Lifters ForGetting Cables Off The Floor, Worth It Or Snake Oil

First of all, lifters absolutely work: I've lifted cables - initially with jewel boxes and edges of books, and worked up to Shunyata's 2nd generation lifters. My room is acoustically great, electricity is great, and the setup is also excellent, so I can hear the 'little things' that some scoff at, most likely because they haven't addressed completely the room, and the electricity, but it's still there to be heard. Depending on what type of music you play, you'll hear it to a clearer degree. Processed music? Won't hear that much. Mercurys, old Deccas, RCA Living Stereo and some other top labels? You should be hearing it if your system's set up right.
As to the lifters at Music Direct: they have a 60-day return policy, so this is a win-win for the person considering them. Don't listen to the conjecture of those who 'know things' yet have no experience with the actual genre in question. That's called The Blind Leading The Blind. Try it out yourself. That's called common sense.

David:
Thank you for mentioning me in your post. I’d like to point out that while I now live on the East Coast, for nearly 30 years I lived in the Earthquake Zone - San Francisco (74-2002). In that time, I met many of the "greats": Dave Wilson (whose WATT/Puppies I was among the first to own); HP of TAS (and I wrote for TAS for all of 2 minutes - Harry was forever firing his staff). At his annual Friendship Party in Sea Cliff, I met the "Old Guard" - those who wrote during the Golden Age 73-1999 and we exchanged stories of how many times each of us had been fired; Scott Markwell, HP’s setup man; Tom Miller. And then, designers David and Luke Manley (VTL) and many others. I learned from them - and gave them some tips, too! and so much of what I know was empirically demonstrated to me. And I was an Editor for Fi Magazine, as well. So, I have more experience than most, and didn’t have to pay for it (I got to listen to components sent to Fi’s office: Jadis, Krells, Wilson Grand Slams, Rockports, Transparent cables and the like).

So, unlike those whose experience was limited to the top level of components, I had access to items for long periods of time. And I learned from it. And it was a swift learning curve with Enid saying do this, HP saying do this. You get the idea. I learned from the best. And they had no ulterior motive for educating me.

What I learned was the same thing the other writers learned: vibration, electricity, power cords: they all made a difference. And since I could borrow things, I wasn’t partial to anything that didn’t work. It was a wonderful learning time, and contrary to what people say, nobody at Fi or TAS wrote an article to score points with manufacturers. We didn’t have to. Power conditioners were new then, but it was clear they mattered, too. And again, I didn’t own these, nor did I write reviews when I was at Fi, but I got to hear a lot of equipment. I shut my mouth, listened to my betters and remained open-minded.
My point is, my experience is pretty vast with expensive stuff and cheaper stuff, so when I post, I go off the wisdom imparted by other writers and even manufacturer, not just my own ownership of Goldmund and Versa dynamic 2.0 turntables, Goldmund Mimesis 9 amp (GOD, that was a magnificent amp), Convergent, Transparent’s best, MIT’s best, Spectral, Benz and Lyra cartridges.The equipment was merely an education. But if you’re not a good student, you won’t benefit. So, when I post, I am simply sharing experiences and knowledge. No one need believe me: I always believe in ’try it for yourself.’
The late Enid Lumley was the one who cued me into moving speaker cable off the floor. That was around 1988, I had a great room: 15 x 27 and another one, 12 x 18 and a gazillion tube traps (okay, only 50 or 60, but it was 1988: NOBODY had Tube Traps then, not even Harry. And those things work. But there’s a trick to them, I assure you.) And, being the mad scientist type, I didn’t stop until I tried every configuration and position on footers, equipment stands, ac plug orientation (which MATTERS!) etc. And I learned one thing: EVERY. SINGLE.THING. Matters. Don’t have cables touching each other, keep power cords AWAY from signal cables. Same things most of us know now: I just had a head start.
So trust me when I say keeping cables off the floor should provide obvious results - unless your electricity is bad (that’ll kill most of the benefits of good equipment) or you have a lot of vibration (I mean, didn’t most of us??? Dave Wilson complained to me (back in ’88) that he’d just returned from HP’s home and that HP’s equipment setup was sloppy (cables touching, equipment on rickety tables, etc. and this was back in 1988!). In fact, Harry’s initial review of the first Rockport turntable was wrong because he had it on a rickety table that was hardly ISOLATION PROOF (read the review if you have it: issue 74/75, winter 1992 and you’ll see that until he got the Rockport pneumatic isolation stand, he came to some big mistakes about the turntable). Removing vibration - it was clear in that review - was a major factor in Harry’s then arriving at the correct conclusion (Michael Gindi, who wrote the main review, and had the Rockport pneumatic stand, which inflated (again, isolation was key)  had got it aright before HP). This was clear to many of us as early as 1992. So, vibration isolation DOES STRONGLY affect the end results.
Now in CT, I had ASC’s wall damp treatment on a resilient channel, which means no wall touches the other, nor does the wall touch the ceiling (you fill it in with an adhesive substance at the juncture of floor/ceiling/walls) so the floor isn’t shaking the walls, the walls shaking the ceilings, etc. Dedicated circuits for each components (so 6 dedicated circuits). In other words: no stone left unturned. (That was Harry’s influence: he’d insist I do it right or my reviews would be wrong).
So, vibration counts. Which leads me to my soon-to-be latest addition: the Townshend Seimsic Isolation Platform for turntables, which will arrive Friday. AS Harry used to say, the only good vibration is a dead vibration. I KNOW THIS after 4 rooms, all of different size and construction.
I have Stillpoints SS and Ultra Mini Risers as well as Nordost’s Sort Kones, but suspect the Townshend will be magical, based on isolation down to 3hZ. I’ll keep you posted.
We should ALL keep open minds because the more closed our minds are, the less good our music will sound. And it doesn’t matter how modest the system: experiment as much as you can - but CAREFULLY.
AND UNPLUG THAT DAMN MICROWAVE!!!

You're welcome. I just wish I knew then what I know now: it would have been FAR less expensive than it has been to achieve both great sound and an even greater musical enjoyment, which is really what most of us are aiming for. 

tgun5:
You might be surprised to know that Jonathan Valin, TAS’ chief writer, arrived at the same conclusion about the ceramic lifters. As I recall, he found that they "leeched out" the natural colors of the orchestra.

I don’t know Mr. Wolf, but in literature, the Wolf (except in Indian tribes) is a symbol of chaos (Fenris being the ’big, bad, wolf of Norse mythology). So, Mr. Wolf is fulfilling his symbolic nature. But the wolf is also supposed to  bring wisdom in other cultures. Which one does Mr. Wolf belong to?

Inquiring minds, however, merely want to know if Mr. Wolf has actually tried any of the devices he disparages. Any good scientist DOES the experiment, not disparages the experiment and then looks at results. What experience does Mr. (Big, Bad) Wolf have to present?

Geoffkait, no doubt you're right. There are, I'm sure, many solutions and ways to isolate to 2 hZ. A friend was given the Townshend isolation platform to put into his modest system (which I gave him). 
The Townshend improved his system a whole lot. And his CD player is sitting on top of 3 Nordost Bronze Sort Kones. All I can say is Townshend's platform is so far ahead of the Nordost Sort Kones that it's no contest. A much more "expansive" soundstage is the first effect heard,  And, again, voices sound purer, vastly more expressive. Not that the Stillpoints wren't doing this: they were.  The Townshend is just waaaaaaay better. I just ordered 4 of the cells so I can experiment under my line conditioner, CD player, line stage and amp...

Geoffkait, I’ve always considered your comments to be balanced, informative and fair, so I would ask that you TRY the Townshends before commenting on what they "seem like." It is POSSIBLE that your springs come close to or, Max Townshend forbid (!), equal them. But you know as well as I do that people commenting on what they have not heard fits Ivor Tiefenbrun’s dictum: "If you haven’t heard it, you don’t have an opinion." It’s dismaying how many ignorant comments there are about things people have never even seen, much less heard (and I’m not including you in that statement, since I’ve rarely disagreed with what you’ve written. And I can’t dispute what you say here, since I haven’t heard your springs, and you haven’t heard the Townshends). Just keep an open mind, please.

Incidentally, the 4 Townshend Isolation pods arrived. I put them under the NAD integrated and...hmmm, couldn’t hear the improvement. Needless to say, I disagree with Mr. Levi of Positive Feedback:

http://www.positive-feedback.com/Issue75/townshend_pods.htm. "Use 3 or 4 Pods anywhere under your gear... it is not critical at all." Well, I put them "anywhere"...and got nowhere.

But then, I’ve bought things other writers (mostly HP) praised to the skies - and learned - AFTER I spent the money ("a fool and his money....") that it was never mentioned in the review that the component was "lean-sounding" or, as in the case of the Seismic sinks (which I had 3 of the originals, but thought they did nothing for my system!) that due to the uneven weight of components, that the sinks would not make your system sound better if you didn’t fill one bladder just a little less than other bladders, and that you didn’t want to pump it up fully, or you would get a "grey" sound. (I still have one of these sitting in the living room, as we speak, trying to figure out how to pump it up: lost the original pump. And now that I have the 20-years-later-and-technologically-superior Seismic platform, I’m itching to compare.)

Now, I could’ve let this slide and not posted yet. But it reminds me of those I mentioned in other posts, who buy something, shove it somewhere and then write, "it did nothing." I could say the same thing here, based on my immediate reaction. Hey, I'm not immune to carelessness in audio: it's just that I don't go by my initial impression. But what I will do is position them more carefully (didn’t have time to do it today, and anyway, I thought, (carelessly, it now appears), "Hell, this should elevate the system to sainthood!") It barely elevated the NAD, other than that it’s 4" higher off the platform it was sitting on. And the NAD was previously supported by Stillpoints Ultra Mini Risers. Seeing that the witching hour is approaching (it’s actually 3 a.m. for you non-witches, NOT midnight), the experiment will have to wait until later this morning. I have a few spells to cast: getting dicey out there in the world.

But shoving the pods under the NAD and not being elated? It’s a lesson in how even expectations based on previous experience with the same manufacturer can sometimes lead us down the wrong path. And how sometimes, it takes work - even with inanimate objects - to get things right. Feng Shui, anyone?

When I realize the original subject was getting the cables off the floor, I realize how far this has drifted off the subject, but since I posted about that, I thought I'd also post again about the Seismic platform and pods.
I just discovered - like yesterday - that, if the springs are not exactly vertical (and when you put the Seismic Platform down, if you do what I did, and simply assume that putting 'em down, even with the bottom part of the springs at the 11 - 5 o'clock position, as you would see the hands on a clock, is sufficient. I discovered yesterday, while listening to Yma Sumac's voice, that making sure the springs are directly vertical (12 noon to 6 o'clock position) is the only way to fly. I had noticed an "ethereal" quality to the sound that hadn't been the case previously. I couldn't figure it out, until I looked at the springs and wondered what would happen if they were MORE vertical (not completely vertical, as this was only a theory). So I pushed the bottom part of the spring so that it was more in line with the top part. Voila! The sound solidified and the cowbell in the recording sounded more like it had 4 days ago (when I "un-verticalled" (yup, not a word. I know. But you get the idea)) it. Geoffkait, do you have to have your spring vertical for the best sonics? You sure do with the Townshend, although it will sound great - even fantastic- with them at the angle. But the "air" will disappear a bit as the bottom part of the springs moves out of vertical alignment (completely my error, of course), and so the field of depth is like an accordion when you push the sides together. Just sayin'.