DMSD 60 Decouplers Review
I am a huge fan of speaker Isolation tools and anything that can improve on what equipment I have invested in, as can be seen from my review of the Townshend Audio Seismic Isolation platforms but they not appeal to everyone as they come at a cost which to some may not be ideal. In comes the DMSD 60 de-couplers which are at a much more reasonable cost, which is just shy of £600.
DMSD is an Italian company founded by an Italian Studio
and recording engineer who started his own recording studio up (Mixdown
Studio’s) and then went on to develop the DMSD 60 de-couplers so he has a very
good background and knowledge of how speakers work and what problems you get
when speakers are not properly isolated and how this problem can affect the
sound that you hear. Dave Mastrodonato has worked with artists such as Melissa
Bell, Terence Trent Darby and Planet Funk, to name just a few, so his talents at
getting the best sound went into developing the Dave Mastrodonato
Studio Design, which is how the name was born (DMSD).
Build Quality
Based in Naples Italy Dave Mastrodonato used his twenty
or so years of experience in the industry and using the highest quality
materials which are used in aero-space, he has built the DMSD 60 de-couplers
which when you receive the box you are presented with 8 de-couplers which feel
and look so well put together and with them feeling very weighty gives them a
very high quality look and feel about them. The ones that I have received are
in black and have the company logo DMSD on them. They can come in a multitude
of colours depending on what you like, and going through the website, you can see
that a lot of thought has gone into the design and colours to match
different people's tastes. I was very impressed with how they arrived and the
boxed presentation, which speaks volumes about the company, in my opinion. It’s all in the details, and simple things like these make them all the more
desirable when purchasing. Also, knowing the background of how they came to
fruition gives you that reassurance that these were developed by someone passionate about music and its reproduction.
Performance
Setting the DMSD 60 de-couplers is an easy task as it
just means placing them underneath each speaker and that can be in the studio
or in a domestic environment. The speakers I am using for reviewing are the ATC
SCM19AT speakers which also have great studio heritage so it was a simple task
of placing them at the base of each speaker. Once placed and I was sure that
both speakers were balanced properly I started the listening session.
It was immediately apparent how drastic the change was;
it was as if the speakers' sound just snapped more into focus, with the stereo
image gaining more precision with better sound staging and a more coherent
sonic image. The bass also tightened up and was more defined, everything that I
could have expected and more from these brilliant little decouplers was working and had made a massive improvement to what was already a good sound
from the ATC speakers. Patricia Barber's voice had taken centre stage in my room
with lots of air around the instruments, and the placement of each was a lot easier
to place than before as the decouplers had tightened up the image. By removing
them, you lose a lot of the stereo image as it seems to fall away a lot easier
without them. Adding the DMSD 60 decouplers is a big upgrade in sound quality, and if you are like me, someone who wants the best possible sound, then these
are an easy upgrade and make a good speaker into a better speaker, as it is
truer to the speaker manufacturer's intended design.
Conclusions and final thoughts
I am completely sold on these excellent DMSD 60
de-couplers as they work extremely well and have been designed by someone who
knows what it means to get better sound from your equipment. They do exactly
what it says on the tin, as they saying goes and for a very reasonable price
too. Considering what I paid for my Seismic podiums these are a much better
proposition to potential buyers, a brilliant product which I highly recommend.
The Speaker Shack awards the DMSD 60 decouplers with a
Highly-Recommended products award as they represent great value for what they
are and do.
I would like to thank Ian at HMF Solutions for providing
these for review.
Web - https://www.dmsd.it
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