Christian, did you ever directly compare the speakers on their spikes (not coasters) to the Stillpoints at the exact same speaker position? It seems like you changed both the speaker positions and the coasters to Stillpoints at roughly the same time, but the previous sound with spikes was at a different speaker location. I don't doubt a change in sound, but how do you know it is 100% due to the Stillpoints?
No, too much pain and effort for the exercise. Remember, these are 700lb speakers per channel. I know I have made the right choice for my system/room. The difference between spikes and rollers was not huge. Rollers to stillpoint's was, relatively speaking.
I have 4 Ultra 5s under my FM amp, then a medium HRS damping plate on top of the amp. This combo works for me too.
On a side note, when I bought the Soulution 721 pre, I noticed seeing 3 ball bearings inside each feet. Upon confirmation with Soulution those were indeed from Finite Elemente.
This is a mischaracterization of Stillpoint Ultra tech. The area's that drain and prevent vibration from migrating back into the component are known as "pockets of technology". Each pocket is made up of 10 internal components including the small ceramic bearings. The Ultra 5 have 5 pockets, the Ultra SS have 1 pocket of the same type. Each pocket has more than one bearing. 3 or 4 is my guess. I use Ultra SS under rack components with great success. I also use the LP1 on the top plate of said components. I was not convinced that the extra $$$ for Ultra 5's was worth it for a component that weighs less that 30lbs.
This is a mischaracterization of Stillpoint Ultra tech. The area's that drain and prevent vibration from migrating back into the component are known as "pockets of technology". Each pocket is made up of 10 internal components including the small ceramic bearings. The Ultra 5 have 5 pockets, the Ultra SS have 1 pocket of the same type. Each pocket has more than one bearing. 3 or 4 is my guess. I use Ultra SS under rack components with great success. I also use the LP1 on the top plate of said components. I was not convinced that the extra $$$ for Ultra 5's was worth it for a component that weighs less that 30lbs.
Thanks for the clarification. In my own system, I found I always preferred the ultra vs over the ultra SS...I also found speakers were great with them, amp weighing 176lbs was very good, but the power supplies and power conditioner which each weigh less than 30lb benefited most of all. And so rather than look at the value of the component relative to the cost of the ultra vs I looked at the relative improvement in sound overall. I found biggest bang for buck in placing ultra vs under the power supplies and power conditioner.
This is a mischaracterization of Stillpoint Ultra tech. The area's that drain and prevent vibration from migrating back into the component are known as "pockets of technology". Each pocket is made up of 10 internal components including the small ceramic bearings. The Ultra 5 have 5 pockets, the Ultra SS have 1 pocket of the same type. Each pocket has more than one bearing. 3 or 4 is my guess. I use Ultra SS under rack components with great success. I also use the LP1 on the top plate of said components. I was not convinced that the extra $$$ for Ultra 5's was worth it for a component that weighs less that 30lbs.
I agree. Actually, I found that ultra SS performs better than ultra 5 with my MBL 101e. With Ultra 5, the bass is too hard. With Ultra SS, it is just nice. Massive improvement. I put ultra 5 under my power amp 9011. Again massive improvement. I am a fan of stillpoints. I may try to put HRS coupler as suggested by LL21 under my rack components.
This is a mischaracterization of Stillpoint Ultra tech. The area's that drain and prevent vibration from migrating back into the component are known as "pockets of technology". Each pocket is made up of 10 internal components including the small ceramic bearings. The Ultra 5 have 5 pockets, the Ultra SS have 1 pocket of the same type. Each pocket has more than one bearing. 3 or 4 is my guess. I use Ultra SS under rack components with great success. I also use the LP1 on the top plate of said components. I was not convinced that the extra $$$ for Ultra 5's was worth it for a component that weighs less that 30lbs.
I thought I remembered reading that the Ultra Mini has one pocket and the Ultra SS 3, with the Ultra 5 with 5 as you posted. I'll see if I can find a link or if I am mistaken.
I found the Ultra 5s to be far more effective than the SS on all components, including all 3 boxes of the XP30 when I had it. They're certainly under 30lbs.
I thought I remembered reading that the Ultra Mini has one pocket and the Ultra SS 3, with the Ultra 5 with 5 as you posted. I'll see if I can find a link or if I am mistaken.
it turns out to be a bit more complicated than this, and almost no information seems to be available on the Stillpoints site itself
Ultra Mini - stainless steel, 4 tiers (pockets) of bearings
Ultra Aluminum (maybe no longer available) - aluminum case, 4 tiers with slightly larger bearings
Ultra SS - like the aluminum but with a stainless steel case
Ultra 5 - 5 tiers, with even larger bearings, somehow distributed into 2 partly separate layers
I found the Ultra 5s to be far more effective than the SS on all components, including all 3 boxes of the XP30 when I had it. They're certainly under 30lbs.
I agree. Actually, I found that ultra SS performs better than ultra 5 with my MBL 101e. With Ultra 5, the bass is too hard. With Ultra SS, it is just nice. Massive improvement. I put ultra 5 under my power amp 9011. Again massive improvement. I am a fan of stillpoints. I may try to put HRS coupler as suggested by LL21 under my rack components.
I put the Ultra 5s on the shelf/floor...and the HRS Nimbus/Couplers on top (somehow adds tonal density back in upper mids/treble) and then the component on top of that. Don't know why it works...for me it just does. I even demonstrated to the Stillpoints Distributor and he couldn't argue after going thru the iterations with him one at a time.
Good stuff! If you ever come across Artesania, pls let me know what you think. I like their dampers, and find them about on par with the HRS Long damping plates (the newer extra thick ones) in my system. I have more HRS dampers than Artesanias, but like them both a lot.
...I put the Ultra 5s on the shelf/floor...and the HRS Nimbus/Couplers on top (somehow adds tonal density back in upper mids/treble) and then the component on top of that. Don't know why it works...for me it just does. I even demonstrated to the Stillpoints Distributor and he couldn't argue after going thru the iterations with him one at a time.
I found the Ultra 5s to be far more effective than the SS on all components, including all 3 boxes of the XP30 when I had it. They're certainly under 30lbs.
it turns out to be a bit more complicated than this, and almost no information seems to be available on the Stillpoints site itself
Ultra Mini - stainless steel, 4 tiers (pockets) of bearings
Ultra Aluminum (maybe no longer available) - aluminum case, 4 tiers with slightly larger bearings
Ultra SS - like the aluminum but with a stainless steel case
Ultra 5 - 5 tiers, with even larger bearings, somehow distributed into 2 partly separate layers
Hopefully the following provides some clarification. All current Ultra products are stainless steel/ceramic based. The original black Stillpoint(delrin/ceramic) and subsequent early Ultra versions made from aluminum/ceramic are no longer offered. Stainless is so much quicker at dissipating vibration energy. All 3 Ultra products(Mini, SS, 5) share the same technology pocket configuration. The SS and 5 use the same pocket. The Mini uses a, well... miniaturized version of that same pocket.
The Ultra 5 has 5 pockets, the Ultra SS a single pocket. Ceramic in the SS and 5 are the same size; the Ultra 5 does NOT have larger ceramic. Nor is it separated in the 2 layers of the 5. All 5 pockets of the Ultra 5 reside in the half that has the bevel.
Hopefully the following provides some clarification. All current Ultra products are stainless steel/ceramic based. The original black Stillpoint(delrin/ceramic) and subsequent early Ultra versions made from aluminum/ceramic are no longer offered. Stainless is so much quicker at dissipating vibration energy. All 3 Ultra products(Mini, SS, 5) share the same technology pocket configuration. The SS and 5 use the same pocket. The Mini uses a, well... miniaturized version of that same pocket.
The Ultra 5 has 5 pockets, the Ultra SS a single pocket. Ceramic in the SS and 5 are the same size; the Ultra 5 does NOT have larger ceramic. Nor is it separated in the 2 layers of the 5. All 5 pockets of the Ultra 5 reside in the half that has the bevel.
