Quote:
Originally Posted by Levitator
Are the Stillpoints still effective in a noticeable way if you already have good isolation racks (I use a bamboo Quadraspire rack) for our source equipment?
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Whatever you put your gear on will change its sound in some way.
Stillpoints' functionality - their ability to convert mechanical energy/vibrations into heat - is largely independent of what you sit them on. While they won't negate the functionality of a rack, they may give the rack less work to do, thus reducing its value. Using them on a truly effective isolation rack may take your cost-benefit lower or to zero (or turn negative.) IOW, there's no assurance you'll get a sonic benefit beyond what you hear with your gear alone on its rack or your gear alone on Stillpoints on a generic support. Depends on how effective is your good isolation rack. Some isolation rack manufacturers suggest not placing anything between the gear and the rack's shelf surface. The Stillpoints rack is an exception, being specifically designed for integrated use with their footers.
From the construction of the Quadraspire racks, its hard to assess if you'll get any additional benefit by adding Stillpoints under gear that sits on one. The rack appears to take a one size fits all approach without resonance tuning for specific gear. Alan Sircom's review thought their top model may not warrant further "tweaking", though he gave no listening examples. My guess is the addition of Stillpoints (depending on model) is at least minmally effective beyond the Quadrapsire alone, but the only way you'll know your 'bang for the buck' is to try them. You may want to send a note to Quadrapsire to get their take.