Stillpoints or Audio Points, has anyone compared

Stehno, I'm sure I'm in the vast middle ground in terms of experience fooling around with different vibration control techniques. I don't claim special authority on this topic. If my post came off that way, it's only because I want to be specific enough about my point of view so that people who want to argue it can be specific, too. That gets the discussion a little farther along, I think.

I am suspicious of pure doctrines in hifi, especially those that take the form of "this approach is the best for every situation." Things usually are way more complicated than that. That's why I try to critique "isolation v. coupling" as a useful dichotomy. I prefer to take a systems approach in looking at what we're doing when we try to control vibration.

My main beef (at least if you ask me today) is the implied assertion by the Pure Coupling camp that mechanical energy behaves the same way as electrical energy, that earth is always at zero potential with respect to vibration of objects upon the earth, so coupling to it is naturally the best solution for vibration control. This sounds nice, but is there any basis for this assertion? (Whether coupling to earth is practically achievable, given wood floors, etc., is a whole 'nother question.)

This is a little off track, but I somewhat misquoted Starsound's Robert in my post, and I'd like to correct that. He said "The Sistrum Platform...vibrates continuously and simultaneously...The Sistrum Platform is also the noisiest platform in the world...Our noisy 'rattle triangle' vibrates creating a multitude of frequencies...well above as well as well below that of our human hearing." How is this draining vibrations to earth?

Thanks for your comments -- absolutely no offense taken.

In the interest to those who offered me assistance in this thread, I emailed Robert Maicks at Star Sound Technologies and explained my results with Audiopoints.

Robert emailed me back and generously offered to refund my purchase upon return of the product. He said, "I have been following the active thread on Audiogon as I would like to determine as to why our product has produced a minimal effect within your environment."

In my email to Robert I stated that I would take the loss on the Audiopoints coupling discs since the spikes had scarred them during setup. He replied, "We will take back all products, regardless of condition as there is no reason for you to lose any financial investment. We truly do stand behind our satisfaction guarantees."

Furthermore, Robert asked if I would provide additional feedback about my equipment in an effort to better understand what may have caused the performance issues. He also genuinely expressed an interest in trying to help address my problem in the future if he arrives at any solutions.

I must say I have been impressed with Star Sound Technologies committment to customer satisfaction, the manner in which Robert communicated with me and his desire for information to continually improve his product and to possibly help my situation.

Until I do a major upgrade of my system next year, I am extremely satisfied with the results that I have acheived recently with decoupling. However, when I do ultimately upgrade my system, I have committed to myself that I will re-visit Star Sound Technologies products. Robert earned both my respect and my willingness to do business with his company again.

Unfortunately, my results with Audiopoints were not what I had hoped for, but one couldn't ask for a better consumer experience, audio related or not.

Once again thanks to those that offered me feedback and help in addressing my vibration issues.

Warren

My experience with the Stillpoints was limited to borrowing 1 set of 3 points and stands. After hearing rave results from a few people I was looking forward to hearing what they did for me. Under my Cd rotiserie they did nothing...... I tried 1 set under one speaker and heard a difference , but without 2 sets it was an invalid test. The CD player had me baffeled as supposedly everyone at the demo heard a big differrence. (One listener bought 4 sets 1 each for his new sound labs and 2 sets for his Wolcotts) Long story short I experimented with pads, marbles, silly putty, cups, and wooden discs. All of these were tried under my player. I was amazed at the different sound I could get from different arrangments. The silly putty won out. For my speakers I needed a littler height so I killed 2 birds by using 90 mm Bocce balls modified with a 9mm Stud. My floor is not level and as such the speakers would rock on there bases. My balls allowed a "coupling" effect with no floor dammage a leveling means an and a height increase I needed. Check my system for pictures. Regaurding the Stillpoints......In my application they obviosly didnt alter the coupling from the stock feet, hence no sound difference. On the websight they offer a good explanation of there design, very nice design theory. The question comes in when reading the description of how they function combined with the weight bearing capabilities.

"The weight of the component expands the second tier of balls, forcing them into the petals. The petals flex and counter the vibration, thereby absorbing it."

"Weight Capacity: 300 lbs per set of 3
(100 lbs per Stillpoint/Riser)"

Seems likely that my light weight player never "expanded" the petals therefore did not realize any benefit of decoupling.

BTW I do not doubt others spectacular results. Your results may vary.
My suggestion is to experiment with low cost solutions. Detimine which results in the best sound then purchase a purpose built device which most closely emulates what your experimentations dictate you need in your system.

I have had both the latest Stillpoints with risers and the Audiopoints Sistrum SP-1 platform in my system recently. It seems more valid to do this comparison as both products sell for about the same price.

I found the Stillpoints to be a nice improvement. They brought more clarity and focus to the music, and I heard individual instruments better. I originally used the Stillpoints with a Berning ZH270 amp and I found them to perform as advertised.

The Sistrum SP-1 platform made a much bigger difference in my system. It gave me more of everything! I heard more detail, space, depth and width, and I had a window in to the music that I hadn't heard before.

The differences between the products were the same for both my Simaudio I3 integrated, and my transport and dac. For whatever reason, I find that my Berning amp sounds best on (dare I say it) an 80 pound lead platform, but the Sistrum bettered both the lead and the Stillpoints on all other components.

I tried both the Stillpoints and Sistrum on several components and, other than on the Berning, my results were the same. The Stillpoints offered some improvement, but the Sistrum took that improvement to another level. YMMV

good to hear someone else has seen the light. Thanks for the followup feeback...