Isolation

If it relies on someone listening to the differences then unfortunately it is.

If you were to use a spectrum analyser and a wide range highly sensitive microphone or some vibrational transducers to make objective measurements then and only then would anyone have any solid ground upon which to state exactly what Mana or any other stand does to the resulting output of the speakers.

Other than that it's all subjective opinion. End of story.

GTM

 

Well, I take your point. Hi-fi is fairly subjective. If I said that I thought that a Rega P3 was better than an LP12, for instance, you couldn't really argue with that.

But hearing 'new' instruments, 'new' lyrics, etc, etc on old favourite records strikes me as fairly objective. And my cartridge was suddenly able to track some previously-untrackable records.

Give it a whirl? Or not if you don't want to. Really, no skin off my nose if you don't.

 

I'd agree that improvments of that order are hard to relegate to the "subjective imagination" category. I too have heard such improvments from my system in the past when changing various components. So I know where you're comming from. However, there have been occasions when I've reversed the change just to prove to myself that it was the change that allowed me to hear the "new" stuff.. only to find I could hear it just as clearly with the old set up. I have no answer for why this might be so. Maybe it's because a physical change has been made so you're all psychologically primed to hear something new and latch on to something that you never thought you could hear before, but allways could just not consciously. If you see what I mean.

I've never actually done any testing of any stands. I've heard mana in the sense that I've heard a system that was sat on it. The system was good, but I've heard plenty of systems that sounded good that were on different supports.

I'm not anit-mana in any way, just making a point of fact that any "improvment" will always remain subjective unless it can be objectively measured. Unfortunately our ears aren't really reliable enough to do so in all circumstances.

Our brain-ear-auditory system is pretty amazing. We pretty much take it for granted. Very often our brain filters out things that it doesn't deem to be worthy of conscious acknowlegement, but our ears are still picking them up. It is all too easy to assume that just because this is the first time you've consciously heard something that it wasn't audiable before, when in fact it allways was, just that your conscious mind wasn't listening for it.


GTM

 

Yes, very good points.

The record that 'did it/proved it' for me is a DG recording of Beethoven's 7th which I've owned for many years. This is one of my favourite pieces, but the mistracking distortion on loud transients, particularly towards the end of side one was seriously bad, making it virtually unlistenable. In fact, I hardly ever did listen to it because of this problem.

Mana sorted it out, it plays without any problem. And that was without changing arm or cartridge.

But I can't prove it to you, nor anyone else.

 

I'm perfectly willing to accept that Mana has improved the tracking of your cartridge. It's something that I'd expect a good TT stand to do.

Like I said, I have no bias for or against Mana .. or pretty much most other stands for that matter as I haven't ever tested any even in a demo, let alone in my own system. The only stands I've ever owned were an original SO stand which had my TT on .. which I replaced with Roksans own shortly after aquiring my Xerxes. There simply wasn't any comparison between the two. Roksans own stand walked it with their TT. I have on a couple of occastions taken my pre-amp off the SO, (which was relagated to this duty), and placed it on the floor, directly on top of my Power amp etc.. and to be honest I couldn't hear any difference. That said, itt was just a quick shuffle to see if I could hear any glaring differences. Given that the SO is considered at least to be a stand that works, (and it certainly did for my TT), I could only conclude that either

a) stands make no stageringly audiable difference to electronics .. or
b) my speakers or ears just weren't up to the task of showing up the changes.
c) the volume wasn't particularly loud and so the feedback (via air or floor) was likely to be extremely minimal anyway.

b) isn't that likely.. as both have alowed me to hear other subtle changes to my system , such as less than 1/10th of a gram changes in tracking force on my cartridge.

so either a) or c) or maybe a) as a consequence of c) were probably the case.

GTM

 

I popped into that expensive tile and Bathroom shop,Pondelarosa,or somethign or other,and bought 2 slate floor tiles for twenty quid,gonna use them under speakers.And I bought 2 marble ones as well,just for a laugh.

 

I got SoundCare SuperSpikes for all my speakers and subwoofers... Motive: improve looks, more pratical and less noise to neigbouhrs, particularly grandchildren sleeping in the room next door... Expectation: that they dont spoil the good sound I already have...

Results:

First on the subwoofers, as the original spikes had improved the sound a lot, I wanted to make sure this wouldnt spoil it, on the contrary, bass sounds deeper and more controlled...

Then the front speakers, much better looks than the original + small discs, and didnt stick to the floor, so I could adjust their position after the original test, also noticeably more bass, the wife confirmed it, I wonder why, maybe because the speakers feel more solid, rock less...

After moving them a little closer, I have the feeling there is lower background noise, sound more detailed, the wife wasnt sure about this... :shame: