Interesting for such small shoes. Anyone selling below RM200?

car_o_scope, can buy on behalf and send (courier) over?  TIA.

I'm interested as well.. where are you getting them from?

past few days no time to listen lar....kinda tied up with work
perhaps over the weekend

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Added on May 10, 2009, 9:24 pmok...here's my first report on the atacama spike shoes for my SF

the lower end bass has better extension compared to my previous cheapo spike shoes

the background has somewhat become darker, cleaner

overall i felt the sound had more dynamics, more revealing and more body

overall, i would rate this item value for money and at the rate i'm enjoying, i hv no regrets getting it at all

RM 2.2K with slight discount.. =P
imho... get the stand first.. =P

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Added on May 26, 2009, 10:48 pm

lol. for the bold Part,, my answer will be:

you will.. some day...
just a matter of it comes earlier or slightly delayed only...
i strongly believe in that..

by the way. ur concertino is home or domus?..
get luito lah.. it's in malaysia now.. seriously an big improvement over concertino series.. price is also big improvement... lol like 2.5X the price of  domus series....

they have cheaper series.. TOy series. it's cheaper than domus.
basically the domus had split into two series. luito as higher series, while toy as lower series.
by the way
i think the atacama spike shoes is not actually fitting well with the original sonus faber spike.
its quite big and round in the end. so the atacama spike shoe hole is too small to fit it.
i just use it as it is first. i am buying sonus faber original spike shoe oso....
=(((((((((((((((((((((((

i ordered the original sonus spike shoe. but it's hell expensive oso.. but fully built from aluminium. whole block.. very heavy and solid.. lol..
actually.. yesterday i listen until 4am... can't sleep.. lol..and tested almost all nice song i like.. that's why i am very sure the improvement is a major leap. and without any draw back... and that's why i am really happy for it. if it does improve somethings. but drawback somethings. i won;t fee its worth the price.. lol
yesterday listen till very late,  today only have time to post picture.
even now i type here oso i sitting in front of the speaker with bee gees music.. lol
cheapest toy bookshelve is RM 3.7K by retail.. i not sure how much can actually get.

the toy bass port also at the back..

that is not guarneri homage, it's guarneri memento.
the wall is solid wood with wall paper. the wall paper is shining...

yes
TOY is made in italy oso.
it's crafted at the speaker post there. Made in italy. and the box also written all over "delicated  audio product, Sonus Faber, Made in Italy"

memento is red / black colour. while homage is brown colour
shape of it, driver also very much different.
the only same things is only the speaker stand.
all the other things had changed.
the most significant change is the back spine.

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Added on May 27, 2009, 2:35 pm
i not sure about how other's ppl.
but for me. when i first wanna buy the concertino domus. i also think  a lot of time. then feel damn expensive.
well what i can tell u now is.. since 26 April 2008 i use  the sonus faber concertino domus. until now. i still think that the money is well spend.
if i have the same amount of money now. and i will still make the same decision. its multiple time it impress me. even the fresh pair. i already heard a satisfying sound.
then i use it. after each 2-3 months. the sound is improving (maybe due to burn in and some tuning work)...
so it still never fail to impress me now.

Buying toy is a good start as it can compatible with usual stand. which most expensive imported one oso about RM 400-500.
and sonus doesn't design the speaker to work with specific stand.
under the speaker oso don't have screw hole.
so you saved up already by the budget... ori stand is easily cost RM 2K and above.

sonus did the same things as concertino home to correct the time / phase respond by tilt the front baffle of the speaker. instead of concertino domus. the front baffle is flat, straight. so in order to have the same time alignment of the tweeter / mid bass. the speaker must be tilt up.and for domus series, it is done by the specific stand which tilt it up 6 degree. and that is the only reason i spend big amount of money in that stand.
while TOY don't need it. the time respond already corrected as the front baffle is already tilted. the tweeter and the mid bass is indeed in the same axis if u watch from side. so it's much more friendly.
compatible with lower budget amp. compatible with usual flat stand. and yet can get reasonably nice sound.
from that two already save up the cost.

indeed. i have some harmonix room tuning things coming up. =)

You can install diffusors at first speaker reflection to side walls, the centre of diffusors should point to your speaker tweeter position, you can refer to Realtrap.com (Ethan Winer is the acoustic specialist) for placement of diffusors. Also install diffusors at back of your equipment, as of my case, i just hang a oil painting behind my rack. And i diy absorption panel, stick 2" 2lb fibreglass to a 2' x 3' hard cardboard, then wrap with cloth. 

Enjoy the music.

Auronthas

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Added on May 29, 2009, 1:05 am
yup... to cut out the 1st order reflection. Crucial for tweeters since their high frequencies tend to reflect like laser beams . So a diffusor at those strategic locations will  scatter the 1st reflection order from interfering the direct tweeter sounds to your ears.
Do it, not only for the side walls, but also the floor and ceilings too .. if you're really anal about 1st order reflections.

ok .. to be honest, i'd have to listen to your room to really hear and see what might work and what doesn't
But since we are all self-professed gurus in the forums et al, i might as well try and derive some fun out of it as well.

First of all, what seems to be your room's sonic problem ? too much bass? too little bass? too bright ? too dull? Can't seem to get stereo imaging in focus ? Compressed soundstage ?
If u wanna try out the CornerTunes™ , do check out http://www.michaelgreenaudio.com
The site is kinda old .. and i'm not sure if that guy's still in business, but you'd get some ideas from there. You might be abl to find some s/hand stuff of these at hi-fi forums or similar.

Hi car_o_scope,

How close are your speakers to the rear wall?  If your speaker back/rear ports and too close with back/rear wall, the bass will be boomy.  IMHO, may i suggest you move out your speaker, then the boomy bass will be reduced. Please try if this works for you.

Auronthas

Ohhhh.... i see... u got an almost square room huh ..... ok ok ... lets see now.

OK, 1st things 1st .... i assume that your listening axis is along the length of the room.

Speaker placement .... make sure they are at least 3 ft. from any walls. Your listening sweet spot should about close to the centre of the room.

The reason that I recommend u start with this placement is:
1)  the "near field"-style placement would be best to minimize the square room's colouration on your system
2) U got ample space the treat the room walls (and ceiling as well, if the height is also close to 11~12ft.)

The bass from AN&LR-CloseYourEyes are pretty much upper-mid bass only. Not much low freqs below50Hz. And i would suspect that speaker to sidewall placement would be key in solving it. Following the above "near-field" placement method, try to also angle-in your speakers until you can see the speakers' outer side-cabinet from your listening position. This would also help improve your focus alot and also reduce boominess as the speakers' woofers would be exciting the room at extreme angles. This usually means very extreme toe-in angles of more than 30degrees. Looks weird. But might sound very good in your case.

As for treatments.... lots and lots of padding at the side and rear walls. Would suggest that you treat about 2/3 of your sidewalls with a combo of diffusors and absorbers.  Leave the 1/3 of the sidewall space clean ... and this 1/3 section should be at the speaker-end. At about middle of the side walls, go with diffusors ... (like RPG Skyline Styrofoam, or even hanging some Ikea bamboo or wood blinds are good). Then as you progress towards the rear end (closer towards backwall) of the sidewall, more absorby stuff. Plant some basstubes or rolled foam tubes at the rear corners. They would work as bass cavity traps to reduce bass boom caused by acoustic corner loading.

Directly behind your listening position, try having 2 large bean bags (and i mean BIG!) to the left and right. You can move the bean bags closer or further apart and see how the bass and even overall soundstage changes. You can also move them further back away, and this might help to tame some troublesome bass-booms too.

Backwall: hang some thick drapes or maybe even chicken-egg cartons / or similar, (floor to ceiling) would be good. Basically you wanna make your backwall seem further away acoustically. Cubpoards, bookshelves (with lots of books), cabinets (no glass panels) , etc etc at the backwall would be good.

happy furniture-moving & room-tuning.

What about the top corners of your walls? These are the biggest boom makers if not treated.

Good, your boom is reduced.

If your speakers are about 6 ft apart.. thats good. Near field means you should sit closer than 8 ft from your speakers.. Maybe try 7 or even 6.5ft. Maintain the extreme toe-in.

Since your room is almost square, don't bother too much to make the speakers "disappear". You'll need an entirely new room for that, or extreme room treatments that will make your room look like a confinement cell in Tg. Rambutan "Hospital Bahagia".

Moving your listening sweet spot away from the backwall will also help reduce the bass exaggeration. Since bass notes are strongest when u sit closer to the wall especially the backwall.

Ceiling corners are a pain. Unless u are so hardcore to hang some basstubes aka BassTraps™ or RealTraps™ panels there .... I'd say don't bother. Just treating the floor corners will suffice already. The RoomTune CornerTunes™ are not meant to fix bass problems but more for spatial control only.
Here's another trip u can try. Angle your speakers up abit . Give them a 1 to 3 degree toe-up. Might be good, or not. I dunno. But it's free to experiment and part of the fun of getting your system to sing. U can also vary your sitting/listening position too. You might notice that the perceived bass booms change as you sit higher or lower from the floor.

Experiment, experiment & experiment... and have fun too.

Good luck !
p.s. By this experience, we all can see how good speaker placement can bring the biggest effect to a hi-fi system. Even more than a RM20,000 speaker cable or interconnect can ever hope to achieve.