Chord Silent Mounts = Wow!

I have heard great things said about Silent Mounts, but you've lost me with Sondbar. Are you saying you've made mdf/vinyl boxes to put your speaker on and the Silent Moints sit in between?

Keith

I never underestimate loudspeaker physical coupling.. It really makes a huge difference. I use standmounts on spiked open framed torlyte stands, but I use Pulsar Points to couple my speaker (ATC SCM19) to the stands. All interfaces use three points for stability. The torlyte tightens the bass, the Pulsar Points seems recover detail in the upper mids and treble that it is to die for.

i am sure under covers, there is a complex mechanical system of damping and coupling.. But stumble into it and you can transform your speakers.

Simon

Thanks for the feedback on these Steve. I was looking at these only the other day & I'm quite tempted. As Simon's posted, loudspeaker coupling is a very important factor in getting the best out of your speakers.

I've been using Naim "Chips" under the spikes of my DBLs & Mr Darke Bear, on a visit to mine,  suggested we tried them upside down. I was astonished by the improvement this made (although IIRC he uses Chips the right way up under his Ovator 800s) so it's worth experimenting with such things.

Are the silent mounts the same as a certain dealer in Leicestershire U.K. is selling?

Richard

I assume so Richard 

I'm going to try some 

Hi Keith, I made bases for each floorstander, 600x450mm, which comprise a 9mm MDF base which has 2 layers of Wavebar at 8kg/m2 attached to the underside, 12mm thick oak (x 90mmW) glued to it on top, and then the Silent Mounts sit on top of the oak top. The speakers sit on them, so it is a nice oak top with the speakers on them which looks nice, and matches my HiFi Racks Podium rack with the kit on them. On the Pyrotek website, they have all the test results for their stuff. If I can work out how to get photos up I'll put some on, Cheers mate.

That's the very product Chris, expensive but seriously made such an improvement it shocked me. I also found making bases for them and the speakers to sit on helped, I have a sprung floor with carpet, so now I get not one vibration through the floor to my feet (that I feel)

Yeah, not cheap at £300-£500 for a pack of four so that means £600-£1,000 for a pair of speakers.

But it is all relative.

Richard

You'll have to buy the titanium version Richard. 

Apparently the titanium versions are not recommended for speakers , only for use under equipment racks.

I saw Max Townshend was promoting something similar, or may even have been the same product, at Bristol this year. Must be worth investigating. I'd be interested to read more feedback. 

As for turning the Naim Chips over, Tony, I think that could be a challenge, even with my NBLs. I dread to think of trying it with DBLs!

It was "Interesting" Clive! Luckily I had DB to help me. The challenge is, when you try & tilt the speaker up on one side it's got a tendency to slide along the floor. 

Thanks Steve,

I guess you're having to compensate for your suspended floor. I have a carpeted concrete floor. I believe Silent Mounts can be used with carpets.

Keith

Hi Simon,

It's interesting that you're using Pulsar Points. I have some in the loft, which I haven't used since I started using Naim. It somehow seemed wrong for the speakers to be sat on something that didn't spike through the carpet. Perhaps I should dig them out and try again.

Keith

I have switched from Chips to Silent Mounts with good results on a suspended, wood floor. Greater resolution and bass control comes to mind..

ATB,

Mark

Tony,

Have you tried the SL DIN 4-4 cable yet?

Graham

No, not yet Graham. It's on my list! Hope all's well with you & Debbie.

good questions! i have never really understood the science and implication of various methods on interfacing between the speaker and the floor -- and i suspect  there are a lot of variables at play, as you imply above.  also the design of the speaker probably plays a significant role too. i guess the best one can do is to find, empirically, what works and doesnt work -- and i i guess that is whay you are after in your message? that would also be of interest to me, though, of course, i am not about to change from my wonderful SL2s.

enjoy

ken

Much to my wife's horror I have the spikes of my speakers and Fraim through small holes in the carpet and underlay onto Naim Chips on top of the floorboards.

As my speakers are really heavy it is quite a precision and two man job to get them corectly set up but worth it.

Richard

This has to depend on the speaker.  Given that my drivers are isolated from the cabinet already there would be limited value in isolating the cabinent from the floor.  In a more conventional design with vibrating cabinets I can see how there might bsomething to address.  That said there may well be some effect Given that no driver is suspended completely in space, there must be vibration, I just can't feel it.

Guilty as charged. Those Silent Mounts are sitting on my green "grass" in front of my Titans. I asked Peter to bring them over  this past summer. We decided to play with them at the end of his visit   Short snippets of about 5 songs were played.   Fraim chips came out and the Silent Mounts went in.   As we listened to the snippet of the first song we both scratched our heads - how was it possible that these reasonably priced chips ( in the scheme of things) made such a difference???  IMHO one of the best VFM  upgrades made in a long long time. 

I shipped a set out to Varyat and you can read his comments above. These are the real deal!  They are not some simple metal chips. There is a mix of alloys which are used. A simple google of the U.K. importer will explain more in detail while a visit to my afore mentioned dealers website will also yield some interesting reading of our experiences during my demo. 

Best

Gregg

A while back my dealer brought some Silent Mounts with him to try whilst I was trialiing another component.  They were a new product Chord were supplying.  My Harbeths are standmounted, but I still perceived a change when using the black discs.  However, it was the ones designed for equipment racks that made a clear positive difference-which I preferred in isolation rather with the speaker mounts as well. My experiences are the same as varyat's.  I recall a calming of the presentation too.  Didn't want to give them back, but for metal discs I thought they were a bit expensive.  I'd like to re-visit their influence again sometime, but for me just the ones designed for racks.