Chris, why not try some sorbothane disks under the standard footers. G. |
I've gotten good results with Finite Elemente Cerapucs under my UX-1pi and Rubidium clock. I use 4 |
I also like Cerapucs under my DV-50S feet. Lower noise, higher resolution, more natural... |
Ditto the Cerapucs although Esoteric's footers are well designed and highly functional. Not your standard manufacturer's cookie cutter footer.
Sorbothane discs/pads don't make much difference. In fact with a number of Esoteric players and transports I've found sorbothane to dull the presentation.
YMMV
Dealer disclaimer. |
I got great results with Stillpoints w/ the risers under my SA-10. I bought the Stillpoints first w/o the risers and they definitely "cleaned" the proverbial window. I was then skeptical about the risers making a noticeable difference, but for $100 I decided to roll the dice. One of the guys at Music Direct kept bending my ear about how much better the Stillpoints were with the addition of the risers, and he was right. The risers made a bigger diffence than going from no isolation to just the Stillpoints w/o risers IMHO. Some may think Stillpoints are just ok who have not tried them with the risers. I would consider them mandatory. YMMV. |
I was at the CES and Synergistic Research was using Esoteric gear and had their footers called MIG's sounded great there was no doubt that they were much better that the the std. feet. |
I use cerapucs under my X03SE. |
I tried the Stillpoints w/risers first - didn't do it for me. The cerapucs were a substantial improvement over the Stillpoints, in my system. |
Some grate recommendations, thanks! I have a couple sets of the standard ceraballs and find they make very little difference under the player. In what way do the cerapucs differ from the ceraballs? Is there also a sonic difference where these isolation footers are placed beneath the unit? IE near outer corners or set further under the base? As earlier mentioned, I'm trying to tame the presentation. |
The ceraballs didn't do much for me either. There is a WORLD of sonic difference between the ceraballs and cerapucs, at least in my system. Mine are about 3" in from each corner.
As far as the "difference", I would suggest you go to the Finite Elemente website where they are pictured and explained in pretty good detail. An engineer could probably tell you as well.
Good luck. |
Frontier1-you need to experience on placement, but I don't think they (Cerapucs) will give you warmth. Detail, resolution, low level detail - but, I don't think warmth. A tighter, overall presentation - I think so.
Maybe your rig isn't broken in yet - or you are using bright cables? Are you using balanced or single ended out (not sure if your rig has both). Also, what power cord, interconnects, preamp, speakers are you using? The SA50 is very revealing. It also takes 400 or so hours of break in. |
Hello:
I'm using Nirvana Digital power cord, Audio Note RCA and my speakers are Avantgarde Grossos. I'm very happy with my phono set up in the system. I'll do some more break in as well as experimenting with footter placement. Some excellent advice here, thanks! Digital can be a bit tricky to adjust. |
Frontier1-which audionotes? If they are silver (not copper), I would try swapping to a copper pair. Those are amazingly revealing speakers. I'm not saying that they will reveal the lack of warmth in the Esoteric, as it does not lack warmth, but, rather, the IC cables are rather lean.
I would also really try to use the balanced outs on the SA-50. Balanced does sound better on that player. Hopefully, your preamp or intergrated has balanced inputs? You should be able to get a pair to audition from a few sources. |
I found the SA50 a little on the cool side in my system. swapped out my usual Oyaide Tsunami PC (used the stock cable from my PS3 which sounded pretty good..go figure!), put some sorbathane feet under and used a power conditioner to clean up the power supply. All helped quite a lot, especially the power conditioner. |
The best is Still Point Compponent Rack (9 inch, 4 legs). A bit expensive but will allow SA-50 to show its potential in full (of course, coupled with high quality power cord) |
Ever the iconoclast, I propose a completely different idea. . . rather than fiddling with support, it may be an interesting experience to load the SA-60 with a little more than 20Lbs of weight on top of it. Last Summer I made the experiment with an isolation platform for my Esoteric X-01 Limited. . . the platform turned to be extremely more effective in centering/filling the sound of X-01 when laying upside down on top of the player. Not sure if the platform design had anything to do with the results. . . you may want to try placing one of your famous Canadian Rock Maple platforms on top of Esoteric SA-60. . . or one of your HRS platforms upside down on it. G. |
I put an HRS M3 isolation platform under my Playback Designs MPS-5 for considerable added impact in the bass and a general clarity enhancement. Not cheap, but very effective for the better units, such as your Esoteric. |
