I start with single units, disc down, front-and-centre on the speakers top panels – assuming that they are flat. Sloping top plates or curved surfaces debar this possibility. Likewise, my experience suggests that this position works brilliantly with wood-based cabinets, less so or barely at all with other materials. So the performance lift on the Living Voice R25A, T&T Nel Extreme or Raidho TD-1.2 is impressive. On the Stenheim A5SE and A2, it’s there, but not as compelling. On the Göbel Divin Marquis it’s negligible. It’s easy to assume that this difference in return relates to the performance of the cabinet – how well it behaves. I’m sure that is some of it, but far from the whole story. The difference is so marked that I questioned Neodio about it. They suggest that it relates to the materials used in the cabinet and in some cases, the finish. Apparently, non-organic cabinet materials and some synthetic finishes reduce the B2s effectiveness. Whatever the reasoning, that certainly seems to be the case – although, not necessarily when it comes to electronics…
The other thing to point out about treating the speakers is that you get the benefit, whatever you are listening to. Significantly, the same is true of the next two suggested placements:
Speaker cables – place a B2 (disc up) between the speaker cable and the floor, at the point where the cable touches down behind the speaker. Yes, this even works if you’ve got the cables on lifters…
Mains distribution block – place a pair of B2s (disc up) under your distribution block.
Which is more effective? That will depend on a number of factors. Whether your cables are on lifters (or not) and how effective those lifters are? Whether you are running the whole system off a single distribution block – and just how big a system it is (in electrical terms)? The construction of the distribution block itself: I got great results under Russ Andrews and Nordost blocks, less so under the Chord PowerHAUS M6 and the Crystal Cable block. What is for sure, you are going to have a clear preference. In both cases, sonically and musically the improvements build on what I heard from the B2s placed on the wooden speakers. With the Stenheim A5 SEs, my preferred option was under the main system QB8 distribution block, followed by the speaker cables. After that, lifting the second QB8 that fed the amps brought another step up in performance. In each case, the sound gained depth, space and body, dimensionality, a richer more natural tonality and that increased sense of articulation and flow. Overall, each addition built on the previous improvements, the music becoming more and more natural, stepping further and further away from the speakers and the system. Neodio’s description of the B2 as an Acoustic Purifier is starting to make a whole lot of sense…
Steppin’ out
So far so good: pretty easy to understand, even easier to appreciate. What comes next is a fork in the upgrade path. Bear right and you’ll start placing B2s on top of electronics. Bear left and you’ll be heading for the audio leftfield where you start placing B2s according to the room as much as the system. Being adventurous, let’s visit there first.
