Stillpoint Ultras anyone?

Gbmcleod, the magic of great realism in sound production is quite fragile as you suggest. However, it includes many things you don't mention such as the speakers, your position, whether the power cords are on the floor, whether the speaker wires and ics are close to power cords, etc. And there are limitations, of course, such as what others think of the system you have laid out. My wife said, "I'm tired of having a sound laboratory in my great room."

Presently, I am working with the room treatments which are so critical in my very small listening room in New Mexico. It is 10x13x8 feet. I found that one of my Zilplex resonators was one eighth of a inch lower than that on the other side and was moving the sound stage toward the other side. These things are very powerful although they are just one half inch in diameter silver bowls.

I should also say that seldom having the isolation devices in each of the four corners of a component is the best location for them. If you have great latitude for placement, put one under the main transformer. Trial and error is the only game in town.

I have Ultra Minis.
BY this time, Roy Gregory has weight in on The Audio Beat, a web magazine.He suggested line conditioner first, then amp, the preamp, the cd player, because, he says, power supplies generate tremendous noise and move them on into the components.
I put them under my ASL Hurricanes and heard a significant difference. However, it wasn't until the appeared under the Power Plant P300, that I truly "heard" them. Good Golly, Ms. Molly! The presentation came TO LIFE!!! Individual instruments, heretofore, playing along with a Geritol-type sameness, dynamically speaking, stood out as if they were doing solo turns. On the next Boxed set of Mecury Living Presence CDs, CD #23 with Farley, Grainger and someone else, and conducted by Fennell, it sounds as thought instruments are no longer playing in an auditorium with 100% humidity and 80% dew point. It's as though the dew point went down to 45 and the humidity 50. Subtle intstruments are obvious within the mix, ones that before you heard, but only has a "sound" never an instruments whose identity you could identify.
Nope. These are real deal.
Caveat: You MUST play with placement. A casual "lets-put-'em-here" toss will yield you less than stellar results. In fact, you'll wonder what all the fuss is about.

Gbmcleod, I find the use of SP Ultras, including the Minis varies greatly depending on the ac filter used. SP Ultra Minis could not be used under my HB Designs Acrylic PowerSlave as it isolation feet are too long and difficult to remove. I put two SP Ultra Fives under it, and it was a disaster. They robbed the sound of all dynamics, much like rubber and soft woods do.

I tried the Ultra Fives also under the High Fidelity Wave Guide unit on its rails and found no benefit, but directly under the unit worked quite well. I tried to use the Ultra Minis but it was just too precarious.

I have used SP Ultra SSs under several ac devices with great success. These include the Sound Application, the Synergistic Research Power Cell Mk I and Mk II.

I would imagine that the amount of vibrations allowed within the filter affects the effectiveness of the isolation feet.

I'm happy to hear the ultras didn't notably improve things over the aluminum, they ARE rather expensive. I have used the aluminum Stillpoints w/risers throughout my system for years. They REALLY do provide audible benefits at least in my situation, more in some applications than others. I have used the 3 point speaker stands under the Merlin VSMs for years to good effect, improving most areas of performance.

Agree with Gbmcleod, you must experiment with placement. Again effects vary depending on the component but overall these are very worthwhile. Another point to consider, they hold their value so if you purchase used, in the event they don't work in your situation, you will have little problem selling at close to what you paid.

Tubegroover, I didn't say the Ultra ALs were superior or the equal of the Ultra SSs. It was the existing special feet on the HB Designs Acrylic PowerSlave that were better than the Ultra Fives.

I use the OEM aluminum feet under my LSA1s in New Mexico and have not tried the Ultra Minis there as I don't want to know they are better. The OEMs have no resale value as only manufacturers could get them.