Stillpoints and reference-level speakers

Agear, generally when you hear people claiming to be scientists they really are engineers, who think we know everything about how nature works. I once was majoring in EE, when the discussion of Ohm's law came up. I was an undergraduate assistant in physics lab and said that I had noticed a normal distribution in student results in measuring current flow in various circuits. The professor said that the students measurement were just not accurate enough, but my physics professor said that there were other factors that we had yet to account for.

I must admit that I just dismiss those who make claims that engineers know all there is to know. I fully expect that individual tastes in music reproduction leads them to different buying decisions.

I look at footers as tuning devices. As such, the appropriate type of footer--whether it is designed to tightly couple the speaker to the floor or whether it is designed to decouple the speaker from the floor and dissipate energy in the device--depends on the specific system and room characteristics. For example, coupling to a poured concrete floor is entirely different in effect to coupling to a suspended wooden floor (where coupling could make the floor act as a sounding board).

Because there is no one singular "right" approach in all circumstances, it would not make sense for the designer to build in multi-thousand dollar footers or speaker platforms when that might be the "wrong" approach in a particular application.

I use Symposium platforms under my speakers. I have heard experiments with the same platforms under other speakers in someone else's system where that was NOT the way to go. With all such tuning devices, experimentation is the way to go. I cannot think of any such devices which universally improve sound--components, environment, personal taste all matter; if it alters the sound, it can alter it for good or bad.

Larryi, in principle I agree with you but I only one time found a device where the Stillpoints don't improve the performance of a component. It was on a HB Cable Designs Acrylic PowerSlave. I used them on three turntables, five amps, four preamps, and four dacs or universal players. My experience with the Star Sound Tech. Apprentics, completely different concept devices, is limited to one pair of speakers, two amps, three preamps, and a pair of external crossovers. I have heard no instance where they didn't greatly improve the sound. They have a different sound than the Stillpoints, however.

I have piles of other platforms and feet around, that were each somewhat different, but could not compete with either the Stillpoints or the Star Sound Apprentics.

There plenty of info out there just look. http://forums.naimaudio.com/topic/equipment-stand-and-speaker-spikes-why?reply=1566878606786862 Another http://www.avsforum.com/forum/91-audio-theory-setup-chat/1405998-spikes-vs-soft-feet-under-speakers.html another http://theadvancedaudiophile.blogspot.com/2011/07/no-spikes-club.html

That's just guys posting stuff on the internet.

You could say the same thing about Tbg, Charles1dad, Agear, Roxy54 and others on this thread, and you'd be right about that. The difference is they actually used the products being discussed before they posted stuff on the internet.