Stillpoints Ultra SS vs spikes on concrete

I have been tempted by the Ultra's too. If you are looking to dissipate vibration as the Ultras are designed to do, you might try Herbie's Cone/Spike Decoupling Gliders under your spikes. $14.89 X 8 = $127.12, compared to about $1,800 for the Ultra's. Jim Smith of the book Get Better Sound likes them on wood and carpet over concrete.

Palasr - Thank you for your honest input and the (YMMV). I am going on the strength of Jim Smith saying that in voicing many systems every person liked the Herbie's products under their spikes. Mine are coming this week and I will post my mileage on this thread. I will be delighted if they work as they are cheap, and I will not be surprised if they don't because indeed, YMMV.

Ryriken. You bet I will post and look forward to your input as well. My wife leaves tomorrow (Friday) for two days and my Herbies are supposed to arrive Friday - so I should be able to get in a good listen.

Well, my Herbies decoupling gliders that are designed to go under spikes came today. I also got the big fat dots to go between the upper and lower speaker modules. I have Von Schweikert VR4Sr's on a maple wood over truss floor with standard VS spikes which are quite substantial.

First, I do not notice anything bad, no reduction of liveliness or naturalness. There is improvement with the Herbies even though the system already sounded great. For me there is better articulation in the very low bass, for example on the deep drums in Jennifer Warren's Way Down Deep. At higher volumes, particularly when the music has heavy bass and there are subtle things going on in the treble at the same time, the mids and highs sound clearer with The Herbies, plus a cleaner sound stage and less congealing on loud complex passages. So for less than $200 and a 90 return policy I am happy.

I would bet that the Ultras would beat the Herbies but they were too rich for me at the moment as we have 2 kids in college, planning a wedding, and just dumped 5K into repairing cars. For me this experiment was to see whether devices proclaiming to turn vibrations into heat versus spiking would make an audible difference. Now that I have established that I can hear this difference, I'll be looking to compare to the Ultras when I get some scratch.

Ryriken. Might be that your speakers are designed to use the floor to add weight to the bass? Are you on wood or concrete? I am also now letting them settle in and will have opportunity with wife away this weekend to do some more evaluation. Then I will take them out and see if I am missing anything.

Yup, he and your ears should know what sounds best. Happy listening