Stillpoints Ultra SS under your speakers?

new qualities, and overall sound. I write very fast and make some mistakes.

Today I will receive them. I am very curious how they will perform. The main thing is that they can bring different and other talents than a much more expensive poweramp, source, speaker or cable. This is why they are different and unique.

I have done thousends of tests in audio for almost 17 years of time. Always creating a higher endresult. When you have the freedom to create new qulaities in sound what a source, amp, speaker or cable cannot give they are worth a lot.

A set is always based on all the different tools including the acoustics. In my set they are a clear part of the succes of the overwhole sound. I will not say the most important part, but still important. Without them I could not reach the level I have at this moment. For me they brought me closer to the absolute sound!

In timing you can reach a much better quality. Timing has a big influence in sound.

Gpgr4blu, yes, he told me today they can be used for anything except speakers.

The Ultra 5S are also used on spakers. You will find enough pictures of speakers with the Ultra 5S.

The Ultra 6S is more precise compared to the Ultra 5S.

I spoke to the manufacturer last month. I was told that Ultra 6s are not for speakers.

Bo1972, hmm, I was told by the manufacturer and his US distributor when I asked why the speakers were on Ultra 5s and you are going to ask a distributor??? That makes sense?

I think you can use them for speakers as well. I don't think they are just for amps and sources. I will ask the distributor when I call him.

Bo1972, Why I might ask did Stillpoints not use the Ultra 6s under their speakers at CES? They told me they were not intended for speakers.

Friday I will receive the new Ultra 6 from Stillpoints. I will write a review this weekend!

With S3 Bo1, the speakers come equipped with factory spikes which seem directly connected to the top adjusting screw. I'm not sure they can be removed & fitted with the adaptors. Definitely S5 can, but not sure about S3.

You can buy adapters from 6,8 or 10mm.

The pictures look great Bo1. I've seen Marten Bird 2's with Ultra 5's. I wonder if it is possible to fit Stillpoints to the Magico S3's outriggers? You can certainly fit the Stillpoints to the S5's in lieu of the factory feet.

You don't understand what I mean. The speakers are called Platinum. You can adjust the speaker from above. You connect the Ultra SS under the plateau. You can adjust the level of each ultra SS separately.

Bo1972, I can find nothing about Stillpoints platinum series, but suspect it is just Ultra 5s with their bases.

Take a look at the pictures I send in an earlier answer. From above you can change the level of each Ultra SS separately.

Bo1972, how is the "platinum" series different?

By default I ended up with the Ultra SSs on the larger 3" stainless steel bases (can't remember what they're called). Jim Smith told me that the name of the game with my Duos is decoupling...not coupling them to my raised carpeted wooden floor. I decided to and did order the Grand Prix audio APEX footers but GP could not provide the specified thread pitch for the adapters so I went with the Stillpoints and pitched the brass spikes. The biggest inprovement for me was the large decrease in floor shake I experienced in going from massively coupled to the decoupled approach. Otherwise, there were marginal gains in low level detail , decay trails and intelligibilty.

Hope this helps.

The Platinum series can be adjusted for height very precise.

I use 4 ofcourse. And also 4 SS under my subwoofer.

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10154711380985083&set=pb.588405082.-2207520000.1422117459.&type=3&theater

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10154711374955083&set=pb.588405082.-2207520000.1422117459.&type=3&theater

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10154711373545083&set=pb.588405082.-2207520000.1422117459.&type=3&theater

And the small one under my Olive 06HD.

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10154286739180083&set=pb.588405082.-2207520000.1422117572.&type=3&theater

The Ultra 6 I bought 4 for my Pass labs X350.5

Bol1972, so you are just using three under each speaker. Four are always better than three in my experience. But one needs to have height adjustability to do this.

I don't have the base. I don't like them! Without. In europe they even cost more. 995 euro.

Bo1972, do you have to include a Stillpoints base to use the Ultra 6s? Is that included in the $900@ price?

They look differently I agree. I have to see them in real before I can judge about the looks. In about 2 weeks I will receive them. I will write a review soon after I received them. I am looking forward to test them!

I can't reconcile the look of the Ultra 6. I'm sure they work well, but I prefer the look of the Ultra 5's which work just great & look better imho.

I will put them under my Pass Labs X350.5

Bo1972, where are you going to use them? At CES they had them on their rack, not on the speakers where they used Ultra 5s.

Has anyone tried the Ultra SS with the new spike?

Within 2 weeks I will get the brand new Ultra 6 of Stillpoints. I will write a review about them soon!!

I use them also under my speakers. I thought you meant me, because my name is Bobby as well. But I love the Ultra SS under my speakers.

When you heard them under your speaker you cannot go back.

http://forum.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/fr.pl?cspkr&1412459690&openmine&zzBo1972&4&5#Bo1972

Yesterday I ordered the Ultra 5 for under my Pass labs X350.5. I will write a review about this as well.

Nile49,
I have had a major problem with my Ultra SSs as the tend to lock up. I suspect that the spike would not and will try them. Thanks for the heads up.

Has anyone tried out the SSs with spikes in place of the hard hats that Stillpoints now show on their website?

Re-posting my experience with StillPoints and Townshend Audio Seismic Pods under my B&W 803 Diamond speakers.

For many years I used a solid plywood base platform with 3 spikes that went through the carpet into the chipwood room floor. This was consistently superior with dramatic improvement in sound-staging and more precise bass to using the standard 4 spikes that didn't effectively pierce the carpet.

I tried StillPoints Ultra Fives under the speakers without the platform. Besides being dangerously unstable on carpet, it was inferior to the spiked platform.

I then installed the StillPoints between the platform and speakers. Obvious improvement in microdynamics, improved clarity from midrange and up, but no change to bass quality.

I then also replaced the spikes under the platform with the Townshend Seismic Pods. This did reduce the bass boominess a bit and resulted in more articulate bass. I think it also may have improved clarity in midrange, but I can't conclusively confirm without further experiments.

The combination of Seismic Pods and Ultra Fives have made a significant improvement in overall clarity, and more importantly engagement - music is simply more compelling.

Seismic Pods are diametrically opposite to spiking where the intent is to ground the speaker to the floor to minimise movement of the speaker. With the Seismic Pods the speakers wobble back and forth if touched, but surprisingly the sound-staging is not worse, and if anything it is a bit more independent of the speakers.

To put the improvements in perspective, optimal positioning of the speakers in the room has much greater impact on overall sound quality than any isolation.

Tsushima1, very interesting. I have had some experiences, not with speakers, where the Ultra Fives were too much.

If you are using four Ultra SSs under each speaker, which IME has always been better than three, I would warn you that it is very easy to lock the SSs. Be very careful to have a least a quarter turn from locked. Basically if you want to screw one upward at the base, you will be tightening the hard hat or locking it.

Interesting read here.

http://www.stereotimes.com/post/sistrum-apprentice-series-spsa103-platform/

I thought that I would resurrect this excellent thread as I have been fortunate in having a full Stillpoints dealer demo case with me for a while.

For my part, this threw up some unexpected results given the recieved wisdom in respect to the Stillpoints line, in that in conjunction with Martin Logan anniversary CLX in a room sporting parquet wooden block flooring on joists I much preferred the Ultra SS threaded directly into the frame of the CLX over the Ultra 5's!

I felt that the (no doubt ) addition damping and de-coupling of the U5's tended to push the CLX's , over, the fine line that they , at times, tread with respect to ultra resolution, imparting an over clinical, almost lean presentation to well known test material , and not usually present in my system.
I found that I markedly preferred the SS's as they certainly performed very well as the technology was designed so to do, yet left the weight, tonality and texture to the body of the music intact (if not enhanced) which I was keen to preserve.

Well, I loosened the Stillpoints a credit card thickness. I do believe their is a more relaxed sound. So thank you guys for this tip.

When used with the optional Ultra base, should the Ultra SS and Ultra 5 be tightly screwed into the base or unscrewed 1/4 turn(as is recommended when the Ultras are mounted directly into speakers)?

When attached directly to an MDF speaker and unscrewed 1/4 turn, be careful not to lift the speakers by grabbing onto the Stillpoints device. This can rip the threaded anchor out of the cabinet.

In response to OP, I compared Ultra 5, Ultra SS, and Star Sound Audiopoints to stock Merlin points in my modified VSM-MX. Both Stillpoints and Audiopoints surpass stock Merlin footers. The isolating Stillpoints do a particularly good job on carpeted surfaces, where conventional points can't get a solid footing to couple as designed. In addition, four Stillpoints surpass three in every application that I've tried.

Hifial, Tbg, Thanks for the helpful comments. I'll make the adjustments this weekend.

Yes, and on the Ultra SSs, where you need to unlock the hardhat, if you have them mounted on threads, you need to remember that when screw them up, you will also be screwing the hard hat down and tightening it. This is no issue for the Ultra Fives or the Ultra Minis.

Ozzy, Stillpoints should be backed off from the base of whatever they are used on. About the width of a playing/credit card. Also make sure that the "cap" is also is also not turned tightly. It should be about a half turn or so. Basically you want to "brake contact" between them and not have the cap tight.

Tbg, Thanks that is probably where I heard it from.
I'm always game for experimenting so I'll try to loosen them up tomorrow.

Ozzy, that is the StillPoints recommendation given to me verbally. I don't think I have ever seen it in print.

On my old Tidals I found it sounded better that way. Star Sound Tech., however, says no flush against the speaker is best. Perhaps which is best depends on the technology used as StillPoints seeks to absorb vertical vibrations and Star Sound seeks to pass them to earth.

I cannot have them stand off under my BMC Aracadias as the thread inserts move further into the speakkers with the weight of the speakers on them.

I thought I saw a posting awhile back about leaving a gap between the speakers and the Stillpoints but now, I can't find it. Is that a true statement or am I delusional?

Just looked it up: I have the Cerapucs. I had the Cerabases at one point, and looked up Roy Gregory's review of them in Hi Fi Plus, and saw the anatomy of the device. It's similar to the Stillpoints in the technological approach, from what I can see of the device in Gregory's review: 3 ceramic balls between the top part and the bottom part. Interesting.

RAK:
I have the Finite Elemente Cera…puts? I used to have the top model, but then got the next one down from the top, which is on my Spider equipment rack.
I had considered substituting the Stillpoints to the 'feet' on the Spider, but I wondered if that would work in favor of the stand or against it. One can never tell, even though Finite Elemente's approach in 2004 seems to be a precursor of sorts to the Stillpoints of "now."
Of course, if I do that, it's another $1k, but then, I'd hear the improvements (or the incompatibility, if such a thing happened) and know which was better.
I think Finite Elemente doesn't advertise much in the U.S. They never did.

Tbg:
You are just TOO rich for me, man! (Laughing). I would rather stick with the SS and be able to complement the whole system than have to buy one Ultra 5 at a time. I had to return the last set of Ultra Minis because of Bruce's "proclamation" that the Ultra Minis couldn't handle one of the speaker system I have (a pair of Hale 3 Revelations, 90 pounds per side). My wallet is much lighter than it was 3 hours ago.
On the other hand, the Twitter stock is rising, so, in about 2 years, I'm hoping that Twitter will have paid for the Ultra SS feet that will be arriving shortly.
HeyMikey:
I can't help you out with the Ultra 5 feet, but since I bought the SS models (Tbg, of course, has left me in the dust and is already onto the Ultras), I CAN tell you how good they sound at $2k for eight, vs. nearly $6k for the Ultras - which, I admit, I have no idea how they sound. I will know, however, how the SS sound vis a vis the Ultra Minis, because I can always put them under the line conditioner first, and that will tell me instantly how far ahead I jumped from the Minis. I expect, based on others' comments, it will be magnificent.
On the other hand, if you ONLY want to get the Ultras, they just put my comments into context and go directly to Tbg, pass "GO" (am I the only one who remember Monopoly?) and - if you've got the moola, dough, bucks, or any other word for money - jump on 'em!!!

I would suggest putting them under the line conditioner, after one has placed them under the speakers, although the mini risers do just fine under a line conditioner (assuming it's not over 50 pounds, per Bruce at Stillpoints. He says they are just "being careful" because the ceramic alls could crack with too heavy a weight on them). The PS Audio Power Plant under which I placed them took on a (new) life of its own, at least, what started coming thru the speakers. The delicacy of woodwinds was undeniable as was separation of instruments and a new transparency in the mid/upper bass/lower midrange areas.

Pardon me Richards for not responding earlier.The Ultra SSs are coupled to the speakers which are on a carpet,vinyl tiles and concrete floor.Minimal tilt on the speakers as they are firing across the room. Since then have added four under DCS Puccini and Vitus SIA 025 with Minimus under other components.
They really do make a difference and deal effectively with mechanical noise. There is still the problem of electronic noise and the Entreq Silver Tellus together with their i/cs and speaker cable really lifts the transparency, reduces the noise. and complements the Stillpoints.
The Carmel is a superb speaker and none of the upgrades set out above have phased them. They just effortlessly step up to new levels of performance

Tbg, thanks for the feedback re: the Ultra bases. I've read feedback to the contrary indicating they provide a slight lift in performance, so results obviously vary depending on the application. On a tiled floor, using the the bases is probably a good idea in any case to provide height adjustment.

I think you missed my point about keeping your system balanced. By that I meant, there is no point owning 92 Ultra 5's, and running a Yamaha integrated amp or $200 speaker cables if you know what I mean. I certainly don't have the cash for 92 stillpoints. The Ultra 5's make the most difference under your speakers, and as I mentioned they are far superior to the factory feet, so 2 sets of 3 is all I would need save unless I changed my speakers to Genesis 1.2's and upgraded to Gryphon Memphisto mono blocks. You can go silly on this hobby, and i'm not pre-disposed to such folly.

Melbguy1, the Stillpoint ultra base add nothing to the performance of the Ultras other than height adjustment. One thing that I have learned is that there is no such thing as too much isolation with StillPoints products. I know a guy with 92 Ultra Fives. Having tried Ultra Fives under Ultra SSs with a big improvement and using Ultra Fives under amps and then used them mounted on StillPoints Component Stands, thus gaining additional four of the "technology" feet, etc. I have given up saying enough is enough. Try an Ultra Five on top a component.

I guess everything depends on what "balanced" means, but I doubt given any operationalization of balanced that I can think of, that is a true statement.

It is too bad that Magico does provide more anchor points. You could just put two in the corners in the back.