Jerome W
Active member
- Thread Author
- #1
Hello folks,
2 weeks ago, Vladek, the boss of Pro Audio Bono sent to me his new high end Anti Vibration Feet (AVF): the PAB ceramic 5.
Ceramic because opposite to the previous designs, the bearings are now made of ceramic. 5 for the fifth anniversary of the company.
I received in a beautiful box, 2 kind of feet, packaged like precious jewels. They are indeed pretty expensive. I will detail that later.
One set of 3 feet are made in a brass housing, that can be painted in various colors(the ones I got are ivory). The bearing is embedded in an acrylic insert. They are the ones called « Brass » :
The other 3 feet set is made of a very dense and heavy nickel-manganese alloy. They are called the « Nickel » ones. Their ceramic bearings are mounted directly in the material.
Shown here next to a black Brass footer :
All my electronics are decoupled by standard plywood PAB platforms with brass AVF feet. And just underneath each component, I use 3 PAB lignofol AVF.
The Lignofol footer looks like this :
Yes, that is serious isolation. A standard platform costs about 500 euros. Add the 4 brass AVF feet for the platform – 300 euros. And 3 lignofol feet – 210 euros. Lignofol is called « Panzerholz » in Germany and it is used by a very high end speaker german company, Kaiser Acoustics, to build their cabinets. Lignofol (Polish trade mark) is the most dense plywood ever made.
That's about a total of 1000 euros for each component: DAC, preamp, power amps. I proceeded step by step in the PAB hierarchy and each step proved to be very beneficial.
Could seem expensive for many people, while Symposium, SRA, StillPoints and so on have much more expensive devices.
Listening :
So, how do the new PAB ceramic 5 feet sound? In 2 words: Absolutely Fantastic.
I tried the Brass and the Nickel feet under each component.
Here is a pic of my preamp with the Brass footers :
And here is a pic of the Nagra MSA power amp resting on the Nickel-Manganese feet :
First listening to a few tunes with my Lignofol feet, then removing the Lignofol and using the Brass feet, then removing the Brass and using the Nickel feet. This lasted a full week. Then, I went back by replacing the Nickel by Brass and replacing Brass to get back to my original set up with Lignofol. This allowed me to really characterize the effects of each footer and I can now recognize them blindly. We made the test with my wife. She inserted the 3 different feet in a random sequence. I listened to the same tune, 3 times, with 3 different feet. At the end, I was able to find the right sequence: first time, they were the Brass ones, second time the Lignofol, third time the Nickel ones!
I used mainly 2 records for the serious listening, while still listening to various other tunes but not with great attention.
Nils Lofgren – Acoustic Live. Mostly « Keith don't go » and « Wonderland » And Eric Bibb : An evening with Eric Bibb. Mostly « Shingle by Shingle » but also « Good Stuff » and « Sebastian's Tune ».
I also used the tune « Some Kind of Ride » from the Grace Potter and the Nocturnals 's « Nothing but the Water » album.
I like those because they are very well recorded, with a large dynamic range although not as large as a symphonic orchestra, but easier to spot. They also are very rich in various harmonics. The voices both have a very particular and precise shape and texture. The overall definition of both recordings is superb. The finesse of the strings vibrations, the reverberation, the stereo image – you can hear these recordings hundreds of times and still enjoy their very intense richness.
I first tried the various feet under the AMR DP-777 Dac (tubes), then I tried them under the Shindo Giscours preamp (tubes), and lastly I tried them under the Nagra MSA amplifier (solid state). The effects described apply to all components, with the same magnitude. This was a revelation to me. Each component reacted to different isolation with the same effects, no matter if they were tubes or SS based.
And while they were already resting on stunning decoupling platforms.
On « Some kind of ride » by Grace Potter, the effects when inserting the Brass feet after the Lignofol listening are striking just after a few seconds. The bass notes are more defined and dynamic. The voice of Grace Potter appears more « separated » from the instruments. It is cleaner and more defined. The guitar notes are also more sharp and exciting. Moreover, you get the feeling that the volume increased by about 10%. This is a very amazing effect that I never experienced before with isolation products. Probably because of richer silences between the notes, an increase in dynamics.
When inserting the Nickel alloy feet, there is an increase again in dynamics, but to a lesser extent that what happens between the Lignofol and the Brass feet. But what really changes is the attack, the speed. Like if the motor of the system changed for a Turbo. Absolutely stunning. The Nickel feet make the sound clearly colder than the Brass ones. The bass is a bit leaner but mostly its definition and impacts get to an other level. Both of these changes are beneficial to my Harbeth 40.1 speakers. They could be a bit too much of a good thing with colder speakers like Wilson, BW, Magico ... .
Actually the spectrum seems to extend at both extremes with the Nickel feet. The highs being crispier and higher and the bass notes being lower and deeper.
I did not notice significant changes in the stereo image on this tune.
On the Eric Bibb album, the effects were very similar. The reverberation of Eric's voice in the introduction is better rendered with the ceramic feet compared to the steel bearings Lignofol feet. The dimensions of the hall of the event appears more obviously. On Shingle by Shingle, just after the words “I thank God the day ...” there is a bass crescendo. The first notes start lower with the ceramic feet. The Nickel ones being once again deeper and more resolved. On this recording there is a light effect on the stereo image. The bass guitar is centered with the Lignofol feet. With the PAB ceramic 5, the bass is more on the right, giving a better balance with the voice of Eric on the left.
On the Nils Lofgren album, going from the Lignofol feet to the PAB ceramic 5 ones is just like changing the electronics for better ones or changing the speakers for ones with a much higher resolution. On this recording, the effects are truly striking. By comparison, going from a standard budget IC to a Wire World Silver Eclipse produces tiny changes. The quality level of the whole system gets on a complete different stage. The strings become incredibly defined. The sound is much more involving, exciting, foot taping while getting ultra refined. I get the bloom, the meat on the bone, the naturalness of the Harbeth with the speed and delicacy of Verity Audio.
Now an even more striking effect is when 2 components out of 3 get ceramic feet. Dac and power amp for example. Or Preamp and Power amp. There is a summation happening and the change in the sound of the system becomes unbelievable. It is very hard after that to remove the PAB ceramic 5 feet and get back to the Lignofol steel bearings.
But clearly for my system and room the absolute winner is the Nickel-Manganese footer :
In some other "colder"systems, the warmer sound of the Brass feet will be more suited. It really depends on how you want to balance the sound of your system.
The “bad” news is the price of these feet.
A set of 3 Lignofol steel bearing will cost you about 210 euros.
A set of 3 Brass ceramic 5 will cost 420 euros. A set of 3 Nickel-Manganese ceramic feet will cost 750 euros. Actually my most sincere opinion is that they all worth their price tag. Of course, you won't put the Nickel-Manganese feet under a 1000 euros preamp. But if your preamp costs much more, then those feet will just let you enjoy fully what your gear can do.
Moreover, you have to know that the manufacturing costs of these feet are extremely high, even in Poland. Vladek is extremely transparent about that. This is what he told me about the nickel-manganese alloy :
“ This is not steel, but very expensive nickel-manganese alloy. It costs 75 EUR/kg (three feet consumes 2 kg of the alloy). Making 1 foot of this metal on CNC costs EUR 50, and the self-aligning ceramic bearing - 65 EUR. Total cost of making a nickel alloy bead will be ca. 160 EUR, so its price (with shipping) – 260 EUR.”
For the ones interested in technical details about these ceramic bearings, here are some informations again given by Vladek :
“In contrast to the previously generated feet with steel roller bearings in the new footers uses ceramic bearings. These are very precise bearing German FAG-Schaeffler, in which the balls and the rings are constructed from a hard sintered – zirconia or silicon nitride. The elements of these agglomerates have a hardness of a few dozen times higher than steel, and at the same time are lighter than steel. As a result, the bearings made from them are incomparably better rolling performance and greater durability. Ceramic bearings require no lubrication too, and if you are covered – even cleaning.
The various advantages of ceramic bearings, but they cost a lot. For branded ceramic bearing with us you have to pay 60-90 EUR, depending on from which ceramic materials is done, what are the dimensions and type (normal, self-aligning).
Another innovation in PAB ceramic 5 is the design of the housing. It consists of several materials - metal alloys, pure metals and acrylic, shaped on CNC milling machines. As a result, these feet eliminate or suppress vibrations of different frequencies, so they are more effective than previously manufactured. The manufacturer offers two types of PAB ceramic 5 footers that are based on the same ceramic roller bearings, self-aligning (self leveling) and have an identical design. But different kind of bearing housings:
1. The bearing housing is made from very expensive nickel alloys, used in precision machine tool industry. These nickel alloys are very difficult to process and therefore processing costs, in particular very accurate, are high
2. The outer casing is made of brass, bronze or aluminum, and the rolling bearing is embedded in another material – acrylic or lignofol.
Enclosures feet of the first type are not painted, but polished. Nickel alloys are in fact highly resistant to corrosion. So there is no sense for them to protect the surface, the more that could impair the excellent insulating properties of these elements instituted. Enclosures second kind are powder-coated high-class type of anodic paints Du Pont.
I should add that the PAB ceramic 5 fundamentally different structurally from vibration footers based on ceramic beads. In footers on ceramic balls equipment "stands" on the beads, while the footers PAB – "hanging" on balls rolling bearings, respectively mounted in a housing made of metal, acrylic (innovation is reported in the Polish Patent Office as an invention, where expected patent). Thanks to the possibility of precipitating the mechanical energy from the ambient vibration is larger, and therefore insulating properties – better.”
I was converted to very serious isolation before receiving these feet. Now I am fully addicted. I am ordering the Nickel-Manganese feet for all my gear and I am seriously thinking about them to replace my 8 acrilyc PAB feet for my Skylan stands for the Harbeth.
2 weeks ago, Vladek, the boss of Pro Audio Bono sent to me his new high end Anti Vibration Feet (AVF): the PAB ceramic 5.
Ceramic because opposite to the previous designs, the bearings are now made of ceramic. 5 for the fifth anniversary of the company.
I received in a beautiful box, 2 kind of feet, packaged like precious jewels. They are indeed pretty expensive. I will detail that later.
One set of 3 feet are made in a brass housing, that can be painted in various colors(the ones I got are ivory). The bearing is embedded in an acrylic insert. They are the ones called « Brass » :
The other 3 feet set is made of a very dense and heavy nickel-manganese alloy. They are called the « Nickel » ones. Their ceramic bearings are mounted directly in the material.
Shown here next to a black Brass footer :
All my electronics are decoupled by standard plywood PAB platforms with brass AVF feet. And just underneath each component, I use 3 PAB lignofol AVF.
The Lignofol footer looks like this :
Yes, that is serious isolation. A standard platform costs about 500 euros. Add the 4 brass AVF feet for the platform – 300 euros. And 3 lignofol feet – 210 euros. Lignofol is called « Panzerholz » in Germany and it is used by a very high end speaker german company, Kaiser Acoustics, to build their cabinets. Lignofol (Polish trade mark) is the most dense plywood ever made.
That's about a total of 1000 euros for each component: DAC, preamp, power amps. I proceeded step by step in the PAB hierarchy and each step proved to be very beneficial.
Could seem expensive for many people, while Symposium, SRA, StillPoints and so on have much more expensive devices.
Listening :
So, how do the new PAB ceramic 5 feet sound? In 2 words: Absolutely Fantastic.
I tried the Brass and the Nickel feet under each component.
Here is a pic of my preamp with the Brass footers :
And here is a pic of the Nagra MSA power amp resting on the Nickel-Manganese feet :
First listening to a few tunes with my Lignofol feet, then removing the Lignofol and using the Brass feet, then removing the Brass and using the Nickel feet. This lasted a full week. Then, I went back by replacing the Nickel by Brass and replacing Brass to get back to my original set up with Lignofol. This allowed me to really characterize the effects of each footer and I can now recognize them blindly. We made the test with my wife. She inserted the 3 different feet in a random sequence. I listened to the same tune, 3 times, with 3 different feet. At the end, I was able to find the right sequence: first time, they were the Brass ones, second time the Lignofol, third time the Nickel ones!
I used mainly 2 records for the serious listening, while still listening to various other tunes but not with great attention.
Nils Lofgren – Acoustic Live. Mostly « Keith don't go » and « Wonderland » And Eric Bibb : An evening with Eric Bibb. Mostly « Shingle by Shingle » but also « Good Stuff » and « Sebastian's Tune ».
I also used the tune « Some Kind of Ride » from the Grace Potter and the Nocturnals 's « Nothing but the Water » album.
I like those because they are very well recorded, with a large dynamic range although not as large as a symphonic orchestra, but easier to spot. They also are very rich in various harmonics. The voices both have a very particular and precise shape and texture. The overall definition of both recordings is superb. The finesse of the strings vibrations, the reverberation, the stereo image – you can hear these recordings hundreds of times and still enjoy their very intense richness.
I first tried the various feet under the AMR DP-777 Dac (tubes), then I tried them under the Shindo Giscours preamp (tubes), and lastly I tried them under the Nagra MSA amplifier (solid state). The effects described apply to all components, with the same magnitude. This was a revelation to me. Each component reacted to different isolation with the same effects, no matter if they were tubes or SS based.
And while they were already resting on stunning decoupling platforms.
On « Some kind of ride » by Grace Potter, the effects when inserting the Brass feet after the Lignofol listening are striking just after a few seconds. The bass notes are more defined and dynamic. The voice of Grace Potter appears more « separated » from the instruments. It is cleaner and more defined. The guitar notes are also more sharp and exciting. Moreover, you get the feeling that the volume increased by about 10%. This is a very amazing effect that I never experienced before with isolation products. Probably because of richer silences between the notes, an increase in dynamics.
When inserting the Nickel alloy feet, there is an increase again in dynamics, but to a lesser extent that what happens between the Lignofol and the Brass feet. But what really changes is the attack, the speed. Like if the motor of the system changed for a Turbo. Absolutely stunning. The Nickel feet make the sound clearly colder than the Brass ones. The bass is a bit leaner but mostly its definition and impacts get to an other level. Both of these changes are beneficial to my Harbeth 40.1 speakers. They could be a bit too much of a good thing with colder speakers like Wilson, BW, Magico ... .
Actually the spectrum seems to extend at both extremes with the Nickel feet. The highs being crispier and higher and the bass notes being lower and deeper.
I did not notice significant changes in the stereo image on this tune.
On the Eric Bibb album, the effects were very similar. The reverberation of Eric's voice in the introduction is better rendered with the ceramic feet compared to the steel bearings Lignofol feet. The dimensions of the hall of the event appears more obviously. On Shingle by Shingle, just after the words “I thank God the day ...” there is a bass crescendo. The first notes start lower with the ceramic feet. The Nickel ones being once again deeper and more resolved. On this recording there is a light effect on the stereo image. The bass guitar is centered with the Lignofol feet. With the PAB ceramic 5, the bass is more on the right, giving a better balance with the voice of Eric on the left.
On the Nils Lofgren album, going from the Lignofol feet to the PAB ceramic 5 ones is just like changing the electronics for better ones or changing the speakers for ones with a much higher resolution. On this recording, the effects are truly striking. By comparison, going from a standard budget IC to a Wire World Silver Eclipse produces tiny changes. The quality level of the whole system gets on a complete different stage. The strings become incredibly defined. The sound is much more involving, exciting, foot taping while getting ultra refined. I get the bloom, the meat on the bone, the naturalness of the Harbeth with the speed and delicacy of Verity Audio.
Now an even more striking effect is when 2 components out of 3 get ceramic feet. Dac and power amp for example. Or Preamp and Power amp. There is a summation happening and the change in the sound of the system becomes unbelievable. It is very hard after that to remove the PAB ceramic 5 feet and get back to the Lignofol steel bearings.
But clearly for my system and room the absolute winner is the Nickel-Manganese footer :
In some other "colder"systems, the warmer sound of the Brass feet will be more suited. It really depends on how you want to balance the sound of your system.
The “bad” news is the price of these feet.
A set of 3 Lignofol steel bearing will cost you about 210 euros.
A set of 3 Brass ceramic 5 will cost 420 euros. A set of 3 Nickel-Manganese ceramic feet will cost 750 euros. Actually my most sincere opinion is that they all worth their price tag. Of course, you won't put the Nickel-Manganese feet under a 1000 euros preamp. But if your preamp costs much more, then those feet will just let you enjoy fully what your gear can do.
Moreover, you have to know that the manufacturing costs of these feet are extremely high, even in Poland. Vladek is extremely transparent about that. This is what he told me about the nickel-manganese alloy :
“ This is not steel, but very expensive nickel-manganese alloy. It costs 75 EUR/kg (three feet consumes 2 kg of the alloy). Making 1 foot of this metal on CNC costs EUR 50, and the self-aligning ceramic bearing - 65 EUR. Total cost of making a nickel alloy bead will be ca. 160 EUR, so its price (with shipping) – 260 EUR.”
For the ones interested in technical details about these ceramic bearings, here are some informations again given by Vladek :
“In contrast to the previously generated feet with steel roller bearings in the new footers uses ceramic bearings. These are very precise bearing German FAG-Schaeffler, in which the balls and the rings are constructed from a hard sintered – zirconia or silicon nitride. The elements of these agglomerates have a hardness of a few dozen times higher than steel, and at the same time are lighter than steel. As a result, the bearings made from them are incomparably better rolling performance and greater durability. Ceramic bearings require no lubrication too, and if you are covered – even cleaning.
The various advantages of ceramic bearings, but they cost a lot. For branded ceramic bearing with us you have to pay 60-90 EUR, depending on from which ceramic materials is done, what are the dimensions and type (normal, self-aligning).
Another innovation in PAB ceramic 5 is the design of the housing. It consists of several materials - metal alloys, pure metals and acrylic, shaped on CNC milling machines. As a result, these feet eliminate or suppress vibrations of different frequencies, so they are more effective than previously manufactured. The manufacturer offers two types of PAB ceramic 5 footers that are based on the same ceramic roller bearings, self-aligning (self leveling) and have an identical design. But different kind of bearing housings:
1. The bearing housing is made from very expensive nickel alloys, used in precision machine tool industry. These nickel alloys are very difficult to process and therefore processing costs, in particular very accurate, are high
2. The outer casing is made of brass, bronze or aluminum, and the rolling bearing is embedded in another material – acrylic or lignofol.
Enclosures feet of the first type are not painted, but polished. Nickel alloys are in fact highly resistant to corrosion. So there is no sense for them to protect the surface, the more that could impair the excellent insulating properties of these elements instituted. Enclosures second kind are powder-coated high-class type of anodic paints Du Pont.
I should add that the PAB ceramic 5 fundamentally different structurally from vibration footers based on ceramic beads. In footers on ceramic balls equipment "stands" on the beads, while the footers PAB – "hanging" on balls rolling bearings, respectively mounted in a housing made of metal, acrylic (innovation is reported in the Polish Patent Office as an invention, where expected patent). Thanks to the possibility of precipitating the mechanical energy from the ambient vibration is larger, and therefore insulating properties – better.”
I was converted to very serious isolation before receiving these feet. Now I am fully addicted. I am ordering the Nickel-Manganese feet for all my gear and I am seriously thinking about them to replace my 8 acrilyc PAB feet for my Skylan stands for the Harbeth.
-but as you found there can be exceptions to every rule--no?