The workhorse of the Stein Music tweaks has been, and continues to be the Stein E-Pad, a truly excellent and predictable way of precisely dampening vibration in critical components and speakers. The E-Pad put Stein on the map in America and opened the door wide for his ingenious components and other system controls, like the superb Harmonizers.
Though only about half an inch long by a quarter of an inch wide (metric size: 8 x 15mm), they eat vibration for lunch and dinner. Other devices do this, but not the way that the E-Pads do. The E-Pad absorbs vibration evenly throughout the musical range supplying no coloration of its own to the mix. This makes them superb and unique among Stein's competitors.
Something New
Now Stein E-Pads come to America with a layer of purest copper, silver, and gold metal placed just above the black absorption material and grounded to it very firmly. They will not break apart and may be tried up to 5 times with included adhesive. Though the metal layer affects the conductivity rate in different ways, they still remain linear and absorbing. The cocktail one may create with these precious metal Stein Music E-Pads will tweak the very soul of sound itself.
I have E-Pads +S (most used size) in every CD, SACD, and LD tray in my system. I replaced the E.A.R. Acute 4 Transport Pad in the center of the tray with the Gold Pad. You guessed it: the level of richness and musicality increased with every digital disc from then on. The effect is similar to adding a Mullard to your tube mix of EH Tubes—I was stunned. I then proceeded to try other Pads in the player's drawers. Though the silver and copper improved smoothness better than the plain Pad, the Gold was the perfect Pad for zapping that last bit of digital from the transport.
With four tonearms in service, it was time to experiment. The Pad goes on any tonearm junction box(es) and directly underneath the tonearm pillar bottom rim. The junction boxes did not seem to improve over the warmth from the plain Pad, but my goodness, those metal Pads on the tonearm pillar magnificently focused and enhanced the total performance of arm/cartridge combination.
The new Grado Epoch in the Helius Omega Tonearm wired with copper wire changed little with the copper or silver Pads. But the Gold Pad was transformative and mind-blowingly magnificent. It emphasized the inner beauty of this break-through cartridge from John Grado in new and involving ways. It mattered little whether jazz or vocal or classical LPs were selected, all were just more mellifluous.
The new Grado Aeon in the Helius Omega Arm wired with silver wire surprised me. Here the copper E-Pad enhanced and invigorated the Aeon bringing it ridiculously close in overall performance to its twice-as-expensive brother. The gold and silver went sideways in sonics. The copper went to the moon!
The new Grado Epoch Mono in the gorgeous 10 inch EAT/Graham Designed Arm wired with copper wire on the EAT Csharp TT exploded with musical verisimilitude and smoothness with the silver E-Pad at its base. No other metal had these startling results. Here silver was king, but you must have all three flavors to find out.
Placing the copper or silver E-Pads next to the power-cord amp or preamp connector brings you 10-15% more definition than the plain Pad +S. It is a smooth, even-sounding improvement...not lumpy or peaky at all. This is my problem, by the way, with the super-duper AC fuses on the market. Their results are interesting, but very inconsistent and peaky. The factory supplied fuses are factored into the overall sound of the gear, and less likely to create a problem.
Experiment
Try a copper or gold E-Pad between the tweeter and midrange driver of your speakers. Surprise! Try a gold E-Pad near the speaker cable connectors. Surprise!
Placing them in the center of metal cased components to dampen vibration does not seem to do much of anything. Placing them on the bottom edge of the glass of large picture frames in your sound room, reduces phase distortion and enhances clarity. Surprise! Lots to try, so little time to try them!
I understand the new Pads enhance the performance of the Stein Harmonizers. I will try these soon. The turntables were my first stop!
Quibbles
Holger, please score the E-Pad back paper to make peeling the backing off the E-Pad easier. This is my only criticism.
Headphones
I tried the copper E-Pads on my Stax 009 Cans. Excellent jump in the definition...truly. I was shocked. The gold was second best here. Most headphones respond well to the E-Pad on the cup rims. My AKG 1000 Ear Speakers lost their edginess with the plain E-Pad installed. Older Stax cans are improved even more due to the increased use of plastic. No kidding my friends, these E-Pads really enhance and improve headphones. Try this for yourself.
Summary
Joining the excellent E-Pads from Stein Music come E-Pads of precious metals plus copper. The enhanced overall beauty of your vibration-controlled audiophile gear just jumped a magnitude with these top-notch tweaks. Easy to use and reuse, you will realize more of what you truly like and less of what you do not with the new Stein metal Pads. Brilliant! Fun! Repeatable! Reliable! The uses are described by Stein Music, and there are dozens. I just touched on my favorites.
Stein Music E-Pads in Pure Copper, Silver, and Gold are outstanding, and really work. If not to your taste, change flavors to dial in. Almost as fun as tube rolling, the new Stein Music E-Pads receive my very highest recommendation. Bravo Holger!
My original review in PF Issue 61 of the E-Pads can be found HERE.
E-Pads
Retail price: $140 each in Gold, Silver, or Copper
Retail price: $100 each Plain
Stein Music Ltd.
www.steinmusic.com
Fidelis AV
Walter is reachable at 603.703.1800, and would be happy to assist you.
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