The Shun Mook Affair JS Again page 3

At various points during the process we coaxed Kathleen into the listening chair, even though she typically prefers listening off-axis while otherwise engaged. She leaves all that sitting and squinting to me. When pressed, she felt that the single greatest effect she'd heard was due to the placement of the two additional Mpingo Discs on the speaker-top "control areas" (in addition to the single Disc already placed on the outside rear corners). I'd have to agree.

The Monks' tuning instructions are as follows: Raising the front Mpingo'd shelves upward lightens up the sound and brings more bloom, openness, and focus to the presentation---a softer, more musical presentation. Lowering the shelves (by very small amounts) yields a tighter sound, perhaps more sharply focused, with a tighter bass range---a heavier sound. Same with the two stands in the rear.

Small back-and-forth movements of the three-disc sets on the shelves serve to lock in the sound by adjusting the "forwardness" of the image. Think of it as like unto setting a cartridge's vertical tracking angle: there's a narrow band where it all comes together. You know when you've hit it.

Initial setup was accomplished using our reference Jadis JA 200 amplifiers. We left the Quartet's stands in the same position when switching to the Lamm Audio Labs M1.1s (currently under review), save for small "focusing" movements of the Mpingo brackets on their shelves as the amps accumulated hours. As I switch from analog to digital, or swap source components and cables, I'm able to make small adjustments in the orientation and placement of the Spatial Control Quartet to effectively change the sonic balance of the system to accommodate such changes with ease.

Finale
What I can report to you, with a straight face, is that this setup worked wonders in our listening room. I also recommend the Shun Mook Spatial Control Quartet for smaller listening venues, where expansiveness and a sense of spaciousness are harder to achieve.

The overall sense of focus and openness, of a listening room truly without walls, is "immeasurably" enhanced with the use of the Spatial Control Quartet. Another outstanding effort from the Mad Monks of the Shun Mook Planet that has found a permanent place in our system.

COMMENTS
jvjessen's picture

Edit: Stuff like this really should require a blind test with multiple staff to give a more credible review.

ishis's picture

It's fun reading these old letters written by foaming-at-the-mouth Nay-Sayers, 26 years later. Other manufacturers of accessories (vibration control, room-tuning discs, etc) that have been proven to work in the years that followed, have gained the respect of Audio Lovers everywhere. People have to be open-minded about new ideas and discoveries of things we were not aware-of before. If you 'dump' on things you do not understand, you just sound stupid later!

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