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From the earth to the sky
Can a new tweak and a pair
of new feet bring you nearer
to musical nirvana?
The first part of the
article is about the benefit
of earthing loudspeakers.
The next part, which now
follows, is about the new
feet.
New feet
The next tweak,
unfortunately, is not quite
free. It is about putting
new feet under your
equipment. In the first
instance you should probably
start with your CD player,
but both your record player
and your amplifiers will
benefit from it.
What kind of feet are they?
Well, this is about feet
from the Ringmat firm.
Ringmat Feet do not seem
very convincing the first
time you see them, just as
with the Statmat. What you
get is a small box, with
four small plastic Feet, a
leaflet with instructions,
and a small piece of film
made of the Statmat
material.
The instructions are
thorough, as you are told to
place the Foot, with
coloured dot, underneath the
front right foot of the
component. The piece of film
is to be placed under the
back right foot. According
to the leaflet, this is to
discharge electrostatic
fields into the surrounding
air, and, whether it is true
or not, you can hear if it
is missing. To be less
abstract, I can hear it when
my wife is using the
hairdryer, as my power amp
starts humming. This is
greatly reduced when the
feet and film are in place.
Why does the bumblebee
fly?
The purpose of the Feet is
to reduce the small
vibrations and electrostatic
discharges that come from
all electrical appliances.
Through the year I have
tried quite a lot of
products designed for this
purpose, from rubber and
sorbothane feet through to
metal spikes, but I have
never heard feet with such a
positive effect as these.
The fact of the matter is
that Ringmat Feet, in a
strange way, enable your
equipment to work in such a
way that both micro details
and dynamics are more
convincing. How these Feet
work I can’t tell you, just
as I have never been able to
get a convincing explanation
about the workings of the
Statmat. But what of it!
According to science, the
bumblebee can’t fly, but it
doesn’t care and flies
anyway!
More air
A good example of the
working of the Feet is the
sound of a string ensemble,
where I can now hear the air
around the single violin
player, and not just a
massive string sound. It
gets much easier to follow
the breathing of a singer,
for example, on the latest
Nick Cave CD, “The Boatman
Calls”, which, by the way,
is a brilliant recording,
where it is now possible in
many sections of the music
to hear his lips moving.
Another CD, which is very
much recommended, is Diane
Krall’s “Love Scenes” where,
on the track “My Love Is”,
she sings accompanied only
by the bass player. All the
way through the number she
clicks her fingers, and only
with the Ringmat Feet in
place have I been able to
hear how she moves her
fingers in relation to the
mike. Also, the bass on this
track is much better
defined, as it is now
possible to hear not just
the body of the bass, but
also the single strings and
the wood behind them. It is
also much easier to hear the
recorded acoustics on most
recordings, as much of the
information of the recorded
space has become so much
better defined, with a much
bigger soundstage in height,
depth and width. On an older
recording, like Roger
Waters’ “Amused to Death”,
you get a much more three
dimensional impression of
the sound effects in the
strange Q-sound production.
On a recording of the
Classic Trio, the sound of
the cello is much better
defined and the attack of
the piano keys much more
precise. At the same time
the whole soundstage seems
quieter. Much more important
than all these details is
that the music, all the way
through, sounds warmer and
more like reality, as if you
have taken an electronic
veil away from your system.
On the best recordings you
are now able to close your
eyes and feel that the
performers are in your room,
and that is, after all, what
our quest for the perfect
sound is all about.
All in all, here are two
tweaks that will give you
just as much improvement as
buying expensive new
equipment.
P.S. Statmat is now in a new
MkII CDi version, which is
at least as good as the
first one, but easier to use
as the diameter is smaller
and, therefore, easier to
use without getting it
wrinkled. |
