Stillpoints - snake oil?

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...

In a recent Hi-Fi+ magazine article the journalist interviews and follows a Hi-Fi consultant.  This consultant is employed by people to come over to their home and he spends time aligning the system: speakers, racks, cables etc.  Under each component he places three cork sanding blocks, sold for £2 each at hardware stores. He swears by them.  I am planning to try this next time I pass a hardware store. 

I tried Stillpoints under my cdp/dac and under the amp.  Made no difference at all to my ears.  

I use the Townshend seismic rack corner supports on my rack, this isolates the whole rack effectively.  Townshend told me that with the rack fully isolated in this way there would be less gain from isolating individual components.  Maybe that’s why the stillpoints didn’t work for me?

Having said that, at the Munich Hi-Fi show I discovered Coral Copulare risers and bought 3 - they are made of synthetic coral. They work well under the cdp/dac and are a bargain (100 Euro for three).   They did nothing under the amp. 

Having had great success with IsoAcoustic Gaia feet on my speakers I’m interested in their component feet. They use a similar science to Townshend, decoupling with air and pressure rather than with steel, and the Townshend method seems to get better results for me (on a suspended wooden floor).

@duckworp---Have you considered getting Townshend Seismic Pods (or platforms, etc.) for using under your speakers? That is suppose to be one of their most effective uses, so if you’re happy with the Seismic Corner Supports, you might be with the Pods as well. I have them under my Townshend Rock Elite turntable, and am sold. I’ll be getting them for my speakers soon. They are about the same price as the IsoAcoustics GAIA 1's.