Review: Monument Referecne Signature Soundposts Tweak
Category: Accessories
My tastes in music are mainly classic rock, singer/songwriter and later classical music.
Over the years i have tried many different types of isloation/damping devices and always came away with a shrug of my shoulders as to whether they really helped as advertised. the results usually were subtle at best.
I saw a few positive references to the Monref products here on Audiogon and the fact that they had a 30 day money back guarantee. Their price was high for 'simple' peices of wood but low comapred to their more exotic competition. So i started with 3 sets of Signature Soundposts and put them under my digital set up and pre-amp.
the effects were immediately noticeable and akin to that of a major upgrade in cables or in electronics. there was an immediate lifting of veils and haze. the music emerged from a much quieter, black background. subtlety was easily more apparent, but rendered delicatley---just like real life.. harmonics were noticeably better rendered as well. the most stunning differnce was a big improvement in both the texture and soldiity of the bass and mid-bass. It was like having a much better bass amp all of a sudden.
All together there was an important added 'live' qualtiy to the sound.....you know like when your ear is fooled to thinking its in the room with you. This obviously only occured on some of the recordings but it was significantly more frequent than before.certain voices or instruments 'popped' out of the back ground more and were more 'present'
I was immensely satisfied with the increase in perfromance resulting from the Monref sound posts.
I then added a set under my phono stage and a set under my Canary Ref One amps.
in each case i recieved furhter improvements in exactly the same manner as the intitial Soundposts. I was VERY skeptical that they would improve the sound of the amps; afterall the amps are not handling nearly as delicate a signal as the front end. However my concerns were layed to rest as the amps sound also easily benefited from sitting on the Soundposts.Here again the improvements were particularly noticeable in the lower frequencies
Please note that i was switching to the Soundposts from Equa Rack footers which had been my reference for some time (considerably better than Aurios, SRA, Symposium).
i would purchase the Soundposts even at a considerably higher price. Their effect is entirely positive. i cannot find any negative aspects to their influence on the music.They are beuatiful and easy to install as well.
i have coresponded with their craftsman; Bryan Ruben and it is very clear that these are not simply pieces of wood. Bryan's backgound in music and audio is extensive and his care in both material selection (only certain types of Rosewood and varnish are used) and design (they are not simply 'posts', but have a very specific blueprint)clearly comes through in the quality of the these products performance.
Bryan can also do custom Soundposts as rack and speaker mounts as well. I love Bryan's dedication to using beautiful and natural materials that result in a far more natural sound. He is a very honest and caring craftsman!
Associated gear
Infintity IRS V, Zanden Digital, Canary Electonics, Kuzma analog, Allaerts F1 cart
Similar products
SRA platforms, Aurios, Mapleshade brass cones, DH Cones.
My tastes in music are mainly classic rock, singer/songwriter and later classical music.
Over the years i have tried many different types of isloation/damping devices and always came away with a shrug of my shoulders as to whether they really helped as advertised. the results usually were subtle at best.
I saw a few positive references to the Monref products here on Audiogon and the fact that they had a 30 day money back guarantee. Their price was high for 'simple' peices of wood but low comapred to their more exotic competition. So i started with 3 sets of Signature Soundposts and put them under my digital set up and pre-amp.
the effects were immediately noticeable and akin to that of a major upgrade in cables or in electronics. there was an immediate lifting of veils and haze. the music emerged from a much quieter, black background. subtlety was easily more apparent, but rendered delicatley---just like real life.. harmonics were noticeably better rendered as well. the most stunning differnce was a big improvement in both the texture and soldiity of the bass and mid-bass. It was like having a much better bass amp all of a sudden.
All together there was an important added 'live' qualtiy to the sound.....you know like when your ear is fooled to thinking its in the room with you. This obviously only occured on some of the recordings but it was significantly more frequent than before.certain voices or instruments 'popped' out of the back ground more and were more 'present'
I was immensely satisfied with the increase in perfromance resulting from the Monref sound posts.
I then added a set under my phono stage and a set under my Canary Ref One amps.
in each case i recieved furhter improvements in exactly the same manner as the intitial Soundposts. I was VERY skeptical that they would improve the sound of the amps; afterall the amps are not handling nearly as delicate a signal as the front end. However my concerns were layed to rest as the amps sound also easily benefited from sitting on the Soundposts.Here again the improvements were particularly noticeable in the lower frequencies
Please note that i was switching to the Soundposts from Equa Rack footers which had been my reference for some time (considerably better than Aurios, SRA, Symposium).
i would purchase the Soundposts even at a considerably higher price. Their effect is entirely positive. i cannot find any negative aspects to their influence on the music.They are beuatiful and easy to install as well.
i have coresponded with their craftsman; Bryan Ruben and it is very clear that these are not simply pieces of wood. Bryan's backgound in music and audio is extensive and his care in both material selection (only certain types of Rosewood and varnish are used) and design (they are not simply 'posts', but have a very specific blueprint)clearly comes through in the quality of the these products performance.
Bryan can also do custom Soundposts as rack and speaker mounts as well. I love Bryan's dedication to using beautiful and natural materials that result in a far more natural sound. He is a very honest and caring craftsman!
Associated gear
Infintity IRS V, Zanden Digital, Canary Electonics, Kuzma analog, Allaerts F1 cart
Similar products
SRA platforms, Aurios, Mapleshade brass cones, DH Cones.
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