Tube dampeners on ARC gear ... FREE TWEAK

lostbears ...

I have the CD7-se.  How was the improvement with the Herbie's dampeners? 

Also, have you considered using Herbie's "Black Hole" CD mat? It has rave reviews. I contacted Herbie via Email and he says it works well with our top loading players.  Its on my bucket list ... to do after all tubes in the system has been outfitted with the Herbie dampeners. 

OP

 I just got the 8 Herbie's tube dampers the other day. I put 4 on the signal tubes in my CD7 and 4 on the signal tubes in my Ref 5se. I put them all on at he same time. So far I do hear a difference between the Herbie's and the ARC ones. The soundstage seems a bit bigger and more well defined, a bit more detailed. The bass also seems crisper. But I just got them the other day. So I have not had a chance to spend a lot of time listening with them in the system yet.

 CD mats definitely work without a problem in the CD7. I have not tried the Herbie's mat. I have an old Marigo Labs Signature mat that I have had for a number of years. The Herbie's mat is cheap enough, I may order one when I order more tube dampers.

The biggest improvement I have made in my system. Audio Research Ref 5se, Ref CD7 and Ref 110. Was replacing my Furman power conditioner with a Shunyata Triton and Alpha HC power cable I bought here on Audiogon. It was like someone took a blanket off the speakers. The sound did not change, but it was richer, more focused. The Triton seems to emphasize all the best attributes of the Ref 5se. It was just amazing. Every time I make a change I don't see how my system could get any better. To be honest it is getting hard to compare anything anymore. I end up just getting lost in the music,

If you are checking out CD mats I can strongly recommend the Marigo Audio Clear Transformation Mat -- I use it all the time in my DCS stack and can clearly hear the difference in terms of unifying the recording into a coherent whole, even the orientation of the mat is readily audible, and it is very slim so works with drawer type loaders -- costs a bit more than Herbie's but has a $ back guarantee I believe

I've ordered a full set of Herbie's HAL-O III dampers for my power amps (went with the heavier duty ones given the het in the amps, plus rumor is they sound better 😀 than the UltraSonic Rx) -- will report back in due course

folkfreak ...

It looks like Marigo has improved upon the Clear Transformatin Mat.

http://marigoaudio.com/ultima-signature-mat/

Interesting stuff.

oregonpapa - actually the Ultima Signature is the older model (dates from 2013-2014) and was superseded by the Clear Transformation which is the current model -- Ron doesn’t exactly update his web site (the Mystery Feet are in F8 for example notwithstanding the web site only describing the F7)