Well, ya' got your Black Diamond $60/3, your Audiopoints $60/3, PolyCrystal ~$60/3, Symposium Roller Blocks $300/3, and a whole slew of 'em on audioadvior.com. Tough to say which one will work best for you. |
I suggest you at least try the Symposium Rollerblocks, they provided improvements in several areas for my player. In comparison to some other devices I tested, the bass went deeper with better control and depth. The separation and detail between voices and instruments was improved, with less grunge in the region from upper midrange through uppermost highs.
You will get other suggestions for products to try under your player, and they may prove to be a better solution than what I have advised. Perhaps a dealer will allow you to hear a few of the most popular options before you take the plunge. There is no substitute for experimenting with your favorite music in your own sound system. |
If you look in stereophile There is a company called STAR SOUND where I bought my cones for $30 or so for 3 of them.They are made of brass which was scientificly proven to be the best material to transfer energy.And they work. I always laughed at that I figured it was a scam but he offers your money back if your not happy with the results. Which you will be. Iam sure there are many diffrent companys on the market that offer the same results but they where the furst ones I have ever tried and talking to them on the phone he was very informative and they where the cheapest I had found. Good luck I hope Iwas of help |
After trying quite a few, the PolyCrystal has had the most dramatic improvement. If you really want the best, the Aurios MIB's are collecting a lot of attention on that level. It is the bearing that stabilizes electron microscopes. http://www.mediaacc.com/accessories/aurios.html. But it doesn't come cheap, $300 for three. You could buy a lot of PolyCrystals or Black Diamonds for that. There are also the Bright Star Audio air inflation platforms that start at $100. No charge for the indecisiveness. |
Black Diamond Racing Cones is the way to go. I tried them under everything and works like a charm. It's really CHEAP for the improvement you get. Additional improvements can be obtained by using the cones with the pucks they sell. Although the pucks costs more, the improvement you get is unbelievable!
Also better yet, available in 2 flavours! |
i have yet to hear any sonic improvement from my cd transport or dac with any aftermarket product, save powercords and a zoethecus stand. my purely personal view: don't expect any miracles for $30, or even $300, if you're putin' your cash solely into isolation devices. -kelly |
I don't care for tonal shifts caused by cones, but Aurios
MIB and Symposium Rollerblocks can be very effective under CDP with internal rotation vibration. I fully agree with Albertporter. They also are close to nuetral with tonal shifting. The only problem is stiff/heavy ICs and AC cords can make set-up, hard to impossible.
The proof of their value is you see used Aurios MIB sell almost instantly here and at little discount to retail price. I have some polycrystal cones but don't use them,
I do like vibrapods and partially inflated bicycle tubes for some applications. All these produce different tonal shifts in sound, as well as different degrees of increased
detail retreval. These are just one piece to the puzzle,
along with ICs, AC cords, racks, etc. |
Wait till you're feeling lucky before you make a decision, 'cause it's kind of a crap shoot. Agree with Sam above -- lot of products shift tonal response, but you might find one that complements your system. I can see how bearing supports give you a good shot at neutrality; I haven't yet rationalized the expense of trying them in my low-cost system. I think the Neuance shelf also is good for providing a neutral baseline for your equipment. Be coldheartedly clinical when evaluating any of these devices -- easy to change the sound, harder to improve it for long term satisfaction. Well, I haven't said anything new. Best of luck! |
Well, BDR MK4 cones do not shift tonal balance. They are as neutral as it gets. However the MK3 stuff are colored.
Well, some like it neutral and some like it colored. I go strongly for the MK4. Decisions are up to you. |
I have the Neuance shelving, but have not yet installed it. There are user reviews of the product at this site in the "shelf" and "isolation" threads. I am hoping to completely eliminate the use of cones and footers so that my equipment can rest on a solid and secure base (on stock feet). The weight of power cords should also have much less of an effect with this type of setup which is a definite plus. My shelves, though custom in that they have 8 sides (instead of 4) were quite a bit less than many of the other support systems. I hope to have them up and running in the next couple of weeks. Anyway, it's another way to go. |
Don't mess with all the cones, roller balls, and other BS.
I built magnetic levitation pods and they kick ass! The only contact with earth (besides a small amount of side pressure) would be from the cables that connect to the cd player. This kills nearly ALL earth born vibrations!! The sound is improved in the following ways: Bass is deeper and cleaner. Soundstage is much more airer. The music just sounds so much more REAL when you can "float" the cd player or transport above the shelf. All materials can be bought locally. See my instructions on the PS Audio web site and happy building!! |
Darrell: I read your project notes with great interest, but do not think that things would stay afloat during one of our CA earthquakes. Plus it only addresses vibration entering into the equipment and does not drain any off. I have had better results in my setup by doing both, though I am certain that your method is excellent for isolating the gear and might sound best on a unit with an outboard power supply that does not suffer much from internal vibraton. |
Stay afloat during earthquakes?? I think I'd be more worried about getting killed by falling objects!!!! As far as draining off vibrations you're correct. The best way to completely isolate would be to float only the actual laser and motor spindle assembly. I'm working on that now with some super powerful tiny magnets. Check on the PS audio website from time to time as they are also interested in my idea. |
Darrell: You get used to it after a while and just concern yourself, immediately, with your household members, including pets (though I am sure that "Tim the TireGuy" is concerned about another member:-) and then the gear. This is quickly followed by concern for other close ones in the vicinity, (not much different from tornadoes in Iowa, where I grew up). I had a 5 LB DAC topple from its cone points following a sonic boom (the last space shuttle landing) and decided to go with a more secure method. Oh, and I love the levitaion/isolation idea on the laser/spindle assembly, but I have to admit that the thinking about it fuels a major headache. |
Another vote for the Neuance shelf as an isolation AND drainage sink. Worked wonders under my CDP: cleaning up and integrating the top octaves better than cones, and WITHOUT the temporal smearing of air bladders. Music seems simply more coherent, thus reducing digititis, IMHO. Good Luck. |
Ernie (Subaru), is your neuance shelf directly contacting your metal rack, if not what is between nueance and rack? Also do you directly couple the metal body of you gear to the nueance shelf, or do you keep existing feet on gear?
Same queation for Dave (Dekay)? |
Sam: I do not yet have it installed, but the plan is to use the stock feet on my equipment resting directly on the shelf. Each shelf will be supported by four upturned brass spikes. This setup seems to follow the the basic advice given at Ken's website, though there are probably many ways to do it. You are familiar with my rack (the Studio Tech, think it's the PA-04) but I have had the rack mig welded into a one piece frame, so that it is no longer a bolt together unit. |
Hi Megasam, I also have the Neuance. I use a Manna rack that has 4 adjustable spikes that the Neuance sits on. I was so impressed with this set up that I am going to order one for every component. I use the existing feet that are on my CD player. I have not gone back to the different footers because I am very happy the way it is. I will try different footers in the future to see if there are further benefits. |
Just to clarify about "coupling" component body to nueance shelf, I am not asking about removing stock feet, but Symposium shelfs/platforms supply small blocks of solid metal called "couplers" to bypass stock feet and directly
connect/couple component body to metal surface layer of shelf.
Everyone seems to love their nueance shelfs with stock footers, it is amazing that they can work so well given the wide range of different designs/materials used for stock component feet. Although it sure makes life easier, listen to the music and forget about support/footer tweaks. |
I have a EAD TheaterVision P DVD Player that I use for cd playback. I happen to like to use a trio of 1" AudioPoints under the unit w/points facing up rather than down (points facing down added a hard character to the sound). With 2 cones up front and one in the rear I heard a very nice upgrade in sound, not to mention a lower noise floor. Check out: www.audiopoint.com |
Good point, Sam. I liked the N-shelf under my CDP and would have tried 3rd party footers/cones with it, but I was simply tired of the fussing, and simplicity became a very attractive value to me. The shelf is not under my CDP now but under my TT. Also, if my CDP had more compliant stock feet, I'd be more motivated to try a better coupler between it and the shelf. That said, I am using the tall stock rubber feet of my Planar 3 with the shelf, since they're not just chunks of rubber but have a particular design. But sometime, for kicks, I'll try some other feet. I see the design of the shelf as more successfully following a "first, do no wrong" (i.e., don't add anything to the sound) approach than some other devices, so it's plausible that it could work with a wide variety of stock footers. Perhaps I'll locate the mother of all isolation/footer threads and put some additional shelf comments there. Oh, the shelf directly contacts my metal rack. |
