Stillpoint Ultra Minis


I'm wondering who else might have these.
I had purchased a pair of these a month ago, and had them under my ASL Hurricane (only bought enough for one amp).
I clearly heard their effect, which, in another thread - one I read just now - concerning the SR MIGS, one poster pointed out the significant difference they made. And I agree.
Today, I received another set of 3. Based on Roy Gregory's review in The Audio Beat, I put them under my PS Audio Power Plant,expecting an improvement - and a significant one - but not an I'm-dying-kill-me-NOW improvement. I would be wrong.
These surpass my Nordost Brass cones by a minimum of two orders of magnitude. It would be like going from a good set of speakers to a fantastic set of speakers (speaking of which, I bought Nola Contenders, which haven't yet arrived, so I'm using my old Hales. I have several Nola models, but not bi-wiring for them, so I'm using the Hales, which are excellent speakers, but not nearly as coherent as Nolas).
Needless to say, buy these and put them under your power conditioner FIRST. I had them under an Arcam integrated while one my Hurricanes is in for a resistor replacement...again (sigh). Great amps, but the resistor blows about once a year. Their realism, however, is phenomenal, easily the equal of my Jadis, Goldmund Mimesis 9,and VTL (300s) amps. Not in detail, but in dynamic range/contrast and sheer it's-right-THERE realism, they leave the others in the dust.
I have to mention I also just bought a pair of Nordost Frey 2 interconnects, and thought they were a superb improvement over the Tyr 1 interconnects I have, but when I put the Stillpoints into the system, I realized the Frey were nowhere NEAR what they must truly sound like, and now I can hardly wait to get my Hurricane amp back and the Contenders.
To the point: the Stillpoints drop the noise floor ENORMOUSLY. Nina Simone's 'Ne Me Quitte Pas' is so without noise that her breathiness is as though you moved from Row K to Row C. It's THAT obvious. No straining to hear the improvement. I actually looked around my listening room, trying to remember if it was one of my 40 tube traps that I must have moved to their very, very optimal positions (these things improve - or destroy - ambience with a turn that is so little, you can barely see that you moved the side with the seam at all (which I demonstrated to a friend Sunday night by turning on all the lights in the music room and showing him minute a change I made in the orientation of the tube trap).
I hadn't moved anything.
Try these beFORE you buy new amps, new speakers, new ANYthing. And look at Roy Gregory's review. It's an excellent review and he makes it clear where to start with these - and where to put them last (Ithink he said under the CD player. In other words, speakers first, then line conditioner, amps, then preamps and LASTly, under the CD player).
Staggeringly good footers. Better than my Goldmund cones, any of my different iterations of Nordost feet (I have every single iteration they've released), Finite Element Cera pucs/bases or anything else. Expensive? Yes. $375 for 3 feet. I'd never used Stillpoints before this, but I can tell you, I'm buying these for the preamp, the other amp, the CD player and my friend's NAD BEE integrated. Cheaper than new speakers and after reading Gregory's review, I'd have to agree that putting the feet under anything with transformers/power supplies is the very first place to put these. You can't go wrong with one set of these under your line conditioner or amp, and if you do, send 'em back to your dealer. (You won't.)
gbmcleod

Showing 1 response by sc0ttc00ter

It's 2024 and I'm just now reading this Stillpoints thread (I know, late to the party) but can someone please tell me if the pointy ends of the Stillpoints Ultra Minis are supposed to point upward at my amp case with the bases resting on my component shelf, or vice versa?

I haven't bought theĀ Ultra Minis yet, or decided whether the V2 version would be a noticeable improvement over the V1 Minis, which are a lot cheaper (used). I'd love to hear some feedback about whether the upgrade's worth the extra money.

During the past year or so I've been totally schooled about the value of lowering my system's noise floor, adding IsoAccoustics GAIA IIs under my GoldenEar Triton One speakers, Audioquest Fog Lifters under my MIT Magnum M1.3 cables (purchased 6 months ago), added Sablon Audio Gran Corona and Corona Reserva power cords, and installed CruzeFirst Maestro outlets in my stereo's dedicated line. Beginning with the Maestro outlets (mind blowing), and followed later by the Sablon cords, each upgrade has been truly eye opening, opening up more and more detail in mixes of recordings I've known for years. Now that I'm finally retired and have time to sit and listen to my stereo, I'm hoping adding the Stillpoints will strip away even more veils on recordings, because other than Stillpoints and tracking down MIT Magnum M1.3 interconnects to match the speaker cables, I think I'm all done with equipment upgrades.