Is this the ultimate inexpensive but highly regarded tweak?

Squishy feet manage to suck the life and energy outta any half decent kit IMO.

Avoid

My Stands Unique isolators definitely improve my system (and they're only £20 for a pack of three).

Paul Rowlands

I have some Audio Quest Little feet, hemisperes of sorbothane rubber.

I bought them at University to stop my old CD player from skipping which was caused by the sound pressure of my big stereo in such a tiny room.

I tried them recently under my PLanet 2000 and they made it sound slow and lack timing. I have no idea why this happens but it was audiable.

Simon

Rich,

If you want to try, why don't you cut some squash balls in half. They will be a damn site cheaper and will probably do the same job.

b

quote:

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Originally posted by i am simon 2:
I tried them recently under my PLanet 2000 and they made it sound slow and lack timing. I have no idea why this happens but it was audiable.

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That's quite odd as the Planet has squidgy feet already... I've not tried mine (Mk1 Planet) on RDC cones yet, but I might for a laugh, just to see what happens...

__________________________
Make your choice, adventurous Stranger;
Strike the bell and bide the danger
Or wonder, till it drives you mad,
What would have followed if you had.

FWIW I'm using Nordost Pulsar Points under my CDX2, & they definitely rate as an improvement to my ears. I bought them for my speakers in the 1st place, but after swapping the old (Atacama SE24) stands for Sonus Faber Marble ones, I tested them on speakers vs Source, & Naim won

They're not squidgy tho - basically just a concave & a convex cone that meet at a point.

They come in at £50 GBP for 4 (use 3 per component, 4 for speakers with spike fittings), but if you're desparate to spend more they do some Titanium ones at ~ £200 GBP.

Bit round earth / tweaky maybe, but I like them.

J

I have tried joining different topics to emphasize the value and reward of isolation devices. The "Ganymede VCS" ball bearing devices I use have been nothing short of phenomenal. Their musical improvement, in every way I can gauge, has been most dramatic under my CDP and preamp, with the amp to a lesser, but VERY significant degree. Soon I will try them under the power supplies. If anyone's interested, I'll post the results.

At $300 a set, nothing comes remotely close to their bang for the buck. They sound like thousands of dollars of equipment upgrade. I can't imagine anyone not hearing similarly stunning improvements. Enjoy.

Tom.

Hey Tom,

What CD player are you using these under? If you'll recall, earlier in the thread I was admonished for thinking of putting something squishy under my CDS2. But....I'm open to anything tried and true. Seems like a lot of potential meaningful tweaks out there. The cheaper the better unless we're talking "drop dead" difference!

Regards,

Rich J

Alright, so far the contenders are (not all so cheap anymore):

Superfeet by Solid Tech
Ganymede VCS by Ganymede
DH Cones by Golden Sound
Pulsar Points by Nordost
Isonodes by Bright Star Audio

so far I'm most impressed with Ganymede by what I've managed to research here at my day job. Any other ideas or yeas or nays?

Hi Rich, and all. I originally put the VCS’s under a CDS2, and as stated, the results were stunning. They are now under my CDS3 with somewhat less, but still dramatic results. Isn’t it interesting that: 1) Naim apparently upgraded the suspension in the CDS3, and 2) the two boxes I hear the biggest results from (the other is a 552) are the ones Naim built their own vibration control into. Hmmm.

If you want to read something on the subject that will really get your attention, try the Stereo Times ( http://www.stereotimes.com/ ) archive review (Ganymede Vibration Control System by Paul Szabady, 5/22/2002). My experience concurs with his.

Tom.

By the way Rich, just in case you were unaware, system details of forum contributor are usually listed. Click on their name, then “View Public Profile for...”.

Tom,

Thanks for your very interesting comments re suspension of top Naim boxes.

Yeah I realized I could easily access your profile but your age of 103 years threw me off a tad.

All best.

Rich

Rich, sorry about the profile age thing--everything else is true. If your profile is correct, we are peers. Tom.

quote:

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Originally posted by tre2fly:
2) the two boxes I hear the biggest results from (the other is a 552) are the ones Naim built their own vibration control into. Hmmm.

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Or, to paraphrase, the two boxes that you hear the biggest difference on are those that Naim felt were most susceptible to vibration, and therefore included suspensions in the design.

cheers, Martin

E-mail:- MartinPayne at Dial.Pipex.com

Rich,

Sounds like a good follow-on to the granite shelf project. Should be a lot easier to cart the bits around. Maybe I need to match up some ball bearings with spare stainless bits.

Jim B.

Martin, that was my point—to validate the fundamental notion of vibration control. Could Naim perhaps save huge expense, and cost to us, by leaving out their sophisticated built-in suspension? In my listening experience, despite their best efforts, huge vulnerability to vibration remains, justifying (necessitating) external controls anyway. Tom.

Jim,

One good tweak deserves another..

When will it ever end?

Rich

I also use the Ganymede VCS, both under my CDP (not Naim) and pre-amp(72). I would concur that their effect is pretty stunning, probably at least as good as a single component upgrade.
The most dramatic effect was under the CDP but under the pre-amp they also added a lot to the naturalness to the soundscape.
I was planning on upgrading the CDP but may now do the power amp (140 to 250) instead, in light of the improved CDP performance and ongoing CD format wars.

Steve

James,

I'm always enjoying it all but like everyone on the Forum, I'm trying to maximize my enjoyment experience. It's like life itself...enjoying it but always looking for ways to enhance it.

Best rgds,

Rich

Right on!, James. BTW, it's good to come across people on the Forum who seem to have a broader horizon than just tweaking the boxes. I appreciate your healthy perspective and comments.

I agree with Redeye on this one - AVOID!

I have used sorbothane feet in the past from Audionquest and they were an improvement over the standard equipment feet. Having read Russ Andrews and his recomendation for oak cone feet, I thought I would experiment with oak door knobs to see if it was an improvement over my relatively expensive sorobthane feet and it was. Timing was better and I could follow individual instruments more easily. I know use oak door knobs (small ones designed for chest of drawers care of B&Q) under all my equipment except my TT (LP12). The rest of my system is Marantz cd63 ki
Flatcap 1
NAC 102
NAc 180
Mirage 895i bipolar speakers fed with NACA5.

CK

Another Tweak that has come up on the forum from time to time is the Neuance isolation shelf. Maybe this (with or without the added tweak feet) would be a worthwhile addition to the source shelf of a stand. I'm hesitant to even add to this thread because my new stand sounds like a million bucks compared to the old one and I feel I'm getting a lot more out of my system. I don't want to be greedy in the improvement sense because I am satisfied.......but....there's always the inquiry towards..."what if I did this?...would it sound even better?....would I even be able to tell?.....
Basically, if someone said: "This will make your sounds even better, noticeably better, guaranteed!" Who could ignore it, especially if it wasn't an arm and a leg?
Anybody awed by Neuance?

quote:

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Originally posted by domfjbrown:


__________________________
Make your choice, adventurous Stranger;
Strike the bell and bide the danger
Or wonder, till it drives you mad,
What would have followed if you had.

---

Dom

I did; the whole bloody place came down but I picked up a wild chick........

On the Yellow Brick Road and happy

I ordered them (the VCS feet) and put them under my CDS2. Can anyone gues what the outcome was before continuing?
..
..
..
..
well, they didn't do jack squat! You see, my CDS2 is resting on top shelf of an extremely solid granite stand which by itself is over 350 lbs. I then put them (the VCS) under my 82 pre-amp and thought I might have noticed a bit of improvement but it's subtle, not really an upgrade-like tweak. Bottom line: people can enthuse over what does wonders for them but the big consideration for this kind of anti-vibration tweak is the stand that you 'll have everything on. If I had a Fraim or a Mana or a hutter then maybe i'd be gushing right now.

My sound quality is very very good compared to a few months ago when I had a soundstyle stand and a CDX. The CDS2 was a mega boost to the system and when the granite stand replaced the soundstyle it was another huge improvement. Going active even added more gravy to the situation.. I just want to say that I'm going to take James' advice and just enjoy the music. If I want any more improvement I'll have to either move to a new house with better acoustical settings or buy a better pre-amp. My case of upgraditis is going away and I'm pretty much satisfied.

James,

Yeah, I'm beginning to see some real merit in that philosophy and that in itself is satisfying.

Rich