Addis Pads - probably the greatest hifi upgrade... in the world!

[Barry]

LOL - it goes on for 34 pages!

[windhoek]

No not another Addis Pad thread [emoji24]

https://pinkfishmedia.net/forum/thre...-world.278599/

Why not?

[Macca]

why not indeed.

[Lawrence001]

I guess not.

It's actually got me thinking. Rather like random cellular mutation leading to creatures crawling out of the primordial soup and eventually turning into the universally supreme beings we find ourselves fortunate to be, hifi isolation, and indeed the wider gamut of upgrade paths, follow a similar process through random experimentation.

No idea where that just came from.

[struth]

I guess not.

It's actually got me thinking. Rather like random cellular mutation leading to creatures crawling out of the primordial soup and eventually turning into the universally supreme beings we find ourselves fortunate to be, hifi isolation, and indeed the wider gamut of upgrade paths, follow a similar process through random experimentation.

No idea where that just came from.

dont get no creatures crawling out of my soup..

well bar the odd chicken or two

[Stranraer]

Can't believe I'm admitting this, but......... the plan to spend the day in t' pub watching cricket went South once the rain started so I zipped over to B&M at 3pm and bought one of these Addis mats. I've got a load of the bumpers from a kitchen refit. I'll let you know my findings.

[Lawrence001]

Might be cheap but not sure it can beat the free isolation feet in my system at the moment for VFM:

https://theartofsound.net/forum/show...89#post1345589

[windhoek]

Can't believe I'm admitting this, but......... the plan to spend the day in t' pub watching cricket went South once the rain started so I zipped over to B&M at 3pm and bought one of these Addis mats. I've got a load of the bumpers from a kitchen refit. I'll let you know my findings.

Brilliant! As long as you use the right sort of bumpers you should be all set. I can't remember if I said it already but soft and squishy silicone bumpers are no good as they're, er, too soft and squishy, which makes everything sound soft and squishy as well. The 8mm Diall hemispherical bumpers have just the right level of compressibility to engage the spring effect.

Here's a reminder of the 'User Manual' for installation:

- Affix 8 bumpers to 8 pads and then place the combos beneath the corners of your speakers (or 4 pads and bumpers beneath your turntable or CD player etc). You can even double up on pads and place an extra pad beneath the other so that you've got two pads per bumper (for really heavy speakers you probably should double up on pads). Allow at least an hour for adhesive setting time to ensure the pads don't slide should lateral force be applied when tilting speakers backwards and forwards during installation.

- In general, I prefer to affix pads to bumpers but sometimes you might need to affix bumpers to equipment and then line things up after that. It can be tricky this way so where possible, affix bumpers to pads.

- The combo has to be the only damping interface between the supporting structure and the equipment/speakers. Otherwise, you'll get diluted results. In practice, this probably means removing the feet from your equipment.

- If your speakers are on carpets then you'd need to find a way of bypassing the carpet. You can't put the combo on top of a carpet and expect to get results. If you can't install a platform that takes the carpet out of the equation then forget it, it just won't work.

Good luck!

[windhoek]

Might be cheap but not sure it can beat the free isolation feet in my system at the moment for VFM:

https://theartofsound.net/forum/show...89#post1345589

The VFM of something you found is always going to be higher than anything you buy. But does it result in things sounding better than something you can buy, even something as cheap as pads and bumpers? That's the question. If it works for you that's all that matters.

[windhoek]

I went all-in over the last few days and installed the pad+bumper combo under everything in my bedroom system; everything except the 6-gang mains extension. I doubled up on pads so that there are two pads per bumper and although it was quite a faff at times, I managed to set it up so that the bumpers are affixed to the pads in all cases, with the pads on the rack and the bumpers in contact with the equipment. Fwiw, I haven't gone that far in my main system as I've still to put the combo beneath my amp and phono stage.

Setting up the speakers (a pair of Kralk Audio BC-30s) required an extra level of attention and, dare I say, some innovation, as they're mounted onto a plasterboard wall with a pair of Sound Organisation brackets that come with spikes. I'd previously put a pair of granite trivets between speakers and spikes and then put the combo between trivets and speakers, but I was keen to find a way to take the trivets out of the equation as I wasn't convinced it was the right or optimal solution.

One of the brackets isn't completely level on top so placing the combo on top of the frames was out of the question. So I ordered a packet of M4 cap head bolts on the premise that if I lined them up correctly, then I should be able to install the combo upside down with the domes being ever so slightly sunk into the heads of the bolts, where an Allen key would otherwise go, and then that should add the requisite level of stability to prevent the combo and therefore, the speakers from moving or slipping off the brackets altogether once everything is in place. It works: the dome heads are indeed ever so slightly sunk into the heads and the speakers are now both level and stable. Result!



So how does it all sound? The right adjective seems to vary from one song to another but in general, clarity, detail, soundstage, separation, depth, and cohesion have been greatly enhanced, while bass is more defined, and there's a hint of organic warmth too - remarkably, that goes for both analogue and digital playback. Moreover, when I was playing Off Beat by Claire Martin, a live album recorded at Ronnie's, I could almost smell the alcohol! Suffice to say, the system now sounds like a high quality music system. Indeed, I'd say it sounds like a music-first system rather than a hifi system in the traditional sense, and one that belies the true cost - my £400 speakers no longer sound like £400 speakers!

And for the first time ever, the new speaker set up doesn't seem to be exciting the plasterboard. It must to some degree I suppose as I can still feel some minor vibrations travelling through the floor but you can't hear it.

Fwiw, my bedroom system is as follows:

Analogue
⁃ Linn LP12 (pre-Cirkus bearing; Stack Audio Tenor subchassis and top plate; Rega RB300 tonearm, rewired by Johnnie at Audio Origami, tungsten counterweight; Rega Exact cart; 2 x Linn felt mats; Norton Airpower power supply, DIY)

Digital
⁃ Bluesound Node (N130)
⁃ Sony UHP-H1 BDP

DAC
⁃ Cambridge Audio DacMagic Plus

Amplification
⁃ Rega IO (on-board phono stage in use)

Speakers
⁃ Kralk Audio BC-30 FL

Other
⁃ Mana Acoustics 4-tier rack (see notes)
⁃ Sound Organisation speaker brackets

Notes
⁃ The Mana Acoustics 4-tier rack mentioned above is a replica manufactured by Willy at Berryhill Blacksmiths, Riggend, with the glass having been manufactured by Hurry Bros in the east end of Glasgow. The rack sits on a mana sound stage.