I find that this device is very sensitive/responsive to changes in footers. I have mine on an Adona Classic rack. I have found that focus, air, and smooth vs harsh are all effected by footers. It sounds very good on its own four feet and it is easy to worsen the sound, but I recommend 3 IsoAcoustics Orea Bronze placed at the outer edges.
I’m sure there are other opinions.
I use 3 IsoAcoustic Orea Red in my preamp since my Esoteric preamp weights 70 lbs. Beats the stock feet any day of the week with no problem. I also recommend IsoAcoustic Orea for under any electronics.
I use (4) IsoAcoustic Bronze, one under each corner. This gives me 5.5lbs load per puck and places the loading right near the middle of the puck performance curve. In addition, adding lateral stability.
I had the Esoteric pre but could never get happy with it. I was pretty sure it was broken in some subtle way but was dismissed by the dealer.
Much happier with my tube and fuse rolled BHK.
Have you compared three vs four?
No, love the (4); didn’t see the need.
I see the need: do I need to buy another?
Honestly, I could care less what you do. Try (4) and if it makes a difference… you could report that back to the collective…
Which model Esoteric did you try? Mine is the C-02. Believe me, I heard a lot of high end preamps including Cat SL1, Audio Research. Conrad Johnson Gat, and I wouldn’t give up the Esoteric for any of them, it’s that good.
The bhk has turned out to be surprisingly sensitive to fuse changes, power filter changes and footer changes. That’s in top of the obvious effect that the rolling has. Tube damping with herbies dampers does give a mild improvement in the top end.
I actually found the vibrapods sound good on the bhk. They do leave an oily residue on porous surfaces which you need to work around by applying some sort of adhesive disc to the base.
Did you take the feet of the DS off? I haven’t even looked at how they’re attached. Going to pick up the bronze soon. Filling my speaker stands with 35lbs of shot each and building 3” maple platforms with Gaia feet for my subs first.
Mine was the C1, and I suspected that the cables between the power and control units were the weak link.
dust?
Typo, was using my phone to write the post…
@amsco15 - my view of aftermarket puck placement is about structural integrity. The component designer created a structure for the footer to support the component. Therefore, I like to make sure my aftermarket pucks are always placed where the feet are removed. This way I don’t have any issues with warped chassis or boards inside the components. With the DSD, DMP, BHKPRE… at 22lbs that would probably not happen; however, with the P20, BHK300s I like to make sure they replace the feet in the same spot. Therefore, I use (4) pucks instead of (3) pucks and try the best I can to get the overall weight divided by four gets close to the puck performance curve center. Most of the time I get it close…
[edit] - the DSD, BHK PRE, and DMP have the standard 3/8in feet. You need a Philips head and away you go, really easy. The P20 and BHKAMPS you have a piece of rubber you have to peal back, then Phillip head screw driver. Take your time w/ the rubber, it can rip.
I never considered removing the original feet. Makes sense but I’ll pass.
Since it is obviously inconceivable that all religions can be right, the most reasonable conclusion is that they are all wrong.
Christopher Hitchens
A little experimentation is always worth while in these circumstances.
I didn’t mean for my ‘signature’ closing quote to become part of this discussion. I used email for that entry and it got included, my apologies.
No problem at all.
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Please tell me how the platform with Gaia feet works out. I may end up trying that eventually as well.
