QSA Stones

I’m always surprised by the claims made by occult tweaker products. I use the word "occult" because these products make big claims but always supply small to zero evidence to justify them. They’ll always tell you what you should "expect" to hear when you try them-- and that is part of the success of occult products-- the power of suggestion. You project differences that you think you hear onto the product-- often just cheap crap like rocks, paint, or "black box" specials. Saying rocks will make your system sound better because of some special "ju ju" that no can even begin to explain and back up with any credible evidence is the seed they plant in your mind-- then your mind does the rest. The "eye witness" theory-- as in, "I heard it so it must be so" is meaningless. Courts understand that even eyewitnesses are often very unreliable-- as memories can be altered just by thinking about them.

All that said, if you take a pill and feel better, it can be the pill, or it can be the placebo effect-- something very real but not very well understood. That effect is probably more real than the magical benefits of $80 rocks that cost very little and do even less-- other that to perhaps decrease some vibrations-- something most non-magical rocks can also do quite well.

As an aside-- those rocks look like crap for $80 apiece. If you’re going to rip people off selling dressed up rocks, at least slap a decent looking sticker on them and paint them a pretty color so that they don’t look like cow-sh!t yeah?

I have never insulted anyone for spending money on whatever they please. I merely pointed out a few things that I believe are worth thinking about when considering an occult tweaker product.

MillerCarbon has shared some pretty well thought through opinions about just trusting your ears (assuming they’re any good) and not always searching for a scientific explanation for why something improves the sound-- but that does not mean that most or all of the "improvement" you hear with some of these products is not all in your head. After all, that’s where the music goes doesn’t it?

That said, with respect to vibration control, there is no question that quashing as many extraneous vibrations as possible will improve the sound of your system. I am committed to trying the nobb springs because of MillerCarbon’s writing on this subject.

I have two decent turntables-- a SOTA Star Sapphire VI with an Origin Live arm and Soundsmith Hyperion cartridge that plays at very loud volumes with little or no audible vibrational feedback-- played out to Genesis III floor-standing speakers and Genesis Servo-12 subs.

My other turntable, a MoFi Ultradeck, sits on a butcher block which sits on six Isoaccoustics Orea feet. This deck will cause some vibrational feedback above a certain volume level. This is the one I’m hoping I can improve with some nobb springs, or Townsend springs possibly.

Anyway, I try to focus on the obvious stuff-- most of that being my rooms deficiencies-- so vibration and reflection are the demons that I still wrestle with.