Is this the ultimate inexpensive but highly regarded tweak?
Posted by: Rich Jerskey on 13 October 2003
Is there any experience out there with anything like this that has been written up quite nicely here:
http://www.positive-feedback.com/Issue8/brightstar.htm
These inexpensive anti-vibration feet evidently compare very favorably to other items priced $300. I'm wondering how they'd sound with the CDS2 and other NAIM components.
http://www.positive-feedback.com/Issue8/brightstar.htm
These inexpensive anti-vibration feet evidently compare very favorably to other items priced $300. I'm wondering how they'd sound with the CDS2 and other NAIM components.
Posted on: 26 October 2003 by Goldstar
Hello All,
This contentment can be too much of a good thing,we shall be meeting ex-Naim dealers on every street corner.
Besides dreaming costs nothing!
Regards Robert
This contentment can be too much of a good thing,we shall be meeting ex-Naim dealers on every street corner.
Besides dreaming costs nothing!
Regards Robert
Posted on: 27 October 2003 by tre2fly
Rich, after reading your VCS “results” post, I felt confused and bad that you did not experience a thrilling improvement. So, I did an “on/off” demo as a first for my lady friend, and a verification for me. Even with the sophisticated suspension of both the CDS3 and my rack, the exciting change we heard, left the two of us wondering why your experience is so different.
Our demo was the opening track of the Broadway show “Amour” which is chock full of singing. With the added isolation, voices came alive in detail, dynamics and presence. The cymbal became more metallic and could be discerned as a Hi-Hat. The sound stage went from somewhat compressed to fully open. We did the switch three times to be sure, and each one confirmed the improvement.
Some weeks ago I also took a set of VCS’s for personnel at the local high-end audio store to audition. They placed them under a Linn CDP, and their jaws dropped. Everything about the sound quality and music improved dramatically. I mean dramatically—even the volume increased. The most inexperienced of listeners would have been impressed.
Lovers of HiFi often debate the sound of their equipment and accessories. So much of it is subjective. Unlike cables or components though, which tend to filter and or meter, good isolation devices simply allow the electronics to perform with less vibrational interference, closer to their design peak.
Perhaps, if you haven’t already done so, you could do some more listening. At the very least, I hope you and the doubting others can accept the “sound” principle and results of quality isolation.
Tom.
Our demo was the opening track of the Broadway show “Amour” which is chock full of singing. With the added isolation, voices came alive in detail, dynamics and presence. The cymbal became more metallic and could be discerned as a Hi-Hat. The sound stage went from somewhat compressed to fully open. We did the switch three times to be sure, and each one confirmed the improvement.
Some weeks ago I also took a set of VCS’s for personnel at the local high-end audio store to audition. They placed them under a Linn CDP, and their jaws dropped. Everything about the sound quality and music improved dramatically. I mean dramatically—even the volume increased. The most inexperienced of listeners would have been impressed.
Lovers of HiFi often debate the sound of their equipment and accessories. So much of it is subjective. Unlike cables or components though, which tend to filter and or meter, good isolation devices simply allow the electronics to perform with less vibrational interference, closer to their design peak.
Perhaps, if you haven’t already done so, you could do some more listening. At the very least, I hope you and the doubting others can accept the “sound” principle and results of quality isolation.
Tom.
Posted on: 27 October 2003 by Rich Jerskey
Tom,
I was hoping you'd respond. Like I said, I have a very rigid stand which probably makes the suspension in the CDS2 all that more isolated and thus effective. I could give it another shot with more musical variety.
I didn't notice any degradation in the sound, just a lack of improvement. What are you using for a stand/rack?
Rich
I was hoping you'd respond. Like I said, I have a very rigid stand which probably makes the suspension in the CDS2 all that more isolated and thus effective. I could give it another shot with more musical variety.
I didn't notice any degradation in the sound, just a lack of improvement. What are you using for a stand/rack?
Rich
Posted on: 27 October 2003 by Rob Doorack
quote:
left the two of us wondering why your experience is so different.
I can think of a number of reasons why the VCS devices (or any other isolation devices for that matter) might not have worked as well for Mr. Jersky as they did for Tre2fly. What is each floor made of - wood, a cement slab, or something else? How is it constructed - planks on joists, a concrete slab sitting directly on the ground? How rigid is the floor? Is there a railroad nearby or a road? If there's a road, is there constant traffic? As Mr. Jersky noted his rack is not the same as Tre2fly's, so that's yet another variable. Merely moving the equipment support a few feet in the same room could conceivably give different results. As for the demo at the hi fi shop, perhaps the store and Tre2fly's home are more like each other than either is like Mr. Jersky's home? Perhaps Mr. Jersky lives by himself out in the country miles from the nearest motorway or railroad so there's not only less vibration entering the building from the ground but there's also no one walking around in other rooms?
Having auditioned a bunch of isolation devices, I believe that their effects are extrememly dependent on the environment they're used in. Results in one hi fi system say little or nothing about what might happen in another system in another location.
Posted on: 27 October 2003 by Rich Jerskey
In response to the previous entry, I will reiterate. What my source is on is a massive (350 lbs alone) stand of granite resting solidly on a concrete slab. Although there may be some noticeable subtle improvements using the VCS with some CD's, there isn't the jaw dropping experience that Tom has noticed. I will also state again that my system sounds extremely good compared to what I had earlier (see my earlier post in this thread) and also to what I remember being fantastic sound at a demo I had at Hawthorne Stereo in Seattle (using a variety of upper end components). I'm happy, I was just tweakin away.
Posted on: 28 October 2003 by David O'Higgins
I am using Nordost Titanium pulsar points under all of my electronics (CDS2/XPS/552/NAT05/135's) and in every instance it is exceptional value for money. The equipment is sited on an AAvik stand.
I also replaced the spikes under my Proac 2.5 with titanium points which in turn are on a Mana Soundbase. The improvement is huge, and it is much easier to eliminate speaker movement. The standard points also work but the titaniums are actually better value for money.
Having the 552 on points also allows me to run the prefix connection under the preamp thus getting over the otherwise nasty problem of how to access the power supply in the 552 with such a short cable!
I also replaced the spikes under my Proac 2.5 with titanium points which in turn are on a Mana Soundbase. The improvement is huge, and it is much easier to eliminate speaker movement. The standard points also work but the titaniums are actually better value for money.
Having the 552 on points also allows me to run the prefix connection under the preamp thus getting over the otherwise nasty problem of how to access the power supply in the 552 with such a short cable!