Introducing Center Stage 2M

[Steve williams]

I have them under both my Pacific as well as Extreme and have heard huge gains. Your positioning looks perfect under each component. Certainly placing one of the feet under the transformer is food for thought and worth a try. As for whether the footer was new or broken in is irrelevant in my experience as every time they are removed and reinserted there is a new settle in process. I have found however that when moved and reinserted soon thereafter seems to lead to a shorter settle in

If you heard that magic initially on day 2 it tells me it is there waiting to be discovered again and yes patience is a virtue with these as each system settles differently. I must admit however I am somewhat perplexed as to what is going on in your system

 

[scot]

Bobofei86

Too many changes and too many variables. It also seems that you’re more focused on if you can hear the changes and if the footers are fully settled rather than if the sound of your system is better or worse than before you put the new footers in under the 2 new pieces of audio gear.

My suggestion would be, remove the new sets of footers from under the 2 new pieces of audio completely and just set them aside for now. Listen to the 2 new pieces of audio gear on their factory feet for several weeks and make sure the 2 new pieces of audio are fully broken in. Once you are convinced they are fully broken in and you’re familiar with their sound on their own factory feet, then and only then should you put the CS2M’s back in under both. Forget about whether you can hear the settling in process. Forget about hearing the immersion effect. After about 3 more weeks of listening with the CS2M’s back in your system, ask yourself, do you like what you hear? Now that everything is fully broken in and everything has settled down, does your system sound noticeably better? That’s all that matters. Sometimes we get so caught up in listening to the gear, we tend to forget about listening to and enjoying the music. Again, I hope this helps. Take care.

Best regards
Scot

 

[PeterA]

I think it’s always a good idea to remove a tweak and get back to your system to see if you prefer it with or without the tweak. Then you can put it back in and see what you think. Do people ever do this with these footers or are they apprehensive about having to go through the settling in process again, even if it is a little bit shorter the second time around?

 

[Bobofei86]

Bobofei86

Too many changes and too many variables. It also seems that you’re more focused on if you can hear the changes and if the footers are fully settled rather than if the sound of your system is better or worse than before you put the new footers in under the 2 new pieces of audio gear.

My suggestion would be, remove the new sets of footers from under the 2 new pieces of audio completely and just set them aside for now. Listen to the 2 new pieces of audio gear on their factory feet for several weeks and make sure the 2 new pieces of audio are fully broken in. Once you are convinced they are fully broken in and you’re familiar with their sound on their own factory feet, then and only then should you put the CS2M’s back in under both. Forget about whether you can hear the settling in process. Forget about hearing the immersion effect. After about 3 more weeks of listening with the CS2M’s back in your system, ask yourself, do you like what you hear? Now that everything is fully broken in and everything has settled down, does your system sound noticeably better? That’s all that matters. Sometimes we get so caught up in listening to the gear, we tend to forget about listening to and enjoying the music. Again, I hope this helps. Take care.

Best regards
Scot

Understand it is better to set the baseline but i got another set of footers which sounds better than the cs2 now with the same equipment, however it's far behind what i heard on day 2 with the GG2 which i assume thats the immersed effect every one talked about, the dac is the only variable, for my extreme i have put them underneath for more than a month already, i think i wont touch them and take 3 more weeks to observe if you guys think the position is good already

 

[Bobofei86]

I think it’s always a good idea to remove a tweak and get back to your system to see if you prefer it with or without the tweak. Then you can put it back in and see what you think. Do people ever do this with these footers or are they apprehensive about having to go through the settling in process again, even if it is a little bit shorter the second time around?

Yeah PeterA and i tried, the improvement is not significant with cs2 now and i got another footers which sounds better, however, nothing can compare what i heard on day 2 with the cs2 which sounds like a magic, unfortunately it only happened on day2 and the next 3 weeks were so boring, Steve confirmed my position of the footers are good and i will spend the next 3 weeks to test then report back to you guys

 

[Bobofei86]

I have them under both my Pacific as well as Extreme and have heard huge gains. Your positioning looks perfect under each component. Certainly placing one of the feet under the transformer is food for thought and worth a try. As for whether the footer was new or broken in is irrelevant in my experience as every time they are removed and reinserted there is a new settle in process. I have found however that when moved and reinserted soon thereafter seems to lead to a shorter settle in

If you heard that magic initially on day 2 it tells me it is there waiting to be discovered again and yes patience is a virtue with these as each system settles differently. I must admit however I am somewhat perplexed as to what is going on in your system

Thx Steve and i wont touch them if the position is good, lets wait for another 3 weeks and see what happen

 

[Steve williams]

Thx Steve and i wont touch them if the position is good, lets wait for another 3 weeks and see what happen

the other thing that is paramount is that you need to play music through the system and you were maxing out at 4 hours per day which IMO is just not enough

 

[Bobofei86]

Got it Steve but i have played at least 4 hours a day for a month already... anyway i will spend another month before i make the decison

 

[Drpie]

I previously asked a question about CMS compatibility with Synergistic Research Base. After much experimentation, I'm thinking about full compatibility and complementarity! Great!
To date, the results have been obtained in my system (each component was seated for more than 10 days):
DAC Esoteric D-02 - CS2M is the absolute top!,
Monoblocks Classe CA-M300 & 400 - CS2 are the absolute top!,
Transport Lumin U1 - all the feets I tested are worse than stock ones, including CS2M((,
PS Audio P10 regenerator - all feets tested by me are worse than stock ones, including CS2M((.

 

[sbo6]

As for whether the footer was new or broken in is irrelevant in my experience as every time they are removed and reinserted there is a new settle in process. I have found however that when moved and reinserted soon thereafter seems to lead to a shorter settle in

My experience also as I compared the Stillpoints Ultra SS to the CS2s under amps and after reinserting the CS2s it didn't take as long to get back to steady state goodness.

 

[marty]

I previously asked a question about CMS compatibility with Synergistic Research Base. After much experimentation, I'm thinking about full compatibility and complementarity! Great!
To date, the results have been obtained in my system (each component was seated for more than 10 days):
DAC Esoteric D-02 - CS2M is the absolute top!,
Monoblocks Classe CA-M300 & 400 - CS2 are the absolute top!,
Transport Lumin U1 - all the feets I tested are worse than stock ones, including CS2M((,
PS Audio P10 regenerator - all feets tested by me are worse than stock ones, including CS2M((.

I feel your pain. Having probably spent as many hours on "feet switching" as anyone, I can relate to your experience. One of the under appreciated aspects of "footer" chemistry is not only the particular compatibility of a specific footer with a specific component, but also on the nature of the shelf and/or rack upon which it is being placed. This might be just as important as some of the other things we think may be relevant such as the weight of a given component, the chassis material (metal? plastic? fiberglass?), the thickness of the chassis metal, and the details of the chassis material (solid, open mesh, slotted ventilation etc). Bottom line, there's only one way to tell if you're going to like a particular set of footers. You simply have to try them. It does not surprise me if you found that on some gear, they work beautifully, and on others, not so much, if at all. And if they call you crazy for having come to that conclusion, don't worry. You're in good company. Perhaps we can get a group rate at whatever institution wants to hospitalize us?

 

[microstrip]

(...) It does not surprise me if you found that on some gear, they work beautifully, and on others, not so much, if at all. And if they call you crazy for having come to that conclusion, don't worry. You're in good company. Perhaps we can get a group rate at whatever institution wants to hospitalize us?

Footers are easy to explain and understand - all we need is some basic mechanics and energy concepts to explain it. IMHO no one should feel guilty because he is carrying experiences with them.

However I feel cables much harder to discuss - all science tells us that nothing in their nature can change signals in the audio band to an audible level, except for poorly designed cables. IMHO we only need an institution specialized in cable addiction ...

 

[Drpie]

I feel your pain. Having probably spent as many hours on "feet switching" as anyone, I can relate to your experience. One of the under appreciated aspects of "footer" chemistry is not only the particular compatibility of a specific footer with a specific component, but also on the nature of the shelf and/or rack upon which it is being placed. This might be just as important as some of the other things we think may be relevant such as the weight of a given component, the chassis material (metal? plastic? fiberglass?), the thickness of the chassis metal, and the details of the chassis material (solid, open mesh, slotted ventilation etc). Bottom line, there's only one way to tell if you're going to like a particular set of footers. You simply have to try them. It does not surprise me if you found that on some gear, they work beautifully, and on others, not so much, if at all. And if they call you crazy for having come to that conclusion, don't worry. You're in good company. Perhaps we can get a group rate at whatever institution wants to hospitalize us?

Footers are easy to explain and understand - all we need is some basic mechanics and energy concepts to explain it. IMHO no one should feel guilty because he is carrying experiences with them.

However I feel cables much harder to discuss - all science tells us that nothing in their nature can change signals in the audio band to an audible level, except for poorly designed cables. IMHO we only need an institution specialized in cable addiction ...

We can't treat our audio addiction! There is a danger of turning a pleasant addiction into alcoholism))
Addition:
I am testing on TAOC ASRII racks with SR Bases.
The new result with the Esoteric G-01 - CS2M watch is the absolute top!
In all my CMS tests to date: the initial positive effect only improves within 7-10 days. If there was no improvement immediately, then it is not corrected after 14 days. This is good for my ears, as the journey will be faster now.

 

[joelavrencikCMS]

I have experienced once that “immersed effect” on day 2 under the GG2, everything sound so coherent and real and thats what I expected the footers can do, but after that the sounds became so dull and boring under the extreme and GG2 for ~3 weeks before I change to Pacific, and that immersed effect didn’t happen again, it’s so easy to compare even my mum can tell on day 2 my system sounds much much better, honestly if i didn’t hear that magic on day2 I should sold the footers already

During the test with GG2, at least I can hear the changes no matter it’s positive or negative, but there’s not much difference under the pacific and I think there’s something wrong, that’s why I’m asking for the help from other users about the position of your cs2m under both extreme and Lampi

Please give me a call. Let's figure it out together. 630.640.3814. At your convenience.

 

[joelavrencikCMS]

I got the Pacific to replace my GG2 and restart the run in process again, it has been a week already after i put the cs2m 1.5 under both of my Pacific and Extreme, i have slightly changed the position and put them close to the front and back panel and nearby the original footers of both devices (no contact to the original footers), this time i couldn't hear the changes after the 1st day, nothing improved or get worse since day2, the sound are still dull and boring and not engaging at all... Is it normal that the sounds didnt change at all for a week and it will suddenly improve? I heard most of the users experienced the change and up and down, but my case is quite frustrating and it didnt change at all

This reminds me of my experience as I was developing the feet. But let me back up a bit.

The 1st thing I look for is a potential mismatch between the component and the feet. The good news here is, I don't see a conflict. The 2nd thing I look at is the surface the feet are sitting on. Again, I see no issue. So this is all good news, but does not explain your experience.

I experienced an extended dead period that was followed, in my case, by an extended period of brightness during the footer development phase all caused, I suspect, by changing things around. In both phases the sound was clearly not right.

It might be the case that repositioning the feet was enough of a change to initiate a resetting process. This could vary from component to component and be part of the cause of your experience. The other more obviouscause is the switch to the Pacific. This is a great product and CS2M is definitely compatible. No worries.

I went thru a 3 week period of deadness followed by another extended period of brightness, as I said earlier. I'm not saying this will happen to you. Every system is different, as Steve likes to say.

I ask you to hang in there and, as much as you can, give it some volume for brief periods. Get the air moving and the components excited. This will help the process.

Call me if you wish or please continue to let me know how things are progressing. The bottom line is that all will be fine.

 

[Steve williams]

In all my CMS tests to date: the initial positive effect only improves within 7-10 days. If there was no improvement immediately, then it is not corrected after 14 days. This is good for my ears, as the journey will be faster now.

not my experience at all

 

[joelavrencikCMS]

Is the 3-4 weeks just calendar time or is it affected by how much you use the system?

Using the system definitely matters. The system should be played.

 

[PeterA]

Joe, does the trial period factor in the variable and sometimes very long settling process? I remember initially when it was about 10 days long but that does not seem long enough for a customer to make an evaluation.

 

[Bobofei86]

This reminds me of my experience as I was developing the feet. But let me back up a bit.

The 1st thing I look for is a potential mismatch between the component and the feet. The good news here is, I don't see a conflict. The 2nd thing I look at is the surface the feet are sitting on. Again, I see no issue. So this is all good news, but does not explain your experience.

I experienced an extended dead period that was followed, in my case, by an extended period of brightness during the footer development phase all caused, I suspect, by changing things around. In both phases the sound was clearly not right.

It might be the case that repositioning the feet was enough of a change to initiate a resetting process. This could vary from component to component and be part of the cause of your experience. The other more obviouscause is the switch to the Pacific. This is a great product and CS2M is definitely compatible. No worries.

I went thru a 3 week period of deadness followed by another extended period of brightness, as I said earlier. I'm not saying this will happen to you. Every system is different, as Steve likes to say.

I ask you to hang in there and, as much as you can, give it some volume for brief periods. Get the air moving and the components excited. This will help the process.

Call me if you wish or please continue to let me know how things are progressing. The bottom line is that all will be fine.

Thx Joe, i will wait for a month and play my system as much as possible then report back to you guys, i heard that magic once and hopefully it will happen soon

 

[Bobofei86]

This reminds me of my experience as I was developing the feet. But let me back up a bit.

The 1st thing I look for is a potential mismatch between the component and the feet. The good news here is, I don't see a conflict. The 2nd thing I look at is the surface the feet are sitting on. Again, I see no issue. So this is all good news, but does not explain your experience.

I experienced an extended dead period that was followed, in my case, by an extended period of brightness during the footer development phase all caused, I suspect, by changing things around. In both phases the sound was clearly not right.

It might be the case that repositioning the feet was enough of a change to initiate a resetting process. This could vary from component to component and be part of the cause of your experience. The other more obviouscause is the switch to the Pacific. This is a great product and CS2M is definitely compatible. No worries.

I went thru a 3 week period of deadness followed by another extended period of brightness, as I said earlier. I'm not saying this will happen to you. Every system is different, as Steve likes to say.

I ask you to hang in there and, as much as you can, give it some volume for brief periods. Get the air moving and the components excited. This will help the process.

Call me if you wish or please continue to let me know how things are progressing. The bottom line is that all will be fine.

Hi Joe,

Today my system suddenly sounds so bright which similar as what you mentioned already , i need to change the GZ480 to SuperTNT 274b to trim down the brightness, hopefully this is the last mile and that immersed magic happen soon,

Cheers
Joe