I've been fooling around with various approaches on the tube power supply to my Allnic H3000 phono stage with some interesting (and to some degree curious, see below) results. When I got the unit, I had an old, heavy maple amp stand with cone/spikes. I plopped the power supply on top of that, using some old Goldmund cones I had in reserve. Kinda hard to tell what was going on, since the unit was new, and it needed some serious burn-in time, both for the tubes and the transformers.
Next step, played with some Vibrapod pods and cones. Seemed to add some clarity without harshness. Herbie footers sounded too soft. (I wanted to start cheap and work my way up, but as you all probably know, this leads to insanity, and it is sometimes cheaper to buy the best thing- whatever that is- right at the outset).
Anyway, ordered and received a nice little amp platform from Adona- their constrained layer platform, a granite composite, with some secret sauce in the middle, and MDF on the bottom. Got them to supply it with some cone/spikes. Tried with the Vibrapods- no dramatic difference in sound from the Maple block, but looks nicer.
Next, got a set of Aurios Classic 1.2 yesterday. Set them up and after the system had warmed up for an hour plus, started to listen. The clarity was amazing, the bass was tighter (i even turned down the subwoofer level a tad), really open/transparent with not a trace of harshness. Surprised, given everything I read, which suggested that these could lend a bright, metallic character to the sound.
So, after another couple hours, I started to hear it, and then it seemed very pronounced, that bright, overly analytic character- harsh, and nasty. I don't know if this was the result of the system warming up further- I read somewhere that the power supply to this unit changes character after it has been on quite a while- but that seems like voodoo to me. Anyway, played around with mitigating this edge, and using the Vibrapod pod (not the cone) on the bottom of the Aurios, it mitigated the harshness, but some of the clarity was lost.
Thoughts so far? I think Steve said at one point he used Aurios stuff?
Next up, getting some Nimbus couplers. Will try as soon as they arrive (we have electrical storms stacked up for the next couple days, so I may be on system hiatus because of that).
I really liked what the Aurios did in some respects. And have read elsewhere that with similar experiences, at least on components, reviewers have combined them with wood blocks, or other 'mitigators.' (Part of it may have to do with the metal to metal coupling between the top of the Aurios and the chassis. I did not try the Aurios under the factory feet, since that usually doesn't work, and even if it might in this case, I have three aurios and four feet- I suppose i could rig something to substitute under one factory foot that is that same height but that might defeat the lateral motion of the aurios).
Sorry for the ramble. I'm a little puzzled about why they sounded so good initially and then got harsher sounding as time went on. (Usually, my ears adjust the other way- I'll hear something immediately that i don't like, like harshness, or psychologically become accustomed to a sound the longer I listen to it).
And, I'll do an update re the Nimbus stuff once I have used it.
Finally, apart from Sean, who also owns this phono unit and weighed in on his experience with isolation/decoupling, etc., any others who use it and have fooled around with isolation- views most appreciated.
One well experienced listener likes the Stillpoint Ultra SS under the power supply- which is what i meant by just biting the bullet in the first place.
Next step, played with some Vibrapod pods and cones. Seemed to add some clarity without harshness. Herbie footers sounded too soft. (I wanted to start cheap and work my way up, but as you all probably know, this leads to insanity, and it is sometimes cheaper to buy the best thing- whatever that is- right at the outset).
Anyway, ordered and received a nice little amp platform from Adona- their constrained layer platform, a granite composite, with some secret sauce in the middle, and MDF on the bottom. Got them to supply it with some cone/spikes. Tried with the Vibrapods- no dramatic difference in sound from the Maple block, but looks nicer.
Next, got a set of Aurios Classic 1.2 yesterday. Set them up and after the system had warmed up for an hour plus, started to listen. The clarity was amazing, the bass was tighter (i even turned down the subwoofer level a tad), really open/transparent with not a trace of harshness. Surprised, given everything I read, which suggested that these could lend a bright, metallic character to the sound.
So, after another couple hours, I started to hear it, and then it seemed very pronounced, that bright, overly analytic character- harsh, and nasty. I don't know if this was the result of the system warming up further- I read somewhere that the power supply to this unit changes character after it has been on quite a while- but that seems like voodoo to me. Anyway, played around with mitigating this edge, and using the Vibrapod pod (not the cone) on the bottom of the Aurios, it mitigated the harshness, but some of the clarity was lost.
Thoughts so far? I think Steve said at one point he used Aurios stuff?
Next up, getting some Nimbus couplers. Will try as soon as they arrive (we have electrical storms stacked up for the next couple days, so I may be on system hiatus because of that).
I really liked what the Aurios did in some respects. And have read elsewhere that with similar experiences, at least on components, reviewers have combined them with wood blocks, or other 'mitigators.' (Part of it may have to do with the metal to metal coupling between the top of the Aurios and the chassis. I did not try the Aurios under the factory feet, since that usually doesn't work, and even if it might in this case, I have three aurios and four feet- I suppose i could rig something to substitute under one factory foot that is that same height but that might defeat the lateral motion of the aurios).
Sorry for the ramble. I'm a little puzzled about why they sounded so good initially and then got harsher sounding as time went on. (Usually, my ears adjust the other way- I'll hear something immediately that i don't like, like harshness, or psychologically become accustomed to a sound the longer I listen to it).
And, I'll do an update re the Nimbus stuff once I have used it.
Finally, apart from Sean, who also owns this phono unit and weighed in on his experience with isolation/decoupling, etc., any others who use it and have fooled around with isolation- views most appreciated.
One well experienced listener likes the Stillpoint Ultra SS under the power supply- which is what i meant by just biting the bullet in the first place.