IsoAcoustics Aperta Bookshelf Speaker Stand Review

When I went to Capital Audio Fest last year, I noticed an interesting little stand underneath a few of the bookshelf speakers at the show made by IsoAcoustics. I personally do most of my listening at a desk, whether it be my computer desk or work bench, so any opportunity to enhance that (sometimes not ideal) listening experience is very welcome. I say sometimes not ideal as with freestanding speakers or bookshelf speakers on stands you have more freedom to move them to an ideal position away from the wall, etc. and they typically sit directly on the desk, which doesn't give them any isolation.

While I like my Auralex Subdude, their low-cost MoPads aren't the most attractive isolation solution for monitors. The Propads look better, but angle adjustments are somewhat limited.

The Auralex MoPads, an effective though homely solution

The Propads with 3 layer dampening

The IsoAcoustics stands were initially offered in plastic, which still didn't really turn any heads in my humble opinion either, however IsoAcoustics recently released the Aperta, and now the larger Aperta 200. IsoAcoustics has a nice online calculator to let you know if they'll work with your speakers.

These puppies look great, are crafted of solid aluminum, have good heft and are built to last.

The Aperta is available in silver and black

You can purchase an aluminum platform so you can place them on top of most speaker stands too. Two of the four feet per unit are height adjustable, so you can adjust the axis of sound and get those tweeters at optimal ear level.

Simple yet effective height adjustment system

Decoupling your speaker from your desk using the Aperta offers some very notable benefits: Bass is more punchy and less muddy and the overall sound is clearer and more dimensional. Getting the speaker away from the surface of the desk below reduces the deleterious effect of distortion caused by first reflections (Linkwitz has a great article on speaker floor reflections if you'd like to learn more). I did find that bass quantity decreased (bass generated from vibrations emanating off the desk), so you may have to turn up your subwoofer a bit to compensate if you have grown used to that level. If you are decoupling your monitors from your desk for editing purposes, you'll be getting a more accurate frequency response as a result.

Are the IsoAcoustics stands worth the $200 to $250 a pair they are selling for? I'd say absolutely if you are an audiophile, audio enthusiast, or sound/video editor. In the audiophile segment they are a relative bargain, you'd pay that much for a typical three point isolation system for one single speaker. If you're looking to pick up a pair, they're pretty much the same price everywhere, but I'd recommend reaching out to Ryan at FrontEndAudio.com. No relationship, but he was very pleasant to deal with and shipped it off to me quickly... free shipping doesn't hurt either ;)

If you have a few more dollars to burn, IsoAcoustics has relationships with partner companies that incorporate their product into stands and purpose-built editing consoles. Argosy is a company that makes the latter, and man would I love to have one of these: The Halo workstation is available for $1,500-2,500 depending on the options, and while great for an editor, I could totally see this being used as a computer desk with plenty of room for amp, pre-amp, DAC and headphone amp, all at at arms length but not in the way.

The Argosy Halo Workstation

I hope you enjoyed the review. As always, if you are looking for a new set of cables to improve your audio system, be sure to check out Zynsonix Audio for some great solutions.

Custom RCA Switch Box for Audio

So in any given audio setup there may be multiple amplifiers (e.g. a headphone amp, speaker amp, etc.) or possibly multiple sources (e.g. a record player, CD player, DAC from a computer, etc.). A switch box keeps it simple so one doesn't have to reach in the back of the rack and manually switch interconnects to listen to particular equipment. They will commonly have multiple RCA jacks (or in some cases XLR jacks) for both input and output and a switch which is commonly 2 pole (stereo with common ground) or 4 pole (stereo with isolated grounds).

They may be handy, but not all switch boxes are created equally; audio enthusiast know that using a generic one can potentially degrade the audio quality, a situation which just isn't worth the added convenience. All the ingredients need to be of high quality to ensure there is no notable degradation of the signal.

This post will be detailing a simple 6-to-1 switch box making use of high quality parts to ensure transparency. Parts include a Swiss-made Elma 04-1264 switch, EAR isolation feet, Philmore Teflon insulated gold plated RCAs, Neotech UP-OCC sold-core copper wire in Teflon and a lovely custom-made chassis from Keith (ebay seller po1019).

The first task was to take the chassis and drill holes for the switch, feet, and RCA connectors. It may be easy to use a ruler and mark where each hole is going to be, but drilling the holes perfectly in line *probably* won't happen, even on a drill press. When there are multiple items lined up, the eye can very easily identify any slight aberrations to a straight line. I was able to get them pretty close in this case. The chassis was then powder-coated a nice cream color.

Chassis prepped for the build process

The next process is installing the RCAs. Because the powdercoat insulates the aluminum, the back of the holes were filed so the RCAs would ground to the chassis so the chassis would act as a shield. You might be gawking at the Philmore RCA blister pack and thinking "wow, that looks like dollar store garbage"... Looks can be deceiving; under the homely packaging are a pair of very nice quality gold RCAs with Teflon insulation. I like to use Cardas RCAs in many of my builds, but when one is using seven pair, like in this case, that would be quite costly; that's where the Philmores come into play. Each one is cranked on using a socket wrench and the ground washer bent at 90 degrees. 

The chassis populated with Philmore RCAs

Each of the ground washers is then tweaked together with a pair of pliers and a ground wire is run through them, then soldered in place. This particular wire is silver but any bus wire would be fine. This ensures that there is a common ground between all inputs and outputs. 

Ground wire connected to each RCA

Now comes the fun part; wiring up each RCA to the Elma switch. Seeing which solder lug corresponds to each switch position is relatively straight forward, simply look through the transparent plastic at the location of the gold contacts. Each wire is soldered in place and a small amount of heatshrink is placed over the connection. 

Beginning the wiring process

The Neotech wire was kept nice and short for each connection. On the bottom, EAR isolation feet were fitted with a screw, lock washer and nut.

Wiring complete

The box could now be assembled and the nicely finished wood panels placed on the sides. Below are a few photos of the finished product.

Switchbox complete!

Switchbox Front

Switchbox Rear

Switchbox Bottom

Some nice points about this design are the short signal paths thanks to the small chassis, the Teflon insulated wire and RCAs, the gold contacts on the switch and the point to point wiring with no circuit board for the signal to run through. This box could either be used to allow 6 inputs and 1 output, or 1 input and 6 outputs. With a larger box and a second switch, there could be both multiple inputs *and* outputs. Or there could be two of these boxes daisy-chained, allowing for 6 inputs and 6 outputs. Tons of options!

Update: I created a nice little logo "iO" standing for input output and had it custom engraved on a brass plate for the top panel. Looks rather sharp I think :) Some additional photographs with the plate are below.

Need a great sounding passive audio switchbox to tie your system together? Please contact Zynsonix Audio for details. 

The Fine Print:
The above steps detailing the building of a switch box are for entertainment purposes only and not to be performed under any circumstances. The owner of this blog and all associated parties can not / will not be held responsible if you attempt the process posted and cause physical harm to yourself, your surroundings or your property. Please keep this in mind.