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An amplifier placed on the Finite Elemente platform with the resonators on the output transformers sounded a little quieter. Not by much. A 1-2dB correction was sufficient to even out the subjective sound level but the change was quite clear due to a further modification. The sound seemed a little smaller, the soundstage narrower. That’s why for a while I missed something that'd been there before. After moving the amplifier back to my rack, Sinatra's vocals seemed to grow larger. Putting it back on the Pagode and the voice shrunk again. The same happened with the instruments on a Daft Punk album and the saxophone and bass on the Salzau… disc.
It was the latter purist recording which eventually showed me what was really going on. Then I heard it over and over to wonder why I couldn't hear it earlier. The problems were blurred transients and insufficient definition. Raising the volume by 1dB restored the instrumental sizes with far better organization. The differences were more interesting richer textures and clearer bodies. The sound was more full-bodied and transparent at the same time. The instruments were not emphasized at the top and actually had a little less treble energy yet were better defined not only with clearer attacks but also deeper richness which felt more accurately anchored below the surface.
The same happened with soundstaging. The impressively vast soundstage on The Modern Jazz Quartet's Pyramid—resulting from a simultaneous capture of all instruments by fairly close mics, i.e. not spot microphones—narrowed with Finite Elemente. Or so I thought. I listened to the first track again, then once more and once more again. Apparently the Finite Elemente 'preferred' the sounds reaching the microphone directly. All others were conveyed just as well but due to the relatively higher level of the former moved into the background. Now I better understood the choices of the sound engineers who'd worked on the album. Earlier I'd wondered why they needed such an unnaturally inflated soundstage. Now the cymbal crashes were better defined and the sound had overall improved definition and better body. I think that previously a part of the apparent space was in fact noise - a kind of dither related to a disturbance of the sound field. The Finite Elemente calmed it down.
Conclusion. This German anti-vibration system is outstanding. It does not alter the sound in the sense that colors with and without it remain the same. The real change doesn't manifest in certain surface effects but on a more fundamental structural level. The improved definition and transparency without any diminishment of richness cover the entire audible spectrum and not just selected bands. It’s an overall even effect without prejudice. After this kind of experience we begin to look for other things we can improve in our system. We begin to think. And that's exactly what separates us from the barbarians with their zealous opinions but zero experience. Hallelujah!
These Finite Elemente products—Pagode Edition platform, CeraBall Compact feet and two resonators 1000Hz—were reviewed as a complete system. The platform sat on the floor in front of my equipment rack. The resonators huddled on the metal covers of the amplifier’s output transformers. The test was a repeat A/B/A comparison with A and B known. Since the Pagode did not fit on the top of my Base rack, comparing it to the bare rack shelf was one comparison. The other placed the amp directly on the floor rather than my rack. Given that the changes to the sound with the German system were very similar and differed only in intensity, I discussed them as one. Sample tracks had the length of 1 min. and as such were shorter than usual but allowed me to make more swaps before fatigue set in.
