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  3. 1316355472

Help understanding the new Stillpoints products

I have written Stillpoints directly and got no answer from them (a bad sign I guess), so I thought I'd ask here.

I have liked the still points cones and risers for many years. They are not right in every situation, but they are consistently an improvement in many applications, in my experience.

Now they've come up with a whole new set of products, and I don't know what to make of them.

For example, the new Ultras: the recent Positive Feedback review says that is you are only going to use them under one component, use them under your speakers. I would actually love to try them under my speakers. My current speakers have truly lethal spikes that come with them, and I have never been thrilled with them (nor have my hardwood floors, despite the Starpoint protectors I have underneath them).

Problem: the Sitllpoints website gives no information (that I could find) on how to attach the Ultras to a speaker.

Similarly, there are new Stillpoints that apparently, with new adapters they are selling, will screw directly into a component. I would very much like to try this with my CDP. I've never liked resting it on top of the stillpoints becuase it slides around too much. But the website does not make clear how to buy the adapters and how to size them.

I've been on various dealer's websites, and they don't offer any insights, and don't seem to be selling the adapters separately.

In short, based on my (perhaps ineffective) searching, I've been able to figure out exactly nothing about how to order the right set of Stillpoints products for my needs nor how to use them with my particular equipment.

Anyone's help would be most appreciated. Especially folks from Stillpoints or dealers who can help me figure out what I need AND then acquire the stuff.

Thanks!
dgaylin
ebm
9,311 posts
 
Try SYMPOSIUM Roller Block or Roller Block JR work better, sound much better.Peter of SYMPOSIUM is always there to offer help and great advice.
ramy
141 posts
 
I have just placed the Ultra SS under the Electrocompanient Nemo amps which are connected to the low frequency section of the German Physics Loreley speakers.The sound improvement was dramatic.
calloway
874 posts
 
dgaylin..there is a very good review at 'stereotimes.com' by norm luttbeg. i bought the ultra ss and placed them under my tidal speakers using metric threads to attach them ..x 4 / speaker....i also bought 2 more sets of 4 and am using them under my chalice audio ' grail' amps..i think they are superb and the improvement was ...as ramy said above..'dramatic'..read the review..it will give you all the info you need...i think..
dgaylin OP
255 posts
 
Ebm -- the Symposium stuff is not what I'm looking for, thanks though.

Ramy, this is consistent with the review, thanks

Calloway, I read the article in stereotimes (I mis-cited it above as Positive Feedback). That article is tantalizing, but I don't have enough information on what can be bought, from whom and how to figure it all out. Thanks though for weighing in -- most appreciated.
mezmo
516 posts
 
Gotta admit, I have shared the same frustration trying to learn more about this stuff. Sought to find an actual distributor in NYC (where one would think it wouldn't be too difficult) in order to learn more and perhaps actually see some. Nope. Tried to learn how to actually affix them to gear, and didn't have much luck. A great deal of frustration.

From what I can deduce, the best way to use them is to screw them into your gear. They come with a threaded adaptor, and you can -- for more, think we're talking close to $10 per screw -- purchase additional adaptors to fit a specific piece of equipment. As for what the correct adaptor is for any given piece of gear, you're on your own. (Looking to put them under my speakers, which come with cones screwed into the bottom, and it seems that the stock thread is all that I’d need).

As for who sells them, another long road. Only place that I've been able to find them are online shops like music direct and the cable company. No one in the greater New York area appears to have them. The cable company made some noises about putting them in their “lending library” so that you could try them out with a deposit like you can with their cables. But don’t think that has happened yet. And regarding the Ultras, seems that the only real difference between the aluminum and the stainless steel version (aside from price) is that the SS one’s purport to be better (for some undisclosed reason) and may again work better for heavier items (such as speakers). That said, both are rated at many, many times the weight of anything you could actually get on them, so you’re again on your own to make sense of that one. Seems to reduce to “more is better” and “more expensive is better.” Believe us.

Forgive what appears to have turned into somewhat of a rant, but the bottom line is that these are some pricey gear – footers, no less – and there is a surprising lack of hard, practical literature out there regarding how to actually make them go in any given application. Requires a bit of a leap of faith to put your money down in order to wait for them to show up, and only then do you get to figure out whether you can even connect them to the gear in question.

Perhaps with a cooler head, suspect that the best bet is to call Stillpoints and have them explain it. They are, by all accounts, fantastically helpful. I want to believe they are what I want. And that they will work on the gear I want to use them with. And that, if there is more that needs to be purchased in order to make them work, there is at least a knowable process for determining what that is. Think that I have covered all of that ground – but it was surprisingly difficult. Having spent months, off and on, flogging this process, just wanted to say that I feel your pain…. All that said, still too much of a leap of faith for me to have pulled the trigger. And I've tried.
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