[Charles]

Pedestals installed. Have made final adjustments. The MVP881 and D1100 were easy. Just slide them under and I obtained level easily. Mac gear has a nut in the midline in the rear. You obtain level left to right first and then adjust the rear Pedestal to obtain level front to rear.

The MCD1100 was a horse of a different color. This is a perfect example of how even a well thought out "simple" installation can turn into something difficult very unexpectedly.

I picked the Pedestals up at the dealers at about 3:30 thinking I was well ahead of schedule. Dr.s appointments had gone well. My wife has been in poor health for 40 years. She is the most complicated medical patient I have ever encountered and has a list of diagnoses about 3/4 page long including "renal failure" but the appointment went well. I am very knowledgeable with fluids and electrolytes and kidney pathology. So I'm ahead of schedule.

Pedestals were heavy and my thought was don't drop them as I hurried out the door. Inside the store at checkout I said "What do you guys think of these things? The answer was, "We know a guy up in Ky who bought 4 boxes and then came back and bought 10 more." I said, "Well I'm in trouble", to make a joke.

Got home about 4 and had some chores that had to be done like my wife's meal and getting her squared away for the afternoon. I had the grocery stores ahead of me but I thought, "This will be a snap. What could go wrong?"

Without going into it the MCD1100 was very difficult to level and I couldn't figure out why. No matter what I did I couldn't get it level. I think level is important. I had another issue I won't go into that complicated matters greatly and totally confused me. I thought, "Man, I'm not as good as I used to be. I'm losing it."

After about 2 hours I was exhausted and I had three grocery stores facing me at 6 pm. I called my friend at Wilson just as he was walking out the door and told him what I thought the problem was and on his way home he overnighted me an additional 25 lb Pedestal which completely solved the problem. The MCD1100 is now level.

Turns out that the left front of the MCD1100 is significantly heavier than the rest of the unit. Together with the other completely unexpected issue, it was tough and confusing for for me. My cabinet is not the easiest to work with but it is now done and the results are worth my travails. Bass is fuller with better resolution. More resolution and detail in the mids and highs, no question.

My friend at Wilson said my impression was exactly the impression at Wilson. The Pedestals make "everything sound better" and I agree.

Also my suggestion to those who use them is to order more than you think you will need with the agreement to be able to return the unused ones to the dealer for a refund or to Wilson directly.

In addition, allow 2-3 hours at least of time for installation. I'm not a vibration or isolation aficionado. My feeling has always been to remove the gear most affected by vibration as far from the sound field as possible, but I have always wanted my main Mac source gear on some extremely well made "footers" to further isolate the gear. I think looking at Stillpoints, they would not be compatible with my cabinet because of the additional height they would raise my gear, nor was I prepared to remove the Mac footers.

Therefore, the Wilson Pedestals are absolutely perfect for me: 1) they easily fit under all Mac sources 2) they are made by Wilson so they are competitive with anything on the market isolation wise 3) Wilson makes some of the best sounding speakers in the world and so has the optimal instrument (their speakers) by which to perfect their foray into isolation gear 4) Wilson has tremendous experience with vibration eliminating materials, the best of which is the "V" material used in the Pedestal 5) I'm a great believer in sound signatures (Wilson, McIntosh, Audioquest) and the Pedestals allow me to maintain my sound signatures.

In sum, it will take more listening but I can tell already that I will not be asking for a refund. I so far am very satisfied/happy with the improvement the Pedestals have made in my system. I soon will post some pics under the "Member Systems Forum".

Best

Charles