Sistrum Platforms under floor standing speakers

I'm experimenting with the SP-004 today under my Silverline Sonatina II's and I am very impressed (to my surprise). The sound is more articulate and almost SET-like (using Cary SLI-80), bass is tighter and cleaner and deeper. I have carpet and had been using the brass cones that the Silverline comes with, which look very high quality in their own right. So I did not expect this jump in performance from stands. They look good too. Like Dan, I'm using the two points in back and one in front. They are more stable than I had expected, albeit still a worry. The stock points screw in, whereas these points are resting under the speaker via a small brass-like cup.
Art

I went from the SP-1 to the SP-004 and finally the top dog SP-101. The improvement was incredible. I had the Audiopoints under my Thiels and the SP-101 brought my system to another level. What impressed me the most is they play louder. Try it. Keep your Audiopoints on one speaker and put the SP-101 on the other. You will check your pre amp to make sure the balance is not turned toward the Sp-101 and favoring that side. I have them under every piece of gear I own except my new cdp which I am going to call Robert and have one sent. You have nothing to lose. If I am not mistaken Robert said the SP-101 has never been returned.
Another reason I favored the SP-101 is my Thiels are very stable on the platforms. Which is important because I have a large dog who for some reason likes to listen to music. We have a understanding that he is allowed in the room with the condition that he is responsible for not letting anyone in there when I am not there. He might let someone take my watches or plasma TV , but when it comes to the SP-101 - well I pity the fool.

I have been using the bigger platforms under my Genesis 500's for several years now and have not had a tipping problem. It was hard as hell to lift those heavy monster speakers onto the Sistrums, but once we did, and got the platform spikes more or less evenly distributed under the base of the speaker, I have not moved anything and have had no problems. Sound with the platforms is incredible, as others above have noted. I was using 3 Audiopoints under each speaker before the platforms, and the platforms were a definite and immediately noticeable improvement. You can see the platforms underneath my Genesis 500's if you view my setup under the Virtual Systems link.

Any time you have a 3-point foot arrangement, there can be some stability issues if you push on the speakers from certain directions.

The 3 point system defines a plane, so there are no problems with leveling or "rocking" on the feet. It also places more mass on each point, which is good for our design.

Generally, it is not a problem, but if children romp and play in the listening room, or if people tend to run into things while not looking, it could be knocked over.

I have speakers that are 6' tall and have a 12" x 12" footprint, sitting on the small SP-004 platforms. They have never been knocked over in 2 years, and I have a big dog(135 lb. Rottweiler) that likes to play in front of the stereo. With very tall, narrow tower speakers like mine, they are much more "tippy" than the more common height speakers like 36"-40" tall. If you take any care at all to not knock into your speakers real hard, then you won't have a problem

For those who cannot abide with the 3-point system, then the Sistrum probably would not be a good choice.

If you can live with the 3-point system, the sound improvements are very worthwhile.

Hope that helps.

Tom Lyons
Starsound Technologies(and Sistrum user)

I have SP-1's under my Von Schweikert DB-100's which are 200 lbs. each. I believe they are well worth the money for the improvements they create. Bass tightness, overall definition and increased dynamics are what I have heard. I lived with only one SP-1 for 6 weeks so I had the chance to hear the difference between my 2 speakers. In retrospect, it was a good opportunity to identify the SP-1 strengths. Your 100 pound speakers will anchor just fine on this platform. I think the SP-1 is quite inconspicuous visually. You can hardly see them under a speaker. An added plus is the platform raises the speaker a few inches to raise the midrange drivers closer to listening height. Get-em.

It will be worth the extra money. I am a huge Sistrum fan. Your points are working individually right now. With the Sistrum Platform they will work as an entire system. Significant difference. They have a money back guarantee policy. Whattaygot to lose? check them out. peace, warren

BTW Dan (Drubin), though you didn't like the cosmetics, how did they sound?

I tried them under my Thiel 2.4s. Starsound recommend two points in front and one in back, but this was not stable and I had to reverse the arrangment. I did not care for the way the Thiels looked on the platforms and ended up going without.

I don't know anything about the effectiveness of the Sistrum platform, but I went from Audiopoints to what's shown at the link below and received considerable improvement. Higher resolution and fuller, smoother, sound. I liked the result alot.

Timken Bearing Photo & Commentary

Worked out very well for me, very stable and an improvement over the Audiopoints. I've used both the SP-1 and SP-004.