Thanks for all your responses, I wanted to reply before but I was travelling...
^^^ I have been wanting to go to the Bristol Show for ages, but I stay far away so that sort of rules it out...
Anyway, I started this thread to ask if anyone had any experience with Black Ravioli, because i have never used them in my equipment, and I use people's experiences as a guide if not the final verdict for myself to use the product. This is what I said originally "I've found mostly with the hifi products I've used, that the isolation feet they are equipped with originally do the best job", I have never felt that any isolation was required other than the feet fitted underneath the amp or cd player, but that's only for the hifi equipment I've owned in the past, I don't think I would dismiss people's opinions that isolation products have made a huge difference in their system. Cno's previous posts and his write up have been really interesting and have been really helpful! Thanks Cno!
I completely agree with chebby when he says the need for isolation would be required only in the sort of conditions similar to the 'turntable on a subwoofer' kind... Even if I use any isolation products there are far too many minute intricacies to think about exactly why it might not actually work and why it seems like its all fairy dust! Weight distribution, internal temperature of the components etc. etc. There are just too many variables for little gel pads to affect the sound...
However, whether I use vibrapods, acoustifeet or any other isolation products in some way or the other i have found a change, after listening for quite some time... I can see whre Cno is coming from, and I could hear a mild change whenever i've used any isolation products. Though I have to say Nordost have been exptremely expensive to even get my hands on... Therefore, I feel being objective about these things is the best thing to be! Whether or not they require running in or anything that sounds as strange as that, if it improves the sound of the hifi system it's placed in, I'd be happy! It's all about the sound of our music anyway! I feel new things are being discovered everyday, even in this industry, and we must be open (not gullible) to new technologies. Sure there would be companies who would try to con people with ridiculous claims, but at the end of the day, our ears are the only judge. I know this sounds way too idealistic and preachy! But I have learnt this in HiFi that sometimes things that sound suspect initially, have an extremely complex and convoluted science that gets covered in wrong and misleading advertisements.
I have to share this! Once when I purchased the NaimFraim, my dealer told me that after the equipment had been run in for over a month, I should 'sex' the glass of the fraim. Because apparently, it sounds hard at some edges and extremely bright at the others... That bewildered me! i had no idea that would work... it's a different story that I never fully tried it because I hate moving my system once its settled... There were several audiophiles and Naim users in the area who apparently believed in that! They repeated the same experiences, of apparent 'hardness' and 'brightness' of sound... But if anyone knows about this... Kindly enlighten me!
I would totally love the idea of tweaking a system making it sound better, i'm open to it! New things are being introduced everyday and if a product like BR does what it says i'm all for it! I wasn't sure if satellite speakers could sound good until KEF introduced the KEF eggs! It changed my view towards these high placed wall mounted satellite speakers. Once along the way, comes a product that does things much better than its competitors and it changes everything!
I know starting threads like this will start a debate since this is known to be one of the 'dark arts' area of hifi... but I think talking about these things will get us closer to understanding how these things actually work if they do at all, because of everyone's experiences!