Confessions of an Audiophile Junky-I Got Center Stage With Pitch Perfect Sound

[Steve Williams]

Look forward to hear the feedback.

Good question Tang and let me tell everyone what I discovered on this 4th time around of burn in........

The 3rd time I inserted these into my system , Joe suggested that I place them under my digital side and burn that in first prior to playing analog on the other side. In fact that is what I did. Then when I felt adequate burn in after 7 day I turned on my phonostage and played vinyl for the next 7 days.I did have the feet under my phonostage which wasn't turned on until I was ready to burn in the vinyl

I have now had these in my system for 12 days and when I placed all of the feet under my system, I wondered what if any change might be gleaned if I left my phonostage on for the same 8 hours of every day without running signal through it, I finally ran signal through the phonostage which previously had been on for 8 hours a day over the previous 10 days. Much to my amazement the sound that is bad typically for the first few days was now sounding better after the first 4-5 hours of listening. Today on day two, I can honestly say that I don't know how it is going to sound much better tomorrow because the deep bass which usually is the last to come in around day 7-10 was there. I was stunned.

My caveat to all users is to shorten your burn in time leave the components on even if you are not running signal through them.

Bottom line Tang is my vinyl sounds terrific. I have to keep reminding myself that my amps are only 32 wpc as the deep bass is better than I've ever had.

One of my records that I have been using to assess huge symphonies is Carmina Burana and today I heard deep bass that I've never heard as good when I have played that record before.


Finally I also placed the feet under my Studer and Doshi tape pre 2 days ago and have left both of these on while playing vinyl. Tomorrow I plan on finally getting a first listen to these under my tape components and determine if any efficacy in leaving these components on as I did with my phono stage

Stay tuned

 

[Tango]

Bottom line Tang is my vinyl sounds terrific. I have to keep reminding myself that my amps are only 32 wpc as the deep bass is better than I've ever had.

One of my records that I have been using to assess huge symphonies is Carmina Burana and today I heard deep bass that I've never heard as good when I have played that record before.


Finally I also placed the feet under my Studer and Doshi tape pre 2 days ago and have left both of these on while playing vinyl. Tomorrow I plan on finally getting a first listen to these under my tape components and determine if any efficacy in leaving these components on as I did with my phono stage

Stay tuned

Dear Steve,

Most feedbacks were from under dac. You know I dont invest much in digitals...yet.

Your front ends are almost identical to mine, af1, doshi, studer. I am waiting to hear more feedbacks from those use them under phono, analog gears.

I am not as narrow minded as you think Mr. Oneobgyn .

Kind regards,
Tand

 

[Steve Williams]

Your racks look like they’re Black Platinum and not Black Diamond or am I mistaken

 

[Tango]

Your racks look like they’re Black Pkstunum and not Black Diamond or am I mistaken

I really dont know the name of model. I just use them.





Tang

 

[Steve Williams]

 

[Steve Williams]

 

[Steve Williams]

your amp stands are Maxxum and your racks do look like Black Diamond

 

[joelavrencik]

I have been using the footers under the cj GAT , the ARC REF40 and the DCS Vivaldi DAC - those have all gone through more than the 10 day burn-in day. Yesterday I inserted 2 sets under the ARC REF250's - I am switching for the Lamm M1.2's while the ARC go through the burn-in time using load resistors. I have now figured somewhat better your brilliant approach - having experienced several times the burn-in raggedness opened my mind to the alternative formulations of the second law of thermodynamics.

necessity is the mother of invention

May I suggest that you make sure the ARCs are in the same room as the system that is playing. Steve, may have just discovered that the settling process does in fact progress when a component is turned on but not playing so long as it is subjected to vibration. The 2 critical ingredients for settling seem to be electricity and vibration.

Looking forward, I suggest that you are in for a very pleasant experience when the ARCs are back in the system...... Please keep us posted. And thank you so much for using Center Stage.

 

[Argonaut]

Just let me know when you want to. We now have a comparison of CS vs Q-Pods

My apologies Steve I missed this....I would very much enjoy a shootout with my Mook's if you could accommodate me whenever convenient.

 

[JackD201]

your amp stands are Maxxum and your racks do look like Black Diamond

Yep but the AF1P looks like it on a Maxxum filter on QXK frames.

Congratulations Joe and Steve on the Brutus. Well deserved!

Hey Joe I just set up the 11 levels of Palladium Maxxums at our TechDAS/VSA/Master|Built/Lamm/KR room at the Manila show. CMS Black Sapphires are also in the Acoustic Solid/dCs/Airtight/Sonus room and the VAC/Harbeth/Berkley/Entreq room. REPRESENT!

Pics to follow. I'm beat!

 

[Steve Williams]

Yep but the AF1P looks like it on a Maxxum filter on QXK frames

I think you're right (as always)

 

[joelavrencik]

Yep but the AF1P looks like it on a Maxxum filter on QXK frames.

Congratulations Joe and Steve on the Brutus. Well deserved!

Hey Joe I just set up the 11 levels of Palladium Maxxums at our TechDAS/VSA/Master|Built/Lamm/KR room at the Manila show. CMS Black Sapphires are also in the Acoustic Solid/dCs/Airtight/Sonus room and the VAC/Harbeth/Berkley/Entreq room. REPRESENT!

Pics to follow. I'm beat!

REPRESENT INDEED!!! Fantastic. Thank you!

 

[joelavrencik]

My apologies Steve I missed this....I would very much enjoy a shootout with my Mook's if you could accommodate me whenever convenient.

Hi Harlequin

I checked out the Shun Mook site and I think we would definitely be interested in a comparison but we're separated by an ocean. I wonder if there is anyone living near Steve who can bring a set or 2 to install in his system. His CS are settled in and the a/b test would be fairly fast and definitive. .......just putting this out there.

 

[JackD201]

Oh heck one sneak pic (pun intended with Filipino accent LOL) before I hit the sack

AF2 looks great on Maxxums, sounds even better!

 

[Argonaut]

Hi Harlequin

I checked out the Shun Mook site and I think we would definitely be interested in a comparison but we're separated by an ocean. I wonder if there is anyone living near Steve who can bring a set or 2 to install in his system. His CS are settled in and the a/b test would be fairly fast and definitive. .......just putting this out there.

Good evening Joseph, that is not quite what I had in mind, my plan rather revolved around comparing the relative efficacy of these products within the framework of my *own* system to my *own* satisfaction, never mind.

 

[joelavrencik]

Oh heck one sneak pic (pun intended with Filipino accent LOL) before I hit the sack

AF2 looks great on Maxxums, sounds even better!

View attachment 37594

It almost looks like we know what we're doing! Mercedes Palladium Metallic paint is a classy color. We love to work with it.

Hey check this link out.........your speakers made a huge splash at the Capital AudioFest http://www.avshowrooms.com/wgas.html

 

[mountainjoe]

I have a set of of the Shun Mook Ultra Diamond Resonators under my Ypsilon monoblocks and just received 8 tall CS footers to try under them. I'll report my findings in a couple of weeks after the CS have had time to settle in.

I know this doesn't address your desire to test in your own system but you should just purchase a set to try out - you can always return them if they're not to your liking...

Cheers, Joe

Good evening Joseph, that is not quite what I had in mind, my plan rather revolved around comparing the relative efficacy of these products within the framework of my *own* system to my *own* satisfaction, never mind.

 

[joelavrencik]

I have a set of of the Shun Mook Ultra Diamond Resonators under my Ypsilon monoblocks and just received 8 tall CS footers to try under them. I'll report my findings in a couple of weeks after the CS have had time to settle in.

I know this doesn't address your desire to test in your own system but you should just purchase a set to try out - you can always return them if they're not to your liking...

Cheers, Joe

Thank Joe! Wonderful.

 

[mulveling]

The AF2 is by far my favorite aesthetic among the AF tables; beautiful! If you take a pic of that setup with better lighting, I bet it would be absolutely stunning!

The Maxxum rack completely solved the issues I had with running a non-suspended table in my room (CA Innovation and now Innovation Master). My system also has MUCH more of a 3D quality to it now. Joe, I know you've mentioned that CS feet on a Maxxum rack will take it to near Olympus level, but these feet don't seem to be recommended for a TT (unless on a platform, which would be a downgrade from the Maxxum shelf anyways). Is there any new footer in the works that would address this? Or could an Olympus shelf be placed atop a Maxxum frame? The TT is obviously the most sensitive piece of equipment in my rig.

 

[joelavrencik]

The AF2 is by far my favorite aesthetic among the AF tables; beautiful! If you take a pic of that setup with better lighting, I bet it would be absolutely stunning!

The Maxxum rack completely solved the issues I had with running a non-suspended table in my room (CA Innovation and now Innovation Master). My system also has MUCH more of a 3D quality to it now. Joe, I know you've mentioned that CS feet on a Maxxum rack will take it to near Olympus level, but these feet don't seem to be recommended for a TT (unless on a platform, which would be a downgrade from the Maxxum shelf anyways). Is there any new footer in the works that would address this? Or could an Olympus shelf be placed atop a Maxxum frame? The TT is obviously the most sensitive piece of equipment in my rig.

Hi mulveling

Based on the details provided in your post, you could use CS.

Hopefully this will make sense……

So long as the MAXXUM is level you could use CS under your Innovation. You would place CS under each of the 3 “arms” of the CA base so that they support the structure. You would place them as close to the spike assembly as possible. Definitely, not under the spikes. Center Stage needs a flat, fully-covering surface above it and a flat surface underneath it. The spikes could come off, you won’t need them. Steve has some shims that could help fine tune leveling.

You have other solid options to improve performance. You could leave your table as is. Instead, you could insert CS under the components in the signal path. If you did this, image density, dynamic separation, attack, bloom, decay, timbre, ambience, detail, musicality, etc. will make a major leap toward realism. Every musical parameter you can think, and a bunch you usually don’t think of, will improve. Why? This is because the feet available to manufacturers impose a penalty on the engineering of components and, by extension, the engineering of MAXXUM. MAXXUM is designed to pull vibration out of anything resting upon it (among other design attributes), but feet available on the market are old fashioned designs that get in the way of that process. Center Stage resting upon any CMS product creates a powerful synergy that enhances the process. If CS is within your budget, I can recommend them to you without hesitation.