Star Sound Apprentice platforms

Hey Lak,

I'll let you know, I just picked up a few used Apprentice SP-SA 03 platforms and will try them under my dac, preamp, my monoblocks, and if I can I'll try under my speakers. Its hard finding anything negative about these on the net so I guess I'll find out for myself.

My rack is from Adona and basically houses just the dac and pre and source while my monoblocks are on maple slabs but I'll try the Apprentice platforms without them.

Hey Lak,

Just getting back with you about the Apprentice platforms. My components have been sitting on Herbie's sonic hardballs which are placed on an Adona rack and when I replaced the Herbies with the Apprentice's it was a big improvement, especially with the dac. Just like what's been written before...more relaxed and natural sound while being more detailed. Big thumbs up.

I did experiment with taking the Adona rack out of the room and had the Apprentice's on the floor and got an even better improvement with soundstage and depth. I got these Apprentice's here off Audiogon for almost half the original price and they are without a doubt the best money I've spent so far. Star Sound has an excellent product. I can only imagine what the Rhythm's can do.

I have the Apprentice 103 platforms which have 1.5 inch points. I'm thinking of going with the 104 which has the 2 inch points for my monoblocks.

I'll be taking one of the platforms over to a friends house today and try it under his VAC 160i SE. The guy who sold them to me felt they're probably more beneficial under tube equipment so I'll see if it does for the VAC what it did for my Lampi and Herron.

It was kind of a mixed bag of results with the VAC. The unit was set on a wooden slab of some sort, neither one of us knew what type of wood it was and then it was sitting on top of a wooden dresser so a lot variables in play.

I thought the VAC definitely had more detail with instruments under the Apprentice 103 sitting on top of all that wood but vocals sounded thin and lacked body and texture. This was all done on the fly and within minutes of placing the VAC on the Apprentice so not quite the ideal setup for testing. He's kind of stuck with the dresser for now and it may be a while before he could move things around and have better space between his speakers.

I think I'm going to get some Apprentice 104's for my monoblock amps before I spring for the Rhythm's for my speakers. Maybe after I get my tax refund I'll be ready for the Rhythms. Already spending money before I get it...what am I doing? :)

Sorry I didn't see this earlier. Yes I have the 103's under my monoblocks and they work great just like every other piece that I have put Star Sound platforms under. The amps are solid state but I've heard others say tubed equipment gets better results. My dac and preamp are tubed and they definitely have the more noticeable improvements vs my amps but I've had such good results from Star Sound that I don't feel the need to try anything else.

And yes to agears point, the longer they sit the better the sound.