Doctor's Orders-Part Two-The New Listening Room Of Steve Williams

[Ron Resnick]

The new racks under the amplifiers look fantastic, Steve!

 

[Johnny Vinyl]

A+ for aesthetics Steve! Looks gorgeous!

 

[scouter]

Holy crap, Steve. I've been surfing and enjoying the summer, get back to peruse the WTB forum and get around to your new vinyl acquisition. Congrats! I'll say one thing for you- when you go, you to ALL the way. Can't even imagine how great the system sounds. New amp stands look awesome also. I'd say you're ready for the long winter listening. Enjoy.

 

[Steve Williams]

I sold all of my Stillpoints to a member here

 

[rockitman]

I sold all of my Stillpoints to a member here

so you are relying on the rack and the stock feet ? I wont go that way...stillpoints no matter how good the rack....

 

[Steve Williams]

I felt the same as you Christian. I did the experiment and listened both ways and truthfully with use of this rack there is absolutely no benefit for the Stillpoints under the components. Just my $0.02 but you should read about the shelves and the patents

BTW I still have Ultra 5's under my speakers. My buddy Marty will be here next week and the two of us will decide about spikes or Ultra 5's

 

[Frank750]

I sold all of my Stillpoints to a member here

Sold all of mine too, don't have 1 left. Amp stands look great Steve!

 

[jimmy]

Excellent choice on the CMS amp isolation platforms, Steve! Certainly befitting of the ML3's. I'm certain you will find the performance benefits at least equal those of their aesthetic appeal!

Jim

 

[adyc]

Sold all of mine too, don't have 1 left. Amp stands look great Steve!

What do you replace them with?

 

[LL21]

Congrats Steve. I am a big fan of my little mix of HRS and Stillpoints. But I have always felt if I was ever going to really step up to an "be all end all" uniform solution for isolation, I would look for HRS M3 Rack (Frank750s) or CMS. I have listened to systems with HRS M3 racks and was always impressed and remembering speaking with them, as well as speaking with CMS. Both great companies making truly SOTA isolation.

 

[Frank750]

What do you replace them with?

I found that once I placed everything on the HRS rack, Stillpoints became unnecessary. I tried placing them under some pieces on the rack as a trial but found I preferred the sound without Stillpoints. No measurements were taken.

 

[Steve Williams]

I found that once I placed everything on the HRS rack, Stillpoints became unnecessary. I tried placing them under some pieces on the rack as a trial but found I preferred the sound without Stillpoints. No measurements were taken.

I found exactly the same with the CMS rack

 

[microstrip]

I found that once I placed everything on the HRS rack, Stillpoints became unnecessary. I tried placing them under some pieces on the rack as a trial but found I preferred the sound without Stillpoints. No measurements were taken.

Although complex isolation bases dissipate most energy internally, energy must flow in a sense according to an expected path. If you interrupt it putting another different element in series you risk blocking the action of the device. This can result in two different isolators performing less than one single isolator.

 

[Gregadd]

Additions made to the system

TechDas AirForce One with Duralumin platter
Graham Elite tone arm
Ortofon MC Anna cartridge

Critical Mass Systems rack designed specially for the table and Phonostage. The CMS rack has a Black Diamond Upper shelf and three Black Platinum lower shelves

Owning the Lamm ML3/LL1 Signature series there was no doubt as to what phono stage I ordered which was the Lamm LP1 Signature thus completing the Signature Series which is an 11 box system.

I did order the LP1 with two identical SUT's for normal gain cartridges rather than a SUT for low output a cartridge and a normal output cartridge

A pair of Shunyata Sigma Analog PCs for the phono power supplies and a Shunyata Alpha Digital for the controller.

Shunyata interconnect from Phonostage to preamp.

WOW! What else did you get for your soul?

What is your choice of record cleaning machines?

 

[Steve Williams]

I just purchased a KLaudio. It arrives on Monday

 

[microstrip]

I just purchased a KLaudio. It arrives on Monday

Woh! You really want your soul to be clickless!

 

[Gregadd]

Dust Cove????

 

[cjf]

Hello beautiful setup you have here. A few questions if you don't mind?

It appears you have four amps. How are you using them with the Wilsons?

Also, how much of a difference do the subs make to the sound of your system? Visually speaking they look like toys next to those Wilsons so I'm curious of their contribution.

Thanks

 

[Steve Williams]

Hello beautiful setup you have here. A few questions if you don't mind?

It appears you have four amps. How are you using them with the Wilsons?

Also, how much of a difference do the subs make to the sound of your system? Visually speaking they look like toys next to those Wilsons so I'm curious of their contribution.

Thanks

Hi

First off my amp is the Lamm ML 3 Signature which is dual mono and dual power supply. The amps are in the center and the power supplies are on the outside.

The subs make a subtle but very definite contribution to the overall sonic affect of the room. Even though Wilson speakers are said to go down to 20 Hz I believe that supplementation with the sub woofer in the lower octave is necessary in order to flesh out some of the deep bass. It took me months to adjust them. The JL Fathom F113 is far from a toy. I play my speakers full range and run the subs from 16-43 Hz with 24db slope. They serve to add primarily ambience to the room

 

[LL21]

Hello beautiful setup you have here. A few questions if you don't mind?

It appears you have four amps. How are you using them with the Wilsons?

Also, how much of a difference do the subs make to the sound of your system? Visually speaking they look like toys next to those Wilsons so I'm curious of their contribution.

Thanks

I think you will find a quite a few Wilson X1, X2 and XLF owners run big subs in parallel. In my case, I have used a sub in nearly all my previous systems so it was not Wilson X-specific. However, I can say I would not give it up. Running in parallel below 40hz (24db slope), I find that at literally '9' (out of 99) on the volume, I can perfectly satisfied late in the evenings with the sense of space and the controlled, soft 'chest whoomp'/air pressure. I have never felt the 'need' to crank music even though sometimes we do. The system feels more effortless at low levels, and while I dont understand why in terms of the science, I agree with those who say there are midrange improvements that come from a great sub set-up.

The systems I can think of where I did NOT miss a 3rd party sub...are the ones where they already had sub towers (Genesis, 4-tower Tidal Sunray) and (perhaps) the sole 2-speaker exception is the Rockport Arrakis (6'9", 900lbs/speaker)