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  7. Solid Tech Feet of Balance English ver.

Solid Tech Feet of Balance English ver.

Link do zapowiedzi (en): Solid Tech Feet of Balance

To date we have only explored accessories from the Swedish company’s portfolio – either for the purposes of publications on the pages of SoundRebels (vide Base of Silence) or out of pure curiosity, for our own / other publishers’ use (Feet of Silence, Discs of Silence) – that concentrated on silence, hence their names, however this time I have been given the opportunity to focus on the manifestation of Scandinavian technical thought concerning – as the name itself suggests – balance. However, as you can easily guess, one does not exclude the other, so also in the bowels of our today’s heroines, provided by the brand’s Polish distributor – Sopot’s Premium Sound, we will find a lot of what we can also encounter in the „silents”. Therefore, I cordially invite everyone interested in the topic to continue reading.

Assuming that one photo is worth more than a thousand words, based on both the unboxing session and the gallery above, I could perversely say that „that is it” and close the topic. However, as life and empirically gained experience teach, the art of defining the impact on the sound based only on looking at photographs has been the main domain of Internet trolls, for whom nothing is ever sounding right anyway, so basically they do not even need any photos to spit their venom in comments. Therefore, in order to find out how, or even at all, a given something affects a specific system, there is no other choice than to insert/apply this gizmo into it and catch, define and finally evaluate any possible changes with peace of mind.
However, before we get to that, it should be mentioned that the Feet of Balance reach the end user in collective packages of four pieces with a set of necessary springs and a combination wrench that allows them to be screwed into a loudspeaker (M6 and M8 threads are available, and from what can be found on the website, there are adapters up to M12 as an option). The whole thing is enclosed in a neat cardboard box, tightly filled with gray sponge with precisely cut chambers for the feet and other small items. And for the tested feet, they are shaped in the form of stubby barrel-like creations with a fancifully protruding „antenna” of a threaded pin on the upper surface, used to mount them on the speakers being decoupled, or any other element of the system. It turns out that Feet of Balance are also recommended as replacements for standard spikes and feet in audio racks. Unfortunately, due to the fact that I used the 6-legged version of the Solid Tech Radius Duo 3, which is being quite unevenly loaded in addition to that, during this test I limited myself to assessing their impact on the speakers.
As it is usually believed, which in itself is unquestionably the correct approach, usage of specialized accessories can not only be recommended, but actually should be commonplace to squeeze the last juices and fine tune your stereo system. And items exactly like the tested FoB (Feet of Balance) make this tuning take on a real shape and form. And this in its most precise version, where the tuning itself does not only mean the application of some audio-trinket to a system, but also the calibration of this element to the setup in question. To put it bluntly, following the example of the siblings from the Silence family, the Balance feet should be configured for a specific load using one of three sets of springs and remembering to position the feet correctly after screwing them into the speakers – that is, with inscriptions straight ahead, so that everything works according to the manufacturer’s assumptions and calculations. Therefore, despite the perfectly understood male reluctance to read all kinds of manuals, I strongly encourage you to overcome this truly atavistic disgust and at least a quick glance at the one-page cheat sheet attached to the feet or on the manufacturer’s website and follow the guidance in the table of loads and the spring configurations assigned to them. In the case of the 75 kg AudioSolutions Figaro L2 used during the tests, I used the F configuration with four HD springs, a single, centrally placed HD+ spring and two MD springs embedded in the outer chambers, which provided slightly better rigidity and stability than the E option, which did not have the MD springs included. The loudspeakers could still be quite easily pushed away from the fully upright position, but the return to it, and the damping of the oscillations themselves, happened much quicker and easier than with, for example, the Townshend Audio Seismic Podium, with which we had to deal with during the listening sessions of the Audiovector SR6 Avantgarde Arreté and YG Acoustics Carmel 2. However, in order for the speakers to gain the ability to rock, they first had to be armed with FoBs, and this, as it turned out, is not so easy, because first each of the eight feet has to be opened, reconfigured, reassembled and, once we have the set done, screwed into the speakers, which at least in the case of the Figaro L2 took me quite a few dozen minutes, during which any listeners had the opportunity to significantly expand their vocabulary with a set of sophisticated curse words. There is no denying that two people are needed for this type of activity, and if you do not want to / cannot lay down the speakers, so the replacement has to be done „vertically”, the wrench operator, tightening the legs, must lay flattened on the floor like a frog run over by a truck.
The principle of operation of the FoB is as clear as it is logical after “surgery” of each foot, and is based on mechanical and magnetic decoupling of the speakers from the ground due to the rotating spike, integrated with the upper part of the body (it rests on a brass washer) and minimizing the contact area with the base of the speaker, a spring suspension and the cooperating system of seven strong neodymium magnets located above the steel cover of the spring chamber. In addition, the whole thing was equipped with a layer of rubber-like damping material based on polyterpenoids.

Moving on to the part devoted to the influence of the FoB on the sound of the above-mentioned AudioSolutions Figaro L2, I will immediately point out, that I did not assume anything before listening, I expected nothing and did not try to forecast any conclusions, because the photo session, as well as the paragraph devoted to their construction, clearly showed, that the number of components/variables in the tested feet is such, that it is impossible to unambiguously categorize them as representatives of devices that provide point contact with the ground, spring, magnetic, elastomeric damping, etc., because in fact we are dealing with a proprietary cocktail of all of the above solutions.
In short, Solid Tech Feet of Balance „sound” in their own way and do it … masterfully. Visiting me since last year’s edition of AVS, so far playing on standard cones and brass supports with felt pads, used to provide them with some kind of mobility, heavy Lithuanian speakers, after the change, showed their perhaps not completely new, but noticeably more attractive, at least from my – purely subjective point of view, face, manifested by the improvement of the resolution of the fully reproduced sound band and the precision of handling and differentiation of the lowest frequencies. As I already mentioned during their, I mean the loudspeakers, tests, even with the factory accessories, they „fitted” in my 24-sqare meter living room, but after replacing the hard cones with spring-magnetic Swedish feet, the whole thing became more precise and that without even the slightest sign of slimming down or drying out. As a result, not only was the „disappearance” of the speakers even more effective, but also the richness of the volume of information they conveyed was more legible. In addition, access to this wealth was open from surprisingly low volume levels, so even on symphonies („Mahler: Symphony No. 7” performed by the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Sir Simon Rattle) you did not have to shoot yourself in the ear with huge doses of decibels to try to guess whether you could already hear literally everything that was in the source material, or will you still have to reach for the remote control again. I am not saying that suddenly, as if by magic, Audio Solutions started to impersonate the Perlisten S7t, but the observed changes of the Figaro L2 directed a bit towards their cousins from Verona, although looking at these observations from the perspective of time, I would see the reason for that not so much in sharpening the very edges of the virtual sources, but in eliminating their barely noticeable serrations and the, previously present in the surrounding air and disturbing the clarity of the image, parasitic small, post-resonant artifacts. For example, on the extremely distant from audiophile models, but phenomenal in terms of music, dark and melancholic „The Light the Dead See” by Soulsavers, you can usually hear a dark, „making an atmosphere” background, occasionally illuminated by piano parts, guitar riffs or strings. Meanwhile, with the FoB, the bass, which had been glued together so far, suddenly showed that it is not a monotonous hum, but an area of extraordinary differentiation. Hitting the drum head is not one sound, but consists of several different ones, responsible for documenting the contact of the stick with the membrane, its deflection and return to the starting point after the drummer’s hand is withdrawn. On top of that, there is a greater expression of the vocal parts. As if Dave Gahan worked on the strength of his emission, got a better, more sensitive microphone, and someone sitting at the mixing table put a little more effort into it, thanks to which the harshness of the Depeche Mode frontman’s voice sounded more natural – as native, and not like granulation created at the mixing stage.
However, when it comes to bass reproduction, I decided that if the test is not going to be a shortcut, then the Swedish „suspension” should be treated with something as uncompromising as the almost 56% Bårelegs Battle Axe, in which smoky aromas are intertwined with the smell of iodine, tar and a smokehouse. Sounds intriguing? Well, that is why I did not fail to reach for the appropriate background music in the form of … „The Battle of Yaldabaoth” by Infant Annihilator with programmable drum parts, which probably could only be mastered by an octopus after getting schooled by Mike Portnoy, and injected intravenously with a hellishly strong espresso. And while earlier I had turned a blind eye to certain simplifications and the sticking of the blasts together, this time I got a full, conducted with truly mathematical precision, spectrum of mercilessly fired punctual series of blows treating my slightly fat body like a jackhammer necessary to remove the surface of a residential street. As if the Vitus team provided a mysterious upgrade to the 101, using wireless means and carried out in the background, without my, the user’s, knowledge, increasing the damping factor and doubling the power and current efficiency. Miracles, auditory hallucinations, or a manifestation of wishful thinking? Well, I would love to, but the effect of installing the FoB is as addictive as it excludes a return to the usual spikes/cones, and this despite the fact that the application of the Solid Tech Feet of Balance, which immediately stick to the floor, somehow automatically immobilized the AudioSolutions Figaro L2 permanently, so that not even „riding” them on the floor, but just moving them by a few/a dozen centimeters may be so laborious and annoying, if not impossible, that after the acrobatics related to the application and precise positioning of the speakers, I will try to minimize any changes in their position to an absolute minimum.

Reaching the shore, i.e. the end of today’s unexpectedly lengthy arguments, let me consider the Solid Tech Feet of Balance to be one of the most effective and at the same time universal accessories that an audiophile and music lover, aware of their beneficial impact on the sound of their system, could be interested in. Leaving aside the extremely positive, at least in my purely subjective opinion, sonic aspect, which practically completely makes the speakers independent of the usually destructive influence of the ground, through the possibility of similar decoupling of the rack with a myriad of combinations depending on the load (the load capacity of the feet can decrease/increase with the changing hardware configuration), everything points to the fact that the FoB are the proverbial one-way ticket. It is extremely difficult for me to imagine a situation, where anyone with a properly functioning sense of hearing and at the same time not showing strictly masochistic tendencies, after using them, would honestly say that the game is not worth it, or the sound without these feet is better. That is, he may like it more/less, because tastes are not open for discussion, although on the other hand, facts are also discussed, and these irrefutably prove that Solid Tech knows exactly what it does and does it great.

Marcin Olszewski

System used in this test:
– CD/DAC: Vitus SCD-025mkII + 2 x Quantum Science Audio (QSA) Blue Fuse
– Network player: Lumïn U2 Mini + Farad Super3 + Omicron Magic Dream Classic; I-O Data Soundgenic HDL-RA4TB
– Turntable: Denon DP-3000NE + Denon DL-103R
– Phonostage: Tellurium Q Iridium MM/MC Phono Pre Amp
– Digital source selector: Audio Authority 1177
– Integrated amplifier: Vitus Audio RI-101 MkII + Quantum Science Audio (QSA) Violet fuse
– Loudspeakers: Dynaudio Contour 30 + Brass Spike Receptacle Acoustic Revive SPU-8 + Base Audio Quartz platforms; AudioSolutions Figaro L2
– IC RCA: Furutech FA-13S; phono NEO d+ RCA Class B Stereo + Ground (1m)
– IC XLR: Organic Audio; Vermöuth Audio Reference; Furutech DAS-4.1
– Digital IC: Fadel art DigiLitz; Harmonic Technology Cyberlink Copper; Apogee Wyde Eye; Monster Cable Interlink LightSpeed 200
– USB cables: Wireworld Starlight; Vermöuth Audio Reference USB; ZenSati Zorro
– Speaker cables: WK Audio TheRay Speakers + SHUBI Custom Acoustic Stands MMS-1
– Power cables: Furutech FP-3TS762 / FI-28R / FI-E38R; Organic Audio Power + Furutech CF-080 Damping Ring; Acoustic Zen Gargantua II; Furutech Nanoflux Power NCF; Esprit Audio Alpha
– Power distribution board: Furutech e-TP60ER + Furutech FP-3TS762 / Fi-50 NCF(R) /FI-50M NCF(R)
– Wall power socket: Furutech FT-SWS(R)
– Switch: Quantum Science Audio (QSA) Red + Silent Angel S28 + Farad Super6 + Farad DC Level 2 copper cable
– Ethernet cables: In-akustik CAT6 Premium II; Audiomica Laboratory Anort Consequence, Artoc Ultra Reference, Arago Excellence; Furutech LAN-8 NCF; Next Level Tech NxLT Lan Flame
– Anti-vibration platform: Franc Audio Accessories Wood Block Slim Platform
– Table: Solid Tech Radius Duo 3
– Acoustic panels: Vicoustic Flat Panels VMT

Polish distributor: Premium Sound
Manufacturer: Solid Tech
Price: 2 749 / 4 pcs.

Specifications
Dimentions (Diameter x H): 65 x 53 mm
Weight: 1,5 kg
Load of the set 4 pcs.: Max 10-180kg
Including in package: 4 isolators; 4 adapter screws in selected thread size; 16 Medium density springs; 16 high density springs (already installed in the isolators); 20 High density + springs; 1 unit Hex key

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