P10 ..... supported by Stillpoints - my experience

Power Components
1

I’ve had my P10 supported by Stillpoints Ultra SS since my entire system was moved to Stillpoints to ‘float’ the system.

This was done over a period of time as these things are expensive.

I had a set of Ultra 5’s supporting my Chord amp that has Integra legs so the amp base is a considerable distance of the rack shelf.

I took the plunge for a set of 3 Ultra 6’s with bases I was able to purchase second hand.

The idea was to use them under my Chord amp but with the Integra legs the Ultra 6’s sat under the amp without making contact.

(I realised later I just needed to put something under the 6’s to raise them up sufficiently to overcome the height of the Integra legs.)

But I decided to try both the 5’s and 6’s underneath the P10.

The 5’s first - sound became really ‘bassey’, overpowering everything else.

Tried the 6’s and they were superb, bass was a lot less but more in proportion to everything else.

I was shocked at how the mid range and treble opened up in my system.

I’ve had further gains recently as the person I bought the 6’s from had an uneven floor and had on one of the bases a slightly longer screw than the other two so the other two screws on the bases were raised higher than usual to level the P10.

He’s recently supplied me with another screw of equal length to the other two and so in usual Stillpoints logic the screws are tightened and then just very slightly slackened off a bit.

This time I was amazed at how the timing improved. The previous sound now sounded like a photograph very slightly out of focus and with the new screw, with all the screws the same size, the photograph was razor sharp.

So, if you can pick up the Ultra 6’s for a reasonable price I highly recommend them.

2

Just got a second set of Ultra 6’s and put them under my CD player.

I’ve found you can ‘tune’ the sound depending on how you tighten the Ultra 6 to the Ultrabase.

I first had the Ultra 6’s tight on the Ultrabase and I found the bass increased but the treble lost some of it’s sparkle and the system sounded slightly dull.

I remember talking to the distributor a lonf time ago and he told me the sound changed depending on how tight the Ultrabase is.

So, like the SS, were you tighten the hat to the base and then slightly back off to release some tightness, I did this with the Ultra 6’s.

Bass was very slightly reduced but the treble returned.

I remember I set the Ultra 6’s up under my P10 in the same fashion.

Timing is now even better than better and detail has improved too.

An excellent example is the new 50th anniversary remaster of Sgt. Peppers. If you listen to Sgt. Peppers itself, the last verse were Paul sings about Billy Shears, there’s a lot of Harrison guitar work on the right channel and even with the Ultra 5’s under my cd Player I didn’t clearly hear this, it just melted into the rest of the music, with the 6’s I clearly heard each note and how they stopped and started.

3

I sold 4 of my Ultra 5’s that sat under my pre-amp to help fund 3 Ultra 6’s which are in transit.

The new Ultra 6’s will be going under my power amp freeing up the 4 Ultra 5’s that are already there and these will move to the pre-amp to replace the 4 that were sold.

So listened to my system for the first time last night without the 5’s underneath my pre-amp.

I was shocked at how poor the system now sounded.

I didn’t think the 5’s underneath the pre-amp would really have added a lot to the system but I was wrong.

Vocals were ‘muddied’, realism went out the window, just sounded unlistenable. It did improve slightly as the CD player warmed up but the amp and pre-amp had been on for a couple of hours already as I’ve watched a film via the home cinema side of my system.

Should be middle of next week when I receive the new Stillpoints but after last night’s experience I won’t be listening to much music between now and then.

Stillpoints make a case that you won’t get the full benefits from them until all of the system is ‘floated’ on them and I can now confirm this is correct.

4

Amen. I don’t have Stillpoints but I am using VooDoo Cable IsoPods and have similar experiences. I now have all my system with these underneath (even the TV and the only exception is my DVR which sits atop Aurios). Adding each set has made incremental improvements I’ve really enjoyed; I wouldn’t want to be without them anywhere.

5

Today I received my set of 3 Stillpoints Ultra 6’s that will replace the set of Ultra 5’s I sold recently.

As the Ultra 6’s are for under my power amp I moved the set of 4 Ultra 5’s from under my power amp to under the pre-amp to replace the set of 5’s sold to finance the new 6’s.

Max Townshend of Townshend products states that after moving any part of your equipment you need to let the system settle down for a day before it returns to peak sound.

But already I’m gaining the benefits expected, better, more extended treble, a realism of voices and instruments that the 5’s cannot bring, better sound staging and imaging.

Looking forward to more listening over the weekend.