Stillpoints Ultra 5 versus Vibraplane

Jerry,

I know Peter A, great guy that I’ve communicated with multiple times. For some reason I knew about Vibraplane under his turntable but not the amp.

If it’s valuable under a Pass Labs it should be at least as effective under the ARC. Pass Labs is solid state and Vibraplane told me effect was greater under tube gear.

Albert,

amps can get a bit soft sounding and lose a bit of life with some passive decoupling. and it's hard to predict. you need to try it and listen. the reason is that most good amps are voiced to be on floors near speakers so they have their own internal damping. adding passive decoupling can then potentially be in conflict with the designed in damping.

my dart amps have suspended circuit boards inside for decoupling. you have to remove the shipping bolts to allow the boards to hang free once installed. so when I tried decoupling under them it got muddy sounding. it was better without.

if your floor is post and beam I'd first brace underneath it to make sure the floor is completely solid underneath the amp. that will yield the biggest gain in performance. if the floor is moving and you add the mass of a Vibraplane it will just change the frequency of the resonance.

maybe a good place to start is ask your amp manufacturer what approach they recommend.

Mikelavigne

amps can get a bit soft sounding and lose a bit of life with some passive decoupling. and it's hard to predict. you need to try it and listen.

I share your fear about passive decoupling, exactly why I posted in the forums here. The Stillpoints Ultra 5 not only increased the focus and resolution of the ARC amps, they improved dynamics and lowered distortion. It was nearly as big as putting them under the speakers.

I don’t want to loose any of that, even if the change helped something else.

if your floor is post and beam I'd first brace underneath it to make sure the floor is completely solid underneath the amp. that will yield the biggest gain in performance.

My floor has essentially been turned into a slab, lots of work done to make it that way. The turntable is a different animal, like Peter A, Vibraplane was very positive there and being a performance junkie like you, I was wondering if Vibraplane might make it better.

By the way, great to see you active in the forums again.