A long story

Dear reader,

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You came across this report because, like me, you dream of the perfect illusion in music playback. You are constantly looking for further improvements to your music chain and have already tried and invested a lot.

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In 2013, when I was at a nearby stonemason company with slate plates to solve resonance and decoupling problems when setting up my loudspeakers in my small but fine music room, there was a certain Mr. Schlipper from Subbase Audio standing next to me. Subbase Audio obtains intermediate products for the device bases Echo LS and Composant S. After a brief conversation, I decided that the simple solution I was striving for was good enough and, above all, inexpensive, with a slate plate with direct contact between loudspeaker and floor.

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About 1 year later, my music room, which had not been renovated for 10 years, was to be furnished much more beautifully. The thoroughly excellent Finite Element Spider Rack was on the hit list due to the tangled cabling of many components such as CD players, turntables, phono preamps, preamp and two power amplifiers (not including digital components) and the associated installation problems on the rack's cross struts. But what to do as a replacement that should also be halfway affordable?

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The company Subbase Audio appears again: This time I'm visiting Mr. Schlipper and admiring the prototype of the Shambala Lowboard - visually and acoustically a treat. Everything sounds right somehow: The positioning of the musicians in the room, the homogeneity of the entire image, the flow in the music. A cross-check in my local, absolutely veritable chain (either a transistor chain from Brinkmann or a solid tube chain from Brocksieper) disappoints me. Something has to happen here. Another few months go by and I'm struggling to order the Shambala Lowboard, as a kind of Christmas present to myself.

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Mr. Schlipper is personally present at the delivery and meticulously sets everything up, rearranges cables, positions the loudspeakers with millimetre accuracy (yes, and he adjusts the loudspeaker chassis screws with a finely sophisticated torque). The sun is rising: The lowboard looks amazing, my wife is delighted and more importantly: We don't believe our ears, the music starts to flow.

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Without asking, Mr. Schlipper brings a few Echo LS test bases with Ebony LS feet, which should decouple from the stone floor under my beloved Brocksieper Arabesque loudspeakers. My preamplifier is mounted on a Composant S base with built-in HMS Silenzio EMC absorption unit. It looks chic, no question about it. But does this “voodoo stuff” also have a positive effect on the ears? I am amazed at the increase in spatial information, detail resolution, image sharpness and overall audibility of my favorite CDs and vinyl records that I use over and over again. After a few hours of patient voting, Mr. Schlipper leaves the bases behind on loan.

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I listen through my music collection for days and feel like I'm kind of in the audio irvana, both acoustically and visually. That's how I always wanted to listen to music - despite my assumption that I fell prey to voodoo magic. After all, I am an electrical engineer and must be able to explain everything purely logically and physically. And what Mr. Schlipper provides as an explanation sounds somewhat esoteric in parts and leaves me skeptical.

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A few weeks later, Mr. Schlipper picks up the test bases again: What a disillusionment - the music performance is losing depth again, sounds potty and the flow is somehow restricted. A psychoacoustic delusion? So listen to all the favorite tracks again: The decision has been made whether voodoo or not, I want the bases - quickly. So the Echo LS, Ebony LS and Composant S moved in permanently with me.

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In the meantime, my Brinkmann Bardo has moved from the HRS base touted in many places to a Composant S and enjoys a significantly purified and even more precise sound. I am happy even though my bank advisor thinks I should pay more attention to the balance between income and expenditure. I counter and say: For the first time, I'm completely satisfied with my music chain, which saves a lot of swapping electrical components in the long term. I am elevating the Subbase products to component status.

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Dear seekers, I can recommend Subbase products when it comes to extracting the full potential of the chains we all love. I also agree with the observations made by other Subbase Audio customers. I was able to understand this for myself personally. It was worth the trip for me. Admittedly, the question will always remain how much you want to invest in setting up your system versus the (electronic) components. In any case, my overall result is fantastic: Harry Belafonte is on stage in Carnegie Hall and my wife and I sink into the illusion of being there - live in 1959. But voodoo?

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Epilogue: I'm lucky that Subbase Audio is virtually “around the corner.”

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As a result, further visits have taken place by Mr. Schlipper and my system can serve as a test candidate for room acoustic elements, Refine LF cables, the new record clamp. You can be excited...

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‍PGI from Meerbusch