K. Doms - Subbase Echo Composant

Not a report about the loudspeaker bases, but about the Subbase écho composant equipment bases, which I have been using for a few weeks now as tailor-made stands for Tidal Preos preamps and Tidal Impact power amplifiers. Background: For several years now, a Finite Element Spider Rack has been serving me, which I appreciate not only because of its wide range of design options, but also because it “plays” as it looks: not there at all, There is almost nothing to play with... Almost, because there is still an interface to the devices and one to the ground, and thus the possibility of capturing resonances, “noise”, contamination of an otherwise good display. With the ascent into the Ultra-Fi Tidal world, this should be avoided. However, it had to be set high, very high. So let SRA Ohio Class make bases, as they did for the CD player? For these to function ideally, however, the exact weight distribution of the devices must be known with SRA, which is not the case with these amplifiers. Risk of financial bloodletting for a sub-optimal result? One or the other well-known brand, on the other hand, offered again... definitely too little for definitely too much money. Has it ever happened to you that you unexpectedly end up on a hitherto unknown website and a product literally screams at you: “You were looking for me”? That's what happened to me at www.subbaseaudio.de. There they were, the tailor-made products but without the extreme dependence of SRAs, instead of marketing language, content explanations that seemed intuitively correct, photos that promised perfect, precise craftsmanship, and prices that seemed surprisingly “friendly.” Sure, without trial, a leap of faith was required. Well, to get ahead of me, it was justified. And now that I know the product, I describe the prices as very cheap (Mr. Schlipper, please don't change!) By the way, I found the interim reports on the status of completion to be icing on the cake of customer friendliness. Visually and haptically, the bases keep all promises. The black glossy frame matches the external appearance of the Tidals perfectly, also because the workmanship is of the same highest caliber. The slate inlays are cut by master craftsmen (did a Japanese swordsmith change the profession here?). The knock test, whether on frame or slate, results in a dust-dry “tok” and dead silence with everything on it. The knock test on the device also only produces a single short sound and otherwise silence. The best predictions for a successful symbiosis of coupling and decoupling and the destruction of resonances in the inner material layers of the base (not revealed by its inventor, of course). The sound: We don't need to talk about the sound of the bases, of course they don't have it. The plant, that is. The aim should not be to “tune” sound characteristics, but to free the playback from clutter. Depending on the existing environment, these may be significant or subtle restrictions, which only become apparent after you have actually heard the music in its “cleaned” version. Restrictions, which, however, can then be felt so annoying that one can speak of a significant improvement of an actually already great musical presentation. Something like the big wine that has always been big, drunk from the right glass, free of any traces of foreign odors, but appears in all its uniqueness. And yes, thanks to Subbase Écho, I'm listening even more naturally today and can say with even more vehemence that Tidal electronics, like loudspeakers, are at the pinnacle of what's possible today. You review the variety of records and CDs that you like to take with you to rehearsal. The brutal dynamics at the beginning of Rodrigo y Gabriela's CD of the same name, the complex layers of fine bells to electronic sub-bass (I couldn't leave them alone; ^)) on Panta du Prince's “Black Noise”, the finger acrobatics and exuberant playing pleasure on Antonio Forcione's “Live! “, Paolo Fresu's most delicate breathing noises on “Chiaroscuro” (Ralph Towner & Paolo Fresu), the fine dynamics of David Sylvian's hypnotically fragile voice on “Cartography” (Arve Henriksen), the frighteningly dense, ever louder sound tapestry on DEU's “Pocket Revolution”, Markus Schirmer's phenomenal keystroke on “Pictures of an Exhibition” (Mussorgsky) or Alice Sara Ott's dizzying virtuosity on “Etudes d'exécution transcendante” (Liszt), etc. Everyone knows their own examples, or... just doesn't know them because they have so far more or be smeared less noticeably. Clarity, precision, speed, overview in the wildest hustle and bustle of sound, always maintaining the musical flow; if electronics and loudspeakers can reproduce this, then Subbase will ensure that they are not denied it due to external resonances. Bravo!