Stillpoint Ultra SS with Wilson Speakers

[Jerome W]

Originally Posted by turntable

Ultra SS's finally under the speakers. 435 lbs per speaker is a little more weight than my phono stage
listening thoughts to follow

Ouch !
Putting them on surely was a Pita Shane !

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[Jerome W]

Originally Posted by chessman

turntable, I am very interested to learn how this turns out.

+1 !

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[turntable]

[QUOTE=Jérôme W;403834]Ouch !
Putting them on surely was a Pita Shane !

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Hi Jerome. Enjoying that wonderful sut. I have always wanted one for my denon 103 and or to spu.

Nah, actually very easy that one person can do in 30-40 minutes.
Jack up the front with the Wilson jack.
Remove the spikes/diodes.
Remove the spikes from the diodeand replace with the stillpoints.
Adjust the screw going out of the diode into the speaker and screw into the speaker
Slightly unscrew the top of the stillpoint until you can fit your business card into the gap
Half turn at the bottom of the still point so the hard hat has a gap
Lower the jack and 1/4 finished. Do it 3 more times.

Time to listen!

Cheers

]

[Kingsrule]

Originally Posted by turntable

G, with your continued support and positivity at least my expectations are low.

I am using the Ultra's to replace the spikes, not the diode. If it replaced the diode it would be too low to the ground as the Ultra's are not tall enough. this to me is the most practicle way to use them, no wonder you had no benefits.

Yes on thick carpet on a concrete slab - foam pad ??. The carpet is in the entire room. nice to see you looking.
At 435lbs per speaker the interface with the floor is about as solid as it will be on carpet over concrete. Multiple levels of stacked bearings that convert vibration into unwanted energy dissipated, so what it is sitting on is not the be all and end all as almost all of the work is done with the bearings in theory.

As I have said previously, if they do not work they will go back under my components so ZERO waste of money. In fact I save $$ as I don't have to buy more for my components. Hell if you can't spend some effort with our hobby, why bother.

proof will be in the listening

Well if you're going to do it, do it as the manufacturer recommends:
Ultra screwed into speaker in place of speakers diodes,spikes, spacers
When tight, back Ultra off 1/4 turn. The Ultras are not to be screwed down tight!
Also the hats are to be backed off 1/4 turn, not screwed down tight

If the Ultras are too short you can get a longer threaded rod between the hat and Ultra to make them higher.Make sure hat is still backed off

Also if you think your speaker is grounded solid to the floor with all that rug there you are mistaken. Totally negates the Ultra's intent
And, isn't there a foam pad under your carpet???


On my solid floor, the Ultras under my Wilsons sounded muddy and unfocused. Yours will sound their best with Wilson spikes punched thru your carpet/pad and grounded to the concrete.

Have fun.....

[turntable]

Almost forgot to respond back.

When I first set up the Ultra ss's, to be honest not much difference to what g997 found. A bit muddy and lost the attack of the music. The music became bass weighted and slow.

I then put the spikes back on and that overall sounded better.

Then I thought, I should try with the diode decoupled from the bottom of the maxx speaker like what one does with the stillpoints, before I give up and use them under my components. I am not and never will screw the stillpoint into the bottom of the speaker - there is no allen key slot in the threaded rod the screws into the speaker. It may be difficult to remove as it does not stay attached to the stillpoint when you unscrew. Using the diode and the Wilson threaded rods works perfectly.

I turned the diode so it was no longer touching the bottom of the speaker as well as the top of the stillpoint with another half turn. The hat is also not touching itself Did this for all the 8 feet and sat down to listen again.

Now we are talking.
Bass was tighter, midrange details were clearer, better soundstaging and overall the music had more detail, yet was relaxed. We are not talking about night and day differences, but the differences were noticeable. - so do not expect it to fix bass issues etc as it will not - I still have room work to do for that.

I have had the stillpoints under the speakers for over a week now and have come to appreciate the the subtleties in the better defined bass, more mid transparency and a more pure sound.

The stillpoints are staying and the spikes are back in the Wilson box. Now I have to save some $ to buy some more stillpoints to put under my phono and amp.

I will email the dealer and Stillpoints with my pics and ask them for any other tips/comments.

In my system, highly recommend. Ymmv

[turntable]

Originally Posted by tima

Bit of work there, eh? Thanks for the good reporting! Can we talk you into getting back down on the floor for another snaphot?

All good clean fun Tima. Not sure if these phone shots are any better. Wilson black is like a mirror.

You can get the idea of the gap to leave between the bottom of the speaker and the diode, then the bottom of the diode and the stillpoint.

[Kingsrule]

i have 2 sets available if anyone is interested
Send PM

[Mr. Big]

After I play around with the placement of my Sophias, I intend to install the spikes. I've heard of the "Wilson jack" that comes with some of their larger speakers. Is there such a jack that's similar or the same I can buy/rent from a place like Harbor Freight or Tool Crib? Or is there an easy trick to lay it on it's side? My back thanks you for any info you might have.

Edit: Okay, I did what I should have done from the very beginning... that is call the dealer where I purchased the speakers. He gave me a quick easy tip on how to install the spikes myself. And, of course, he was more than happy to come over to my house to give me a hand setting everything up although I bought the speakers used from him.

[Vinylpressing]

So we did some experimenting of our own with Wilson Sasha's and Alexia's with Stillpoint Ultra 5's.

On both a wood floor and on carpet tile, the changes that we saw with adding Stillpoint Ultra 5's was significant.

Everything got better. Focus, dynamics, detail and all up improvement engagement.

In both cases it was a quick test with the speaker sitting right on the Ultra 5.

Not sure about the Ultra SS performance, but the Ultra 5 was so good, it was a no brainer to switch from the diode + spike to these.

I'll probably pull the trigger on these later in summer and will post more detailed listening results after I have them in place in my listening room for a good amount of time. I will probably use an Ultra 5 + Ultra Base to keep the speaker at the original OEM height.

Definitely do your own test, in your own environment, as I think the tight of flooring seems to make difference.

[audiohippo]

Looking at the Ultra SS, is there a specific thread size needed for the Sasha v2?