System updated:

New sets of Cat feets for Wadia, slightly lower (3 feets).

PL300 use 4 Cat feets instead of 3.
Before, feets were under plinth of PL300. Now it is 1 feet under each original feet. Vibbeaters are positioned further back at top of PL300 to put weight on the rear.

First reflections cotton drapes with Golden Age Music's Pyrapanel 50. 3 panels at each drape. One at the listening room door (first reflection left speaker) and one curtain hanging drape at first reflection of right speaker.

The Gik Acoustic 242 panel on stands, are now positioned (instead of behind speakers) at first reflection of opposite side speaker. That is, 1 242 panel at left side to pick up right side speakers first reflection and vice versa at other channel.

New PC. MAC Burly. As is, Burly suited better at JRDG C-500 and PS Audio Perfectwave AC-12 at Wadia.

Speakers repositioned slightly for more depth and focus.

The MAC Burly is a stunning power chord. It is superbly resolving and gives tremendous silence. For integrateds or power amps this is superb. Without the burn in that Steve claims should be around 200 hours this do marvelous things.
A great advancement of resolution and silence is stunning.

I am, if i may say, very impressed with this system.

I now await my Wireworld Gold Eclipse 6 IC.

The final upgrade that i dream about would be 4 units of Varitune 4 from (www.diffusor.com)
These are maybe the only basabsorbers that you can tune at specific frequencies. The Varitune 6 even goes down to 20Hz.

As is, i would like to work 40-45Hz and 75-80Hz.
I would use 2 for each frequency and position them on top of each other, behind speakers in corners.
the lower 2, 40-45Hz, the 2 on top, 75-80Hz.
I do not suffer from very high peaks, never the less, i have small and they could be absorbed.

With or without i must say a serious workover of acoustics and position of speakers make a world of changes.

Doing so, proves that cables and isolation/ damping will release the utter pin point focus. Control of dynamics will be in for a drastic change.

Just the side reflections and ceiling reflections makes incredible sense when you hear what it does. PC's and isolation/ damping (draining apparatus and bench from vibrations and resonances) proves to show what your other cables really do.

This is my second system 2010 and it has becomn very much more expenses. Looking at just speakers, cd and amplifier and that cost. Looking at acoustics and all other tweaks is very high in compairson. It is no way one is even close to releasing the potential not looking over this.

inpieces June 10, 2010 10:29

System edited: Quick update: Only Cat feets with a slight level adjustment. No Disc's of silence to use for level anymore. Disc's of silence proved to do benefit under Terminator. I am quite estranged here. How to heck can these do what they do under the mains purifier (for Wadia). As is, a liquid mer clear soundfield was the result. Midrange has improved mostly. A background silence appeared to further develop rendering of detail and more roundness. The start/ stop and decay improves and also and enhanced depth and air. Oh, this starts to sound like voodoo, but it is not. I tried an older recorded cd which surely is benefitting greatly. As is, i must admit here the Disc's of silence did only good and no minus points at all.

inpieces May 29, 2010 11:09

System edited: Please view the photos of feets (isolation/ damping)

inpieces May 29, 2010 08:32

Looking a bit more into damping and isolating Wadia 381 and JRDG C-500.

Damping and isolating seems very critcal and it is likely best to try a few things instead of buying manufacturers "we are better than the rest"!

I have tried:

Solid tech - Disc's of silence.
Basically a base with springs. A screw with a cork surface.
The unit is set for a weight that is making it floating.
As is, if you just touch the unit, it moves.
Set of 4 feets can carry up to 45Kg's.

SSC AS.
A foot with somekind of damping underneath and a kind of cloth at the apparatus side.
Each foot can carry 15kg's.
Set of 4 feets.

Entreq Cat feets.
Mineral loaded with a tunnel inside.
These are blocking vibrations from both ways and they are both damping and isolating.
These are for loads over 20Kg's.
Set of 3 feets.

I also use a granite stone under the amp.

The Solid tech feets is always doing one thing.

Bass become lightweight and mid thin. The top is very open and detailed as never before.
I would only recommend these in system very boomy and compressed.

SSC AS, give you weight and bas (reminds me of a vinyl sonics), but not as extremely open as Solid tech.
These feets work IMO, best if you sort out floor bound or rack born isolations first.
They do work good, even with Solid tech's Disc's of silence carrying the weight of the granite stone.
However, Disc's of silence is beaten by the 4 feets i now use. (Dual cnc cups with rubber tube fixing them, rubber spike resting on self adhessive compound)

Entreq's feets stop all vibrations the other two is not as good at this.
Unit is very good isolated and damped. A smooth/ relaxed and very detail sound. No pronounced monster bass, but very good. It offers perfect balance and IMO, very linear.

As is. I found C-500's best isolation and damping to be in conjunction with the granite stone. The stone is resting at four feets. These feets are CNC milled cups, two and two. They are put together with a rubber tube. Inside the tub is a rubber spike. The stone is resting on the rubber spike.
Between the head of the rubber spike and CNC cups, is another layer of damping compound.
On top of the stone and underneath C-500's original feets, i place SSC AS.

This gives the best balance and linear response.
Bass is very deep and full with great impacy. It does not suffer from bloat. Mid has a nice full and rich tone. The top is smooth and detailed.

Wadia 381 rest at the 3 Cat feets from Entreq. As is, since these are mineral loaded, it is hard to get Wadia totaly in line. So, i set the Solid tech feets Disc's of silence for very low damping. The Solid tech feets does not carry the Wadia, they merely evens Wadia so it is in line.

This gives Wadia a very open and relaxed sound with good punch. The depth and control is really really good. Very rhythmical and complex material is rendered with great PRAT and no bloat, no swollen or wooden bass. Bass is full of weight, impact and nuance, mid is a fine balance of weight, breast tone and detail. The top is open, revealing and smooth.

I detect no typical pronouncings. If so, a very slight sense of weight and body.

I found, it is easy to get isolation/ damping to thin out the sound.

Even so, a very pronounced top or upper mid seems very usual.

Soft feets/ rubber etc, can be nice in the warm sonics. But bass often become un-nuanced and not in control or detail.

The most difficult is to get a deep bass with imapact, control and nuance. Followed by the sense of organic warmth in the mid and top.

This has taken a long time with lots of small changes.

Wadia changes alot with damping/ isolation and different PC's.

The C-500 changes to. Maybe not as much as Wadia but close.
It is very obvious that some of the things here, are probably things people try to solve with interconnects and speakercables. I can say that damping and isolation yields results that in some areas are so big, that it is more obvious than interconnect and or speakercables changes.

My next piece in this system is the MAC - Burly that i will use for Wadia.

I also will try Wireworld Gold Eclipse 6 xlr.

I intened to try "musical interconnets". But i am no so sure, this is just not a wise move. Damping/ islolation proves to me, sonics in this system, will not be done with euphoric chords.
I have high hopes for the 2 expected cables that i await.

First, i will run the Burly in the system.
Next will be the WW GE6.

English is not my main language, so i find at times, words are hard to find.
Sorry for that.

inpieces May 29, 2010 08:27

This thing regarding Isolation/ damping is not to be taken lighly upon.

I have read alot lately. To find what might be the units for me and what i should not consider.
As is, i do not wish to buy devices making sound harsh, thin, glass-like. Correct or not, devices making these sonic attributes can't be considered nice upgrades.

I've seen some interesting companies.
Mostly i like Equarack MF-1.
Even so, the SSC Classic platform.
(can be custom ordered for larger size)

As is, i have been delighted by Entreq's feets and cones.
Entreq's feets, are not only made for speakers, on the contrary. They work great under all electronics.

As is, i talked to P-O today. So i will try the Cat feets underneath my Wadia. Lion feets are higher and larger, but they are told to work best for devices carrying weight up to 20Kgs/ 44-45Ibs.
Over this weight, they suggest Cat feets. These are same i use under my speakers.

Basically, all feets do alter sonics etc.
So , what is correct talking sonics is up to each and own.
I personally like the sense of analog's relaxation. Smoothness/ calamity, weight and highten sense of opening the recorded space.

The SSC AS pucks has been tried in 3 and 4 and with different cup-spikes.

All in all they give a musical sound. However, i feel the height especially in top and mid is not on level with Solid tech. Though, they give weight and smoothness aswell as a further nuanced bass.

SSC feets prove to have something going on, but as is i will try Entreq before any purchase of a platform.

I like the idea of a platform, but some are very expensive and some custom tuned for specific weights (nice, but less nice if changing equiptment).
The Entreq feets have done great things with the PL 300 and my former speakers.

I await this package of Cat feets and hope to be able to find what i look for..

For US or any abroad parts innterested:

http://www.entreq.com/default.asp?PageId=1921

inpieces May 24, 2010 04:37

I started off with some isolation feets.
First on the Wadia 381.

I begun with Solid tech's - Disc of Silence.
Basically, a spring loaded set of feets.
This is the kit of 4 feets.

As is, i believe the Signalcabel combo of IC and PC is a bit thin and laidback/ shy in bass.

I also use a budget PC, Jorma JPC.

Changing only to the JPC at Wadia, yields in a more relaxed, slightly more diffuse image.
Balance is better in treble, mid and bass.

Setting the Disc of Silence for the weight of Wadia.
This came out very different from what i though and expected.
The first thing is that treble is very much extended and the whole balance changes. Mid is thinner and bass super tight. Almost like the music is carved out in glass.

Even so, with the JPC PC. I did not even bother to use the Signalcable PC as this was very much the wrong direction.

I took the Solid tech feets of and put back the ones i used before.

Next i set the Disc of silence under my C-500.
Expecting smaller changes and no good ones, since Wadia reacted as it did

How wrong.

Supporting C-500 proved a even better image. More defined and clear. No over exposed treble, no thin mid.
Rather as if it came through with a better silence and further improved definition.

How weird that the C-500 and Wadia could differ so much in results.

Next set of feets i used.

German SSC AS pucks.
A set of 4 feets.
SSC also makes platforms.

I tried using 4 feets, one under each of Wadias feets.
That is, spikes and cups.
AS pucks put under these.

I also decided to use, only 3 of AS under the Wadia.

To support this, i used 3 units of face to face spikes.
These are in cups.
In reality, it is 6 feets and they are supported face to face.
I set these on top of the SSC AS pucks and Wadia supported on top.

This yield a more relaxed in linear overall balance.
I noticed a more smooth top, a slightly richer mid.
Bass goes deeper with slightly better impact and weight.

All in all, a more composed and relaxed balance, with better weight. A sense of harmoni.

Wadia and C-500 likes different supports it seems!
Wadia seem to better like solid contact and not floating/ elevated supports in terms of feets.
On the contrary, the C-500 seemed to gain from this support. An even better openness, image and defintion.

As is, i don't doubt that the Wadia is even further enhancing it's qualities with a platform.

Just changing/ leveling with feets and PC's seems like using tone/ balance controls.
A bloated bass, shy mid or over exposed treble could be changed for the better by no small margins.

Now, i just wait and see what a new PC can do for Wadia.

inpieces May 21, 2010 07:29

What is appearant with the Wadia and settings.
I use Algorithm A as first choice due to the better focus and image depth.
IF, if (when) playing an older (or newer but harsh) cd that is a bit harsh. I tried using Algorithm C. Clearly smoother but not same coherency of image/ soundfield. When changing back to Algo A, turning volume down to 97 instead of 100. It becomes smoother.
Even so when i turn up volume (compensate) of Continuum 500.
As is, i find it a better choice using Algo A all the time.
This is lead me to conclude, that Wadia is better used as cdp only. Not using Wadias volume (pre) as pre amp into a power amp without a separate pre amp.

However, if used in conjunction with an integrated with a inferior pre-section, it might yield other results!?
Some integrated allows users, to use only the power amp section and bypassing the pre-section

As i have been informed, right or wrong? The C-500 houses a pair of 501 mono's and the capri pre amp. On top of that a PFC.
All separates are shielded inside the C-500 chassis.

inpieces May 14, 2010 12:22

Today i used Wadias own spikes. I did so with and without an extra set of rubber feets.
These were inserted under the Wadia cups.
I heard that sound became harder in tone. Less smooth and lacking a bit of width and weight.

I thought it was my ears ringing.

I disambled them and inserted the ones i did.

Bass deepens and weight is more full, and a smoothness and more liqud sound with a highten sense of micro dynamics is the result.

These are two metal cups, inside is a rubber coated insert.
The spikes rods never touch the cups holes.
In this is a spike, the whole spike surface is of rubber.
Between the spike and metal cup it is self adhessive damping material.

I now will try another set of feets.

I hope they are even better. In worst case they are worse and thinn sounding.

I also built a hanger for my 242 ceiling fixed panel. Now it is hanging horizontal. It is a 1-½ inch air gap between ceiling and panel.
I must say. Side reflections are easy to block with furniture or thick curtains. Ceiling is doing a greater effect than we might want to believe.

I had a discussion with dealer, regarding Furutech line-flux IC and PC.
I guess i can not afford this. They seem very good. Dealer bult own Furutech after all rules. H etold me he could just not understand what Furutech did. The ready made was so much better.

Still, HT Photon-link II (xlr) and battery pack 4 is on top of wish list.
It would be wise as Wadia is set at 2.13 v output.
Photon-link need 2-2.5 v. Optimal is 2.5v.

I belive one thing that makes 381 and C-500 soundng so great might be the superb match of input and output impedance. 48 K ohms at C-500 and 51 K ohms at 381.

Now, i just have to work out more at farting money:)
No results so far:(

inpieces May 14, 2010 08:28