Footers under my speakers double the perceived value of my speakers!


My first experience with putting footers under my speakers was with Tannoy Westminster Royals.
With some difficulty, I put Mapleshade heavy footers under them. I was amazed. These $20k speakers, all of a sudden, became $30+ speakers! These days, I am into Stillpoints. Same thing-even more. My $30k speakers now sound like $60k speakers. I mean the imaging, the definition, the bass and everything just sounds fantastically Improved. I just put on the Stillpoints yesterday. This morning I jumped out of bed early just to be able to turn on the stereo and be floored. BTW- my speakers are 200 lbs and the Stillpoints Minis are strong enough. Pretty cheap for such an improvement!
mglik
I dont know why simple thing like resonant mechanical embedding of an audio system is not simply experienced and understood by some....it is simple college physics.... Even a litterary mind like me knows....

I will not add the necessary controls of the electrical grid embedding to this one...This one is completely underestimated by most...

The acoustical embedding treatment is way more partially understood tough in the passive way to remedy the room, but forgot the active ways that are almost unsuspected by almost all people....

These 3 embeddings treatment and controls exceed in S.Q. change any normal upgrade not of one component, but in "some" cases the upgrade of all components, so powerful they are....

Think about any manufacturer in the obligation to reveal these inconvenient truths (for the sale pitch) to you before you bought his 10,000 dollars amplifier or dac? Will you be pleased to learn that day that his perfect engineering gear is not enough by themself to create Hi-Fi experience?

Asking the question is answering it.... :)

I succeed to afford Hi-Fi experience at peanuts costs thanks to simple listening experiments with homemade common sense and only very low cost materials....

Someone must say that to help the people who throw their money out of the window before knowing it or thinking about it, because they dont know no other way, and because they like me dream of Hi-Fi experience...


Perhaps i dont know the last dac technological marvel, my dac was paid peanuts by a bid on Ebay, but for sure i know now a few things about the way to embed an audio system at low cost and trust me the best dac in the world cannot replace that 3 embeddings controls by himself....

Dac dont eliminate vibrations, dont decrease the noise floor of the house and dont adress the acoustic field....Amplifier or speakers no more....

My system look like trash (because of all my modifications) but sound like many many thousand dollars systems and better than most...

The word "upgrading" is a market key word, a conditioned false ingrained urgency most of the times.... Think about what you already owns and the way to improve it.... After that, few years passing, you will know how to buy a real upgrade....

Is your gear, never mind his price, giving to you his real hi-Fi max. potential S.Q. ?  That is the only important question, and most of the times the answer is no....

This is the basic audiophile problem and this is not related to any so called "upgrade".....





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Jim’s book is ok, but underrates importance of quality of gear. Setup can’t fix mediocre gear. You can’t reach upper level sound by tuning and tweaking average gear. Anyone disagree? I’m not too bothered by that. :)
Wow, this just gave me a Eureka! moment. I am going to contact Jim, his editor, and his publisher and suggest a new "Chapter One". It will be the shortest chapter in the book and will read along the following lines;
"Before you read the rest of this book full of tedious tips that won’t really do you much good, take my advice and take out a second or third mortgage, sell your kidney(s), cash out your child’s college fund, and just buy a better system for crying out loud!!! Why are you being such a tightwad and why do you want to be like Sisyphus rolling the same rock uphill over and over when you ought to be just up-spending for an adequate system unlike the pieces of crap you have at present. Trust me, whatever you have, it is crap. I know.
All the rest of my suggestions regarding speaker placement, listening position, room treatment and the rest are a needless waste of time if you just spend enough money on the type of gear that Doug Shroeder and I prefer. Thank you. This is a public service announcement. No need to read further unless you insist on being the tightwad I suspect you are and don’t heed my above well-reasoned advice. //s// Jim Smith"
You can’t reach upper level sound by tuning and tweaking average gear
What in the world means "average" gear?

You can turn any relatively good low cost system in the 7 th marvel of the world by knowing how to embed it....If this average cost gear is relatively good for sure....

This is my experience...

What relatively good means?

Amplifier design is mature for the last 50 years....

I own a Sansui Au-7700.... An another Sansui of the alpha series.... They are certainly "averagely" good....They are among the best design Sansui ever created...

My dac cost few hundred new and is certainly good if we read all reviews of customers.... Average then but very good....(Starting Point System dac NOS)...The secret is the use of a good electronic known chip TDA 1543 philips but mainly his minimalistic design with low noise (internal battery powered)...

My speakers are average, paid 50 bucks used, but they are the best of British Mission speakers ever designed....Mission Cyrus 781....Average but certainly very good...( The bass is so good i never use the Kreisel sub i bought)

Controlling and tweaking the 3 embeddings dimensions where this audio system is immerged transform it like" night and day"....

YES, I reach upper level sound with average good gear....At worst slightly under it..... But a night and day transformation is more than an upgrade of dac or amplifier, or speakers in the same price rung of the scale except by paying for another totally different level of gear....

My gear total is under 500 dollars 2 pieces vintage and bought used....To crush it really will cost me 16,000 dollars with a really improved electronical design and better speakers...i know already what to buy to replace it...But 500 bucks versus 16,000 is staggering difference....

Thanks to the controls of their 3 embeddings, i am not in the frustrated urge for upgrade..... :)

I already own holographic, natural timbre, details and clear imaging audio system in nearfield position or in regular distance.... What more can i ask for ?

I dont listen no more to my 6 headphones, because they are not on par with my speakers now...." years ago with the same gear it was the opposite....Night and day ....

The truth and explanation is simple, most reviewers in all magazine, pay more attention to electronical new design than  to the precise ways to embed an audio system....

Guess what is more important? The last new variation of classical known electronic design or the 3 embeddings?

The right answer will give to you Hi-Fi for peanuts....The wrong answer will push you to upgrade without end at high cost to finance private electronical design reasearch....

«Truth is simple, myths are complex....»-Groucho Marx

« Science is complexity made simple or is it technology brother? »- Harpo Marx




Whenever I tried different footers under my stand mount monitors I always adjusted my listening position to eliminate the effects of height differences since it was so easy to do. Sitting more upright or slumping down is kids stuff. 

The differences I heard were solely from the different footers used as the results were the same regardless of ear listening height. I can't believe what I read. Is "insipid" the word of the day?

All the best,
Nonoise