmise the plinth may have less of an impact on the bass, but the height advantage helps dial things in IMO. To me the Gaias are a bargain and with the DIY plinths an inexpensive improvement.

I hope this helps.

Yes, very helpful, thanks. I have an order in for Symposium Acoustics Svelte Plus shelves that I’m planning to try under the G3’s, but I might try hardwood platforms later. I’m intrigued by your discovery of a relationship between speaker height and toe-in. In my room, the G3’s are already slightly toed-in set directly on the floor.

 

[sbo6]

Yes, very helpful, thanks. I have an order in for Symposium Acoustics Svelte Plus shelves that I’m planning to try under the G3’s, but I might try hardwood platforms later. I’m intrigued by your discovery of a relationship between speaker height and toe-in. In my room, the G3’s are already slightly toed-in set directly on the floor.

Glad this helps.

BTW, I'm not the only one who discovered the height advantage, SBNX came to a similar result I believe, and he was gracious enough to host me a few years back and his system with the Spirits sounded fantastic.