Remember that my Boulder 2160 is very large and weighs 220 pounds, so lifting and moving the amp is no easy chore. I kind of did a comparison by necessity as you will see from the following. When the new amp stand from Trevor arrived we discovered that one of the legs had been damaged in shipping, so I contacted Trevor and he was very good about promptly making and sending me a new leg (very good customer service by the way). Anyway, I had about a week or so waiting time. So I laid the amp stand down flat on the floor without the legs and of course without the Carbide footers and placed the amp on the amp stand and listened to the amp that way until the new leg arrived about a week later. So no legs or Carbide footers. Once the new leg arrived we lifted the amp onto its side (even that was not particularly easy) I installed all four legs, then installed the four Carbide footers and re-centered the fully installed amp stand on the floor in between the speakers and we lifted and centered the amp back onto the amp stand, stand, feet and footers all installed and played music.
Before the amp stand arrived the amp was lying on a sufficiently large flat solid (not laminated) piece of walnut about 1 1/2 inches thick where it had been for about three months. I therefore had a point of reference/comparison. Once the amp stand arrived and the 3 inch thick maple piece which Trevor had built was in place flat on the floor I was able to compare the two pieces of wood without any feet or footers. There was a slight improvement in sound with the thicker amp stand which Trevor had built for me, with images a bit more sold and the sound stage a bit deeper, but not much difference and you had to listen carefully to hear that difference. But then once the amp stand was fully together with legs and Carbides and the amp was now on the fully installed amp stand (with the amp and stand being in the same place between the speakers in all three examples) I let the amp run with some background music for a day and then listened carefully the following day. What a difference, what an improvement. The imagining was much more solid, the soundstage larger and more realistic in every direction and the speakers fully disappeared. The sound was also more tactile and dimensional. I was really impressed with and have enjoyed the combination of Trevor's amp stand and the Carbide footers. So, based upon my experience I feel very good about this purchase and if I had it to do over I would do the same thing. The total cost to me for the amp stand from Canada to the US, footers from Texas I believe and shipping was $2,000. Keep in mind the amp stand is very large at 30 inches by 20 inches and three inches thick to accommodate the size weight of the Boulder 2160. I checked with my dealer and to get something that would work well for this amp from HRS and I learned that the cost would have totaled much more and taken more time from HRS because of the unusually large size and strength needed for this amp.
So that is what I have to add. I can say in all sincerity and without having any interest in Trevor's business that Trevor was great to deal with. Very responsive. AND, most importantly his product with the Carbide footers does the job and works as advertised to improve the sound of my system.
www.wood-database.com
