These ball bearings isolation devices are 3 pounds each so they are heavy and solid. I have 2 sets of 2 brass and 1 stainless steel devices Would these devices theoretically work well under my 100 pound Pass Labs X250.8 amp or/and my 62 pound Keces IQRP 3600 power conditioner? I realize that I could just try them and find out for myself but they would be a hell of a time to get under the amp and conditioner. I will eventually try them I am sure but I am hoping to get people’s opinions and advice.
This principle is similar to the one used by Finite Elemente, so I imagine it could have some effect. But I suspect it would be an uncertain outcome. There’s a risk like that with purpose made “audiophilia quality” footers, too, so I figure no different to give these a try than anything else.
Of course, it depends upon what issue you are trying to solve. If a few buck isolation puck could improve a $10K amplifier, I would look for a new amplifier company. If you trying to mediate the need to fiddle itch, well that will depend on how long it takes you to get them under the “beasts”. It’s worth repeating my recommendation of the Dewalt construction jack. I just used two to replace the footers on a 170 lb butcher block equipment rack without removing about 150 lb of equipment.
The thing is that my system sounds very very good without the devices. I would only add the devices out of curiosity sake but I am getting awesome 3D holographic imaging as is.
Sounds like a “leave well enough alone” situation.
I managed 3 of these devices under my Keces IQRP 3600 power conditioner which runs most of my system except for my amp and Mk2 dac. So far I think I like the effect. I can’t seem to budge my amp at all but I have a sore knee so perhaps I will try the amp again later when my knee feels better.
The isolation devices sound good under my Keces conditioner. I’m glad I held onto the two sets of 3 devices over the past 25 years.
Use an air bladder wedge to lift up one end of the amp at a time to place footers.
This is what I use to make it easier to place footers under heavy components.
I agree! They also work well for adjusting speaker footer height (unless your speakers weigh as much as a small automobile…).
I’m going to give this a try. Thank you.
I’m wondering if it makes sense to bother to put the isolation devices under a 100+ pound amp on the bottom shelf of a music rack which is flat on the carpet. The rack itself should probably be on spikes.
Yes it would be better if the rack was on spikes, but I believe there would still be some benefit from using isolation under the amp.
Perhaps something like Isoacoustic pucks would be good but my experience with the 3 pound brass ball bearing devices under my last Pass X250.5(amp before my current X250.8) was that the sound was lean and hard sounding. It didn’t take me long to remove the devices from my last Pass amp 25 years ago. Perhaps they would work now. I may give it a try.
Doesn’t cost anything to experiment. Every once in a while I become a mad scientist and just start experimenting with different things in my system.
For the longest time I stacked my DAC on top of my transport because I only have a 3 shelve rack and 4 components. At first I just removed the footers under the DAC so it would nestle nicely on top of the transport, but when I separated them using Sorbonne footers the sound improved, possibly because the transformers in each unit were further apart and not interfering with each other. Than I tried using ceramic spikes in combination with spike cups to protect the the top of the transport, and the improvement was significant. The sound became much more resolving and clear along with tighter bass.
Knowing how much difference proper isolation makes, ultimately I’d like to upgrade my rack to a better four shelve rack along with better footers.
My experience has been that all metal footers and spikes would give a lean and thin sound. But the big brass cones from Mapleshade do a good job on devices with a warmer sound. Metal columns with ceramic bearing would inject a bit of warmth so they are better than the all-metal footers and cones.
When I use them I need to insert a thin sorbothane 70 Duro sheet between the device and the metal footers. This tip was from @vmax and it worked well. I did this on both PST and DS MK2 APS because I liked the SQ better than VooDoo and Orea footers, until Stack EQ took over.
My big 3 pound brass ball bearing isolation devices work very well under my Keces power conditioner but my experience is that they are too bright and lean and much less bass warmth than nothing at all under my Pass X250.8 amp.
They do not work on all devices for sure. I am not familiar with the ones you are using, but Mapleshade brass will be the only one I want to use. I have some other types of brass cones and did not like their SQ much.
A thin layer of sorbothane 70D will remove the harsh sound, but the layer needs to be thin, otherwise it deaden the SQ too much.
First cones I ever used decades ago were large aluminum cones. They’ve been sitting in the shoe box for years as they made everything sound hard and bright.
This one is too easy 
, but I’ll pass it up in the interest of keeping this thread clean. 
After a few days with the devices under my Keces I decided to try without them and the sound is Far better without them. Live and learn.