Stillpoints Under Everything

[chessman]

David, Stillpoints channel vibrations out of components that produce them thereby making the component more inert which in turn causes less distortion. First choice is under speakers. Second is under power conditioners. Third is under amps. Somewhat counter-intuitively, last choice is under CD players.

[Golucid]

Originally Posted by chessman

David, Stillpoints channel vibrations out of components that produce them thereby making the component more inert which in turn causes less distortion. First choice is under speakers. Second is under power conditioners. Third is under amps. Somewhat counter-intuitively, last choice is under CD players.

What SP product choice do you have under your speakers? Photo?

[Masterlu]

Originally Posted by Golucid

What SP product choice do you have under your speakers? Photo?

http://www.audioaficionado.org/still...nts-house.html

Many more photos in the Stillpoints forum.

[Chrisandalex1]

Originally Posted by Golucid

What SP product choice do you have under your speakers? Photo?

Ultra SS's right now, but I just ordered 5's.

[Chrisandalex1]

This is all I really wanted to post.

Robert Harley (Absolute Sound) on Stillpoints
I replaced the hefty stock Focal spikes with Stillpoints Ultras, sat back, and was shocked by what I heard. With the Stillpoints, the soundstage opened up with greater width, depth, and bloom around images. The sound became even more detached from the loudspeakers, with a greater solidity of images between and around the Focals … The bass improved to a similar degree. The bottom end became tauter, better defined, and cleaner. The Stillpoints made the midbass a bit leaner, but more articulate. The improved midbass conferred greater clarity in the midrange, as well as in the bottom octave, where very low bass notes were more audible and defined once the midbass was better controlled. Bass dynamics were also improved; notes seemed to start and stop more quickly, giving the presentation greater dynamic agility and conveying more of the musicians’ dynamic expression. Finally, replacing the stock spikes with Stillpoints make the background “blacker” and quieter, allowing greater clarity and resolution of very low-level information. Sounds that had been somewhat undifferentiated with the stock feet became vividly clear. For example, percussion instruments that produce a series of very fine transients (shakers and guiros, for examples) sounded much more real with the reduction in transient blurring. Moreover, it was much easier to identify exactly how the instrument produced its sound. All this added up to a more lifelike reproduction.
– Robert Harley, The Absolute Sound, November 2011, Issue 218 Adding the Stillpoints racks to my system was not like changing a component because there were no sonic tradeoffs. The ESS racks don’t force you to pay a penalty in one area to get what could be an overall improvement in many others. Rather, the Stillpoints products raise the performance of every aspect of the system and degrade none. No listener in my view would ever prefer the system without Stillpoints.
– Robert Harley, The Absolute Sound, September 2012 Adding the Ultra 5 devices under the Lansche No.7, after I had installed the ESS racks and Ultra SS under the power amplifiers, was revelatory. All the qualities I’ve described about the ESS racks were taken to another level. The increase in resolution was mind-boggling. I’m not talking about hi-fi resolution or the presentation becoming more forward or etched, but rather that about hearing more musical information.
– Robert Harley, The Absolute Sound, September 2012 Fully loading a system with Stillpoints technology – the ESS racks, Ultra SS under the power amplifiers, and, especially, Ultra 5s under the loudspeakers – transformed my system far beyond anything I could have imagined. Whatever the music the change was always the same – hearing more music, more realistically presented, and with vastly deeper involvement. There’s simply no going back.
– Robert Harley, The Absolute Sound, September 2012
Chris Thomas (HiFi+) on Stillpoints
My own lengthy Stillpoints experience changed when last summer I received enough products to float my entire system. This left me in no doubt as to just how limited those early but lengthy listening experiments really were and how I had previously only really scratched the surface of what could be achieved musically – without changing a single component. I think this is both the critical point and the very essence of the whole Stillpoints equation.
– Chris Thomas, HiFi+, Issue 99 There is no Stillpoints white paper and to do the detailed science would be a huge and costly undertaking, but what seems certain is that the products are able to drain resonances from equipment to differing levels of efficiency, leaving a more pristine, less polluted signal, depending on exactly which of them you employ and exactly how and where you couple them. By far the most important thing though is the truly significant musical benefits that they bring.
– Chris Thomas, HiFi+, Issue 99 I could finely tune the electronics by moving the Stillpoints around to where they sounded best. Forget symmetrical spacing. As a starting point, find where the transformer is and sit your first device there then perhaps, for the CD player, locate the next beneath the transport and then use the other two to balance the component.
– Chris Thomas, HiFi+, Issue 101 For the past year I have been completely fascinated with the music of Melody Gardot … … She breathes and enunciates in a musical way. Getting this close to the performance is made all the simpler by adding Ultra 5’s to the system. Their impact is profound.
– Chris Thomas, HiFi+, Issue 101 The Stillpoint’ed system I constructed at home can take you to that edge of emotional intensity and while all the detailed improvements are the components of the upgrade, the really worthwhile result is that the space between you and the artist closes dramatically … This cannot be measured on any test-bench. This is what truly great home audio does … For me, fully floating a system elevates all these things and Stillpoints products are certainly one of the most important and interesting audio developments to have come along for quite a while. The fact that they can achieve such interesting and profound musical influences without component changes is really something and their applications are wider spread than I imagined.
– Chris Thomas, HiFi+, Issue 101
Roy Gregory (The Audio Beat) on Stillpoints
The Stillpoints LPI immediately imposes a sense of balanced calm on proceedings: the band step away from the speakers, the recording becomes a single, coherent entity, while the stereo perspective becomes much more natural, especially in terms of height. The drum kit solidifies into a single compact unit, rather than having elements scattered across the soundstage, the chiming guitars are both better separated and more insistent. But most telling of all is the drop in apparent volume; the music doesn’t seem so loud because so much hash and noise has been stripped away…I’ve found no music that fails to benefit from the LPI and it has become an essential piece of the turntable setup.
– Roy Gregory, The Audio Beat, July 2012 The Stillpoints are a carefully considered and logically structured product line that attacks a clearly defined problem with equally clear results; would that it were always so. You can’t listen to a product — you can only listen to a system, which in some cases makes reaching conclusions a bit like nailing jello to the ceiling. The Stillpoints offer a closed solution to a single question. Believe it or not, they are as easy as it gets.
– Roy Gregory, The Audio Beat, September 2012 When I’m presenting the TAB System Optimization seminars, one of the really big steps upward in performance comes when, having already bypassed the feet under the equipment using wooden blocks, we substitute trios of Ultra Minis. The increase in transparency and focus, the drop in the noise floor, the increase in dynamic range, resolution and the range of tonal colors is nothing short of dramatic — “Is this the same system?” dramatic. And that’s before I point out the improvements in ensemble playing, physical presence, the sense of rhythm and tempo, the relationship between the instruments, how good the track sounds — hell, how good the musicians sound. That’s the difference that a properly executed support strategy can make — the difference between a decipherable recording and a living breathing event, a presentation that you have to work out and one that just draws you in. You see, I can throw as many hi-fi clichés at you as you like and the Stillpoints pretty much cover the bases, but what’s really significant is not the sonic differences these products make, but the musical ones; the fact that the performance presented by your system sounds more musical, more engaging and much more immediately involving.
– Roy Gregory, The Audio Beat, July 2013 The Stillpoints supports work, and so far they’ve worked every single time I’ve used them, irrespective of the system or the nature of the equipment involved.
– Roy Gregory, The Audio Beat, July 2013 …properly deployed, the Stillpoints products can move your system significantly down the musical road to where it needs to be. … This is about working with the fundamentals of system infrastructure, and Stillpoints can be a key building block in that process, helping define the physical environment in which your system operates, isolating (and preserving) the signal, rather than just the equipment.
– Roy Gregory, The Audio Beat, July 2013 The structure of the ESS consists of a pair of pylon… …the rack’s framework is available in three different heights and three widths and will support as many shelves as you can cram into the available space, so the range of options (and prices) is almost unlimited.
– Roy Gregory, The Audio Beat, July 2013 From their very first product, Stillpoints have challenged the accepted status quo and our understanding of not just how equipment supports work, but how important they are — and how much budget we should allocate to them. The current range is versatile, cost-effective and offers remarkable performance. In fact, if you haven’t heard your system on Stillpoints, you probably haven’t heard your system, and if such a thing as a benchmark support system exists here and now, then this is surely it.
– Roy Gregory, The Audio Beat, July 2013

[Still-One]

I am still on the fence regarding Stillpoints. Have tried both SS and 5's under my amps. The SS had no noticeable effect while the 5's sounded better when installed and then better when removed a few days latter. At the 5's MSRP I felt the benefit was not worth the confusion they created.

I do have Mini's under my Meridian unit. I don't know if they work any better than the HRS Nimbus couplers they replaced but at their price it doesn't matter.

Many people have sworn the the 5's really work well under speakers. I will be honest that I haven't tried them under the X2's. Just too much hassle dealing with ~700lb speakers that are already spiked properly thru thin carpet to a concrete floor. Never say never but I can find other uses for that $5k.

[Golucid]

Originally Posted by Still-One

... but I can find other uses for that $5k.

One pair of still points = $5000?

[Chrisandalex1]

Originally Posted by Golucid

One pair of still points = $5000?

Nah,

Call Ivan. He will get you started down the right path.

[Still-One]

Originally Posted by Golucid

One pair of still points = $5000?

The MSRP is about $750 per unit or about $6k for a pair of amps or speakers.

[Golucid]

Originally Posted by Still-One

The MSRP is about $750 per unit or about $6k for a pair of amps or speakers.

Holy Moly. You kick my tail in the spending department. You are a rock star.

Where are you touring, I want to buy a ticket !