Will only speak for Star Sound Audio Points™ and every series of Sistrum Platforms™:
There are significant increases in sonic performance when stepping up from Audio Points to any higher priced Sistrum Platforms within every product category of the Star Sound product line up. Our promise is that every step of the way there will be significant increases in performance from the equipment you already own.
In our opinion and in order to accomplish this claim, a single technology with applied geometry combined with material science must exist within the core structural design of all product offerings.
The difference between a group of components with "any" cones sitting upon some type of equipment stand versus having components sitting on a product specifically designed to channel airborne/mechanical/electromechanical interfering energy onto a resonance conductive shelf which in turn is explicitly designed to channel that detrimental energy to the support rods, which in turn are specially engineered to channel that same energy efficiently to “ground” at high speed via the same geometry that is used “at the component level” is quite dramatic when listening and judging performance in musicality.
The big picture behind any Sistrum Platform is a model of operational “efficiency” engineered to carry unwanted energy from each component to the grounding plane commonly referred to as the greater sink or mass (rack to floor, component to rack, etc) and not just isolate each component from the next.
If your rack is designed as an anti-vibration isolation product or is wood furniture; the questions are where does all that energy caused from vibration go? Worse case is if the energy is being isolated from the rack and is primarily stored within the electronic component or loudspeaker as this establishes greater operational “inefficiencies” resulting in greater heat and resonance build up hence affecting performance (per Coulomb's Law).
Next, how does the rack react to each independently isolated piece of gear and what type of additional audible frequencies (commonly known as rack chatter) are expanded in the room from all the various vibrating combinations of racking build materials?
Since it is quite difficult to apply geometry to the family of primary absorbent materials as used in restrained layered damping techniques such as sand, lead, rubber and stone… are these also absorbing the live dynamics and/or harmonic structures we all look to attain in listening?
How do plastics, polymers, acrylics, glass, stones, woods, etc react to temperature and humidity changes and are they absorptive, reflective or conductive for resonance?
And does the rack have a pathway or means of rapid exit for the interfering energy to flow to the flooring?
These are examples of questions rarely asked of rack manufacturers.
Every equipment rack, just like every cone, spike, bearing or any other type of footer system does sound and perform entirely different. No two are remotely close to having the same sonic signature especially when used in tandem. Unfortunately one cannot easily listen and compare the differences that equipment racking makes since it is far easier to switch out a pair of very expensive cables but…
“know this”… the equipment racking decision is the most critical step in listening or advancing the performance value of any system. The equipment racks and speaker stands governs ‘overall’ sonic capability meaning every sound from every piece of equipment you purchase forever can only perform as good as what the rack/stand delivers! More important to that fact is how the equipment rack reacts and functions in the vibrating structural listening room itself.
Chances are you thought it was the speakers or amplifiers making the majority of difference in sound reproduction where the bottom line actually is the structural foundation they reside on.
Personally working with thousands of listeners and audiophiles for the past sixteen years, many of whom began with Audio Points and worked their way up to the much higher priced Platform products and have never experienced a situation where the lower priced items outperformed the higher.
In our case there are huge differences when comparing cones to racking where cost increases definitely do provide more musical experiences and higher levels of enjoyment from listening. Hope this helps and does not confuse. You are more than welcome to telephone and we will be happy to answer all your questions.
Robert Maicks
Star Sound
