Stillpoints - snake oil?

@djones51....What is your problem ?..........@geoffkait, shouldn't it be fear and loathing ?  I was a believer of a product called Anti Vibration Magic, or, AVM ( unfortunately out of business I believe ), and know first hand, by listening, that this stuff works. Same for Dynamat, and other similar products. I am talking about " inside the components ". I have taken amps, such as an Adcom GFA 535 series 2, or a Hafler DH220, and made them sound more like the big boys, with their 1/2 inch aluminum faceplates and heavy duty chassis's. Same with preamps, dacs, transports, etc. I am a tweaker, no doubt, and have been for 50 years. First one to put mortite under the platters of turntables ( out of all those I knew ), to eliminate ringing. All of this damping and isolation matters, and these products, whether snake oil to some, makes a difference, by listening. Enjoy ! MrD.

Fear and loathing wouldn’t have been funny. Never mind.

Thanks, @dgarretson. My Apollo's will be fitted with 1/4-20 threaded inserts. My plan is to remove the cap on the Ultra SS and thread the body into the Ultra Bases, which will rest on the floor. The body of the Ultra SS will thread directly into the inserts on the speakers. Speaking with the folks at Stillpoints directly, they recommended this approach as a way of increasing the surface area where the Stillpoint interfaces with the floor (no dimples) and also increasing the effectiveness of the Ultra SS. I'll report back on how it works. My plan is to run the speakers in for a month or so, evaluate the sound with just basic spiked footers and floor protectors and then swap in the Stillpoint Ultras/Bases so I can evaluate any changes in the sonic presentation. Should be fun!

I find that spikes for speakers work to some extent as do sorbothane footers for electronics but I get much better results with stick on sorbothane. backed with 4 layers of electrical tape to create what is known in mechanical engineering as constrained damping. These I use on speakers, headphones, amps and cd players.

 Here are the key points: 1) use small squares of sorb, no more than 1 inch square, 2) use dense sorbothane 70 duro is what to look for, 3) use as thick sorb as you can get, 1/4 to 1/2 inch, I have not used 1 inch but  Sorbothane  notes on its site that thicker gives better damping of low frequencies.  4) fastening is critical, 3m stick on is pretty good but I cannot find 1/2 inch with it.  I use one of Sorbothane's recommended but expensive glue, Lord 7650 for this and once it cures it is very good.  There is a fair bit of experimentation going on with these types of damping material, eg most Sennheiser owners are unaware that the HD 800's use such material in the headband (yes vibrations travel in most phones through the headband)  I see the HD 820 mentions " an inner damping element"  in the headband.  At other times they refer to a space age material or a polymer (sorb is a polymer BTW) .

The usual law of diminishing returns just doesn't apply to these mods. $10 of sorb and tape is going to sound like a couple of thousand dollars have been spent. See this thread for the history of work on this topic. https://www.head-fi.org/threads/damping-mechanical-energy-distortion-of-stax-and-other-phones-with-s...