KeithR, DaveyF, and others who appear as ill-equipped to deal with logic and debate,
What has become clear to me by your over-reaching and vacuous response is that you either cannot read, cannot comprehend what you read, or are just ignoring reality and the facts. If you choose to take these comments for anything other than what they are, counterpoint facts revealing your own misinformation and obfuscation, well, that is your own problem.
First, there was NO hyperbole in my review…there NEVER is… I make my points as clearly, concisely, and accurately as I can. I spend a considerable amount of time constructing them, and avoid making rash or unconsidered statements. Again, if you had read these two reviews it would become clear that missed some very important cues and information.
You state, “Because $4-5k of feet for my $16k Devore Fidelity speaker-based system really makes no sense.” Fine. That is clearly your choice. No one can argue with you not wanting to try them.
Yet you go on to say, “I've tried numerous other feet before under dacs and preamps and none of them have had the experience you relayed.” DUH! Really? No kidding… To suggest that any other footers you’ve tried can offer even 5% of the effectiveness of the CS2, is merely fooling yourself. With so many users of these footers having shared that they are far and away more effective than any others you’ve ever seen or heard, that they simply cannot be compared to any existing product, you should be able to understand that point. Not trying them, that is your valid choice. But, saying they aren’t worth it because nothing else you’ve tried is, that is just faulty logic.
You ask, “…doesn't the $300k speaker trump a bunch of $450 (or $695 for the preferred 1.5s) feet on a relative basis? This would be like saying driving a 911 on summer tires vs performance ones that the 911 itself doesn't matter vs a 3-series coupe.”
Your analogy is totally incongruous with our situation. Clearly it would not; it would in fact be like comparing a stock BMW 5 series, with a ton of performance mods, like the high-performance engine chip replacement, sweeping ignition, injection, exhaust, manifold, suspension, steering, and braking modifications, using $110 all-weather touring radials, to an identical pure stock BMW 5 series, with no modifications, fitted with a set of $350 each Pirelli P Zero high-performance tires. Do you get it now? My system with my speakers, and all the CS2 footers, versus my system, with no CS2 footers, and the ULTRA 11’s.
Clearly, if you knew anything about how to debate, to use logic, or, dare I say it, had any understanding of engineering, you wouldn’t embarrass yourself making such an incongruous analogy. You simply cannot compare the contributions of a single component, like the speakers, to the overall advances realized by something as comprehensive as the CS2 footers. We are talking about the synergy of the system. Your analogy is as ineffectual as your logic has been thus far.
What the hell do ANY of my ancillary products or items have to do with the review? You clearly dug into something somewhere to find that list. But, again, like the poor construction of your above analogy, you overlook the obvious flaws with your assertion. All footers under any components, other than the CS footers in the original review, or the replacement CS2 footers in the follow up, were removed. At that point, nothing other than the footers was different or was changed at any point during the review, logically nulling any contribution from anything else (the stands, conditioners, room treatments, etc.), as the conditions were identical before, during, and after the application of the CS or CS2 footers. Again, this leads me to believe that either you didn’t read or cannot comprehend all the information in the reviews, or you aren't much of a critical thinker.
Your most outrageous and false assertion yet, that Leif’s independent conclusions made long before I posted, one that comes to the same conclusion (that listening to a cheaper system with them in place offered better sonics than listening to much more expensive equipment without them), somehow isn’t supportive of my conclusions, is patently absurd. Beside apparently not being able to comprehend what you read, an intelligent and reasonable person would realize just how meaningless, unsupportable, and uniformed your implied bias from that "connection" becomes. The fact that he is associated with the same loudspeaker brand that I have used for decades, and now, coincidentally happen to be starting a review of, has no relation or bearing whatsoever on the sonic impact we both independently observed using these footers, separated by thousands of miles, and with completely different systems.
You suggest that I don’t compare or contrast the CS or CS2 footers to other isolation devices. I’m starting to sound like the proverbial “broken record” (GAWD I hate that idiom) here, but, go back and read the articles you say don’t include that information, and pay attention. While you are correct in that I don’t compare them directly, one by one, to every footer I’ve ever played with, an informed reader would understand, as I do clearly state that that would be meaningless, given that they are an order of magnitude better than any other similar device/s I have experienced, starting at the dawn of the footer/isolation history in 1983, with both Steve McCormack’s Tip-Toes and the Mission Isoplat.
And while I have known Mike since the late 1990’s, to suggest that his system is one of the five best in the nation is, well, naïve, at best. No disrespect to Mike and his efforts to build a synergistic system, but, you clearly have little understanding of, or experience with, such systems.
In conclusion, I’m sorry to be so critical with my statements on this matter, but you, (and seemingly a good number of others), are clearly not here to learn, teach, or share useful information. Your motives seem to be to piss and moan, rather than afford critical thinking and clarity of purpose. Thanks for making my first experience here such a miserable and exasperating one. If this is typical of the culture here at WhatsBestForum, you won’t have to worry about me wasting any more time here. I have much better things to do with my time than spanking flamers and trolls… So long.