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 2 responses by tbg

Divinetrader, as I tried SP Ultra SSs under my speakers before the Ultra Fives were available, I found they were great. I bought more and up them under my amps and my turntable. Then I heard their Ultra Fives. Under speakers the Fives just blew away the SSs. Later under my amps they blew away the SSs as well as under my turntable.

My major problem with the Ultra Fives was their cost and their size. Size was often a major problem under components with big feet of their own. I know a guy who owns 92 Ultra Fives with their bases!

Then came the Ultra Minis. I also got the long awaited SP Grids for my SP Rack. They were mindbendingly superior to the acrylic shelves that alway held back the performance of their rack. My first sets of Ultra Minis was without bases to use on the Grids. I also thought to use them in place of Ultra SSs on one of my SP Component stands. I could hear no loss in going down to the Minis from my Ultra SSs.

Obviously, the StillPoint Ultra Minis are going to sell as they are much cheaper than the Ultra SSs or Ultra Fives. I wouldn't think of using them under my 180 pound speakers, however.

One needs to be careful with the SP Ultra Minis and the ceramic balls are tiny and might shatter with a substantial impact.
Tboooe, about a year ago, I used SP Ultra Fives under the stands of LSA1 and heard a substantial improvement. Of course, the cost of the Ultra Fives far exceeded that of the LSA1s.