Tried them on slate roof tiles first, to move them around as part of positioning. They sounded ok on those, but a bit sluggish- and the surface isn’t exactly flat.
Then I spiked them through the thick carpet and underlay onto the concrete floor. The underside of the base cabinet touched the carpet and the sound was really dead. To get the speakers fully clear of the carpet would require them to be on very long spikes, which I think will be detrimental to the sound.
They are now on 10mm toughened glass shelves. These sound very clear and really good, but a tad bright in the treble.
I am considering:
thicker glass shelves to keep the clarity and flatness of the surface, but tone down the brightness?
marble slabs?
thick ceramic tiles of some sort?
aluminium plate?
Any helpful ideas would be welcomed.
Esp if anyone has used aluminium plate and knows what thickness might work, etc.
How thick is your carpet and underlay? It must be extremely deep to not have any clearance with the standard SL2 spikes.
TBH you’d probably be better using longer spikes and having them on the concrete floor than have the SL2s “floating” on anything on top of that thick carpet.
I have a treasured pair of Adored SL2’s.
I use double stacked Mana Sound Bases, stop a Mana Sound Fraim… under each SL2.
From Top-end, through Mids to Bottom end I achieve a well ballaned awesomely Dynamic live-like Sound. Take your time in enduring the Manas are perfectly well set up and level.
Ensure speaker base is 100% level using bubble level the type used to set up say a Linn Sondek.
Ensure SL2 tweeters are placed in perfect symmetry of space around their slot within the speaker enclosure ^^ as well as dead level with the faceplate.
Then tighten screws at the bottom of tweeter support fraims. Recheck tweeter positions is perfect.
Place speakers as close to rear wall as is possible and incrementally move away from wall untill you hit the sweet spot of your listening room. You know you have when Top End. Mids and bottom are equal in presentation… Trust Your Ears!!
John Watsons last words:
“Here we are advising the enthusiast that rather than junk their kit for the latest Mk2 or next years Mk3 model, to instead place it on one of our supports and squeeze the last bit of latent performance out of it and only then if they still feel inclined to buy the latest model.” I have to agree with him
They are awesome Similar effect to Mana Sound Bases/ Sound Frames, Better or Not?
Not for me to say^^
Soundsupports Appears to have nothing to do with John Watson, so one assumes he sold the rights.
Hope you find all helpful in getting you SL2’s Sounding as fab as Mine. They are my first and last Love as Nothing Does what they Do to my Ears, right from the get go I Experienxed Naim’s Demo in Bristol all those years ago… That was it for Me!
I am still in Love according to My Ears.
@ Aht^^
One only gets what one pays for.
I too love what the Silent Mounts do…
All versions of them are superb!!
It’s just a matter of time b4 I get a set for my Mana Sound Bases to sit on…
Obviously the SM7 as under the various Speakers I have had the pleasure of them demoed under SQ was dramatically Improved across the entire Frequency Range
As silent mounts are made of stainless steel, a cheaper alternative would be a stainless steel slab, maybe 1 cm.
Probably not so effective, but 10 times less expensive.
The silent mounts cost 800 GBP ( 8 items).
Dont forget there is brass n nickle part thereof too.
Chord tried to get em made here in the UK but suffice for their intended manufacturer trying at great lengths… Their efforts failed…
I am sure the silent mounts are better than a single stainless steal slab.
My goal was absolutely not to criticize the silent mounts…
I use similar costly items under my speakers ( finite elemente cerabases).
But for not expensive cost, a stainless steel slab is working
good already, better than the floor or carpet.
I feel Jimdog doesn’t want to pay such money now, as near 1k to isolate his speakers…
And personally, if I had to choose something today under speakers, I would compare first isoacoustics Gaia, finite elemente and silent mounts. And choose the best for my tastes.
Would I cut 8 slits in the carpet, cut 8 circular holes in the underlay and remove them, and insert 8 Silent Mount discs into the circular holes, and put them on the 8 felt pads, and rest the eight SL2 spikes on these?
Do your Chord Company Silent Mounts rest on carpet with the felt pads?
Or on a hard floor with felt pads?
Or other?
Are these just a different version of Fraim Chips, but handmade in Japan (by elves)?
You recommend the 70mm steel ones, but why not the 50mm titanium ones which will support up to 50 Kilos?
(Although elsewhere Chord describe the titanium ones as: “50mm titanium spike mounts for lightweight racks and components.”)??
Jim
From the Chord website: “The felt pad has been specifically chosen to minimise any vibration between the Silent Mount and the floor and will ensure that you get the best performance. If the silent Mount is being used on a carpeted floor the Felt pads should not be fitted. Each Silent Mount SMF5 titanium isolation mount will support up to 50 Kilos in weight.”
The Silent Mounts were originally designed for use on tatami mats in Japan, which are quite thick and forgiving when you sit or stand on them. The recommendation is to use them directly on top of carpeting, not to cut holes. Felt pads are only for protecting delicate flooring, and are not generally recommended. I have them on top of thin straw matting, which is on a solid concrete floor. Here is a picture of the back of the box that gives various details in one place, unlike the Chord Co. website. Hope it is legible! The titanium model is said to be great for racks, but not speakers, where they provide a lot of detail but an “unmusical sound.” I also recommend checking out the Cymbiosis website for more context.
Given that they were to use existing Fraim parts I wonder if we could find a way to have them made now. It might be something James @tomtomaudio could be interested in if there was enough SL2 user support for it… It looks like the machining element would be the veneer base board.
Jim, i am not an expert on SL2’s, but a few years back i lived in a house with carpet in my listening room. At that time i tried various spikes with various speakers, in the end i settled on Taksim Reference 3A’s, which are BIG speakers. I bought two granite layout tables to sit my speakers on, i am a machinist, so familiar to me. They cost $100 dollars Canadian each, weigh 150 pounds each, and are 3" thick and 18"x 24" width and length. When the speakers sit on them they do not rock or sway at all, since they are so big and heavy. Sounded great too, damn i should of kept those speakers.
