Thanks for taking the time, Whart. Good to know. On a 600lb speaker, it is a lot tougher to experiment so guidance is appreciated before i even consider a trial. I have heard Harmonix have a sound...which can be great with the right speaker...N2S less so but some feel the need to let them 'breathe' every few weeks...which i would not wish to do with these speakers!
Does it make sense to put isolation devices under speakers?
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Thanks for taking the time, Whart. Good to know. On a 600lb speaker, it is a lot tougher to experiment so guidance is appreciated before i even consider a trial. I have heard Harmonix have a sound...which can be great with the right speaker...N2S less so but some feel the need to let them 'breathe' every few weeks...which i would not wish to do with these speakers!
I just bought some Still point Ultra ss's to go under my Wilson speakers and my cj pre amp. Before I go through the laborious process of replacing the spikes with the ultras I thought I would put them under my cj pre amp and cj ss amp first. They have been under fr a few days now. The results seem to be in line with the reviews. Very impressed.
Tonight put the last 3 under the TW acoustik phono stage, replacing the aurios pro mib's. I have always liked what the aurios did sonically, however the floating back n forth and problems with cables etc precluded them being used past my phono stage. I did not expect much of a change, but listening is believing. Clearer through the midrange, bass tighter, notes start and stop with better precision and basically easier to listen to but with no softening of edges whatoever. No downsides I can hear so far.
On the weekend I will try them on my cj tube mono blocks, however I am loath to take them off my phono stage ATM.
Even if these do not work on the Wilson speakers, they are pretty darn amazing under components.
Highly recommended.
Tonight put the last 3 under the TW acoustik phono stage, replacing the aurios pro mib's. I have always liked what the aurios did sonically, however the floating back n forth and problems with cables etc precluded them being used past my phono stage. I did not expect much of a change, but listening is believing. Clearer through the midrange, bass tighter, notes start and stop with better precision and basically easier to listen to but with no softening of edges whatoever. No downsides I can hear so far.
On the weekend I will try them on my cj tube mono blocks, however I am loath to take them off my phono stage ATM.
Even if these do not work on the Wilson speakers, they are pretty darn amazing under components.
Highly recommended.
Great stuff Turntable! I find the GAT responds really well to EAT tube dampers and an isolation plate on top along the back. I know HRS feet or your Stillpoints would be good underneath but just have not done it yet.
You are the first person who is about to do this with a big Wilson i know of...i have been thinking about this for some time. The only other pair is there is a picture of X1s with a gigantic steel and carbon-looking x-brace underneath that makes the X1s look like mid-sized floorstanders. This X-brace is enormous. Some owner in Taiwan? That got me thinking too. Look forward to hearing about how it goes.
I posted at length here in a thread about various isolation devices under the tube power supply to my phono stage and have for now settled on the Stillpoint Ultra SS. I loved what the Aurios did to tighten the bass and make the system even more alive, but it brought a harshness to the proceedings that I couldn't bear. These were the Classic 1.2 not the ones you have- the Stillpoints don't achieve the degree of immediacy that the Aurios did, but they also don't have the nasties that the latter brought in my application. I gather that the real strength of the Stillpoints is under loudspeakers but I haven't gone there yet (still using the footers from Grand Prix audio, which made a positive difference at the time, but it's been far too long since I made any comparison on that front).
Good luck!
I would agree with that. In general, the Ultra SS are best under very heavy components.
Lloyd
I do not think I will be doing anything for a while.
A lightening strike took out the right channel last night. No treble on the Maxx3's even after replacing the treble resistors. The left channel seems OK. I think the cj tube amps are OK as they took a tube and the large fuse at the back.
Ain't it always the way, the system was singing. Left mono is not a good sound.
That capped off a crappy week just nicely
I got the biggest performance jump with my phono stage - that is the lightest component I have tried
That's some microphonic phono stage
That sucks, sorry to hear. I thought you only had to worry about giant sharks down there.Lloyd
I do not think I will be doing anything for a while.
A lightening strike took out the right channel last night. No treble on the Maxx3's even after replacing the treble resistors. The left channel seems OK. I think the cj tube amps are OK as they took a tube and the large fuse at the back.
Ain't it always the way, the system was singing. Left mono is not a good sound.
That capped off a crappy week just nicely
Lloyd
I do not think I will be doing anything for a while.
A lightening strike took out the right channel last night. No treble on the Maxx3's even after replacing the treble resistors. The left channel seems OK. I think the cj tube amps are OK as they took a tube and the large fuse at the back.
Ain't it always the way, the system was singing. Left mono is not a good sound.
That capped off a crappy week just nicely
Wow...really sorry to hear, TT. Hope they are able to fix that one soon. Hopefully they can come out to the house with a few tools and wires to see if it is something that can be fixed onsite rather than transported back to manufacturer or the repair bench. Good luck.
Lloyd
I do not think I will be doing anything for a while.
A lightening strike took out the right channel last night. No treble on the Maxx3's even after replacing the treble resistors. The left channel seems OK. I think the cj tube amps are OK as they took a tube and the large fuse at the back.
Ain't it always the way, the system was singing. Left mono is not a good sound.
That capped off a crappy week just nicely
Man that's a bummer! May you only be down a couple of days!
Lloyd
I do not think I will be doing anything for a while.
A lightening strike took out the right channel last night. No treble on the Maxx3's even after replacing the treble resistors. The left channel seems OK. I think the cj tube amps are OK as they took a tube and the large fuse at the back.
Ain't it always the way, the system was singing. Left mono is not a good sound.
That capped off a crappy week just nicely
oh no! not good! ouch.
hope nothing too serious happened.
Lloyd
I do not think I will be doing anything for a while.
A lightening strike took out the right channel last night. No treble on the Maxx3's even after replacing the treble resistors. The left channel seems OK. I think the cj tube amps are OK as they took a tube and the large fuse at the back.
Ain't it always the way, the system was singing. Left mono is not a good sound.
That capped off a crappy week just nicely
Sorry to hear that turntable, been their and is not a nice place...hope it is just a minor issue.
thanks guys, nothing worse than the system down - never blown a tweeter before.
I took the Maxx3 treble head into the distributor warehouse today. Yup the tweeter is cactus, no sound, just distortion. The midrange seemed fine. They have taken down the tweeter s/n and sent it the details off to Wilson for a new one to be shipped out. The tweeters are large heavy things.
I just hope Wilson don't tell me that they need to send out two new tweeters as they need to be matched, if they don't have one matched to the other one now. I wonder how much this will cost?? This will take a couple of weeks at least to get down to Sydney.
In the mean time I borrowed a pair of Martin Logan Summits to at least have music. Myles, any hints or rules to follow with the ML's, as they did not sound great before I left to go out to dinner. You definately cannot stand up and listen
. That said, I just plonked them down so no time spent setting them up.
thanks guys, nothing worse than the system down - never blown a tweeter before.
I took the Maxx3 treble head into the distributor warehouse today. Yup the tweeter is cactus, no sound, just distortion. The midrange seemed fine. They have taken down the tweeter s/n and sent it the details off to Wilson for a new one to be shipped out. The tweeters are large heavy things.
I just hope Wilson don't tell me that they need to send out two new tweeters as they need to be matched, if they don't have one matched to the other one now. I wonder how much this will cost?? This will take a couple of weeks at least to get down to Sydney.
In the mean time I borrowed a pair of Martin Logan Summits to at least have music. Myles, any hints or rules to follow with the ML's, as they did not sound great before I left to go out to dinner. You definately cannot stand up and listen
Sorry to hear about your miss fortune.
If you take a picture of your room that would help for suggestions on placement of the Summits. Also I have heard that Martin Logans need the ESL panels to be plugged in (charged) for a while to sound their best.
Sean
I have asked my local dealer who came by this weekend...to come back with a pair of Stillpoint Ultra 5s with the manufacturer's adaptor for my Wilson X1/Grand Slamms so we can remove the Wilson spikes and thread the Stillpoints directly into the base of the speakers.
He came over with the Audio Aero La Source to compare with my Zanden/CJ GAT set up...but i ended up being far more impressed with the positive effects the smaller Stillpoints Ultra SS had underneath the La Source!!! I have often suspected, after the remarkable experience with my Velodyne DD18 and the Auralex subwoofer isolation platform, that the Wilson's might possibly benefit [greatly] from today's latest isolation technology underneath. Perhaps not...but it is worth the experiment. Stay tuned...
Hi Gents,
Turntable - any updates? Hope your system is back up and running. Ack - do you know the difference between Ultra SS and Ultra 5 other than the fact that there are 5 isolation modules in the Ultra 5 vs the Ultra SS? I found that the SS under my oppo did very little...but made a huge difference under the Audio Aero La Source...given comments about requiring weight for them...that makes sense, the La Source is a beast of a component...55lbs for a digital front-end/preamp!
Any advice on Ultra 5's under my 600lb X1s...vs ultra ss? I was advised by the Dealer to 'just go for it' with the Ultra 5s...he has been honest enough not to try to push stuff on me in the past...and he seemed convinced with the Wilsons, the Ultra 5s were the way to go. Cannot think of too many heavier components in audio frankly, so presume this should be fine. Thanks for any advice!
We went from carpet on concrete to a glued-down wood floor in the listening room. My 190# speakers were coupled to the concrete floor via spikes but when the wood floor showed up I wasn't keen on the spike on cup solution so here's what I came up with but be forewarned...very inexpensive fix ahead:
Those threaded inserts are brass (not unobtainium) and the hockey pucks are from Czechoslovakia (not China...gasp). Does it sound better than spikes on concrete? Well there were two changes occurring simultaneously: 1) the speaker footings and 2) going from a carpeted room to a wood floor. I can say with certainty that it sounds every bit as good and my lovely floor is protected. One thing that does sound very good is the cost: less than 20 bucks.
Those threaded inserts are brass (not unobtainium) and the hockey pucks are from Czechoslovakia (not China...gasp). Does it sound better than spikes on concrete? Well there were two changes occurring simultaneously: 1) the speaker footings and 2) going from a carpeted room to a wood floor. I can say with certainty that it sounds every bit as good and my lovely floor is protected. One thing that does sound very good is the cost: less than 20 bucks.
Per PM, try the Ultra 5s and the Magico QPods. I still have the original Stillpoints+granite+sorbothane+EAR Isodamp under the turntable and the Isodamp+granite+felt under the speakers. You really have to fit hard on the rack to hear feedback from the TT, and the floor no longer sings along the speakers - the energy is focused on the speakers' woofers, very significant improvement. I bet the Magico device is the better option.
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