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 Michael Bieda, Greenwood, Indiana
"The Grungebuster in my Wadia 861 is a resounding success! Moreover, its use in my
son's Sony SACD/DVD Player is equally rewarding.
"For a little more than the price of a CD,
purchasing this product is an absolute no-brainer. Since my initial auditions, I've NOT
inserted another CD in my 861 without first applying the Grungebuster.
"The name Grungebuster pretty much says it
all. That is, detail and clarity are enhanced, low-level information is ferreted out
improving soundstage and instrumental air/spacing -- not a small feat on a system
that most would agree is approaching a very high level of resolution.
"For your customers that have experienced the Grungebuster's improvements with mid
-fi components and wondered if it works on a high-end, very resolved system, the
answer is an unequivocal yes! My Wadia 861 is connected directly to CAT JL-1
monoblocks, which are driving Soundlab M1 speakers. My system shines on the
reproduction of harmonics, transparency, and low level information, and the
Grungebuster more than improved its performance. Without contemplating the cost-to
-sonic-improvement ratio, the Grungebuster is highly recommended; when comparing
the cost-to-improvement ratio -- it's not only VERY highly recommended, it's a MUST buy!"
Gary Seppa, Ontario, Canada
"I received your mat in the mail last week. I slapped it on Sir George Solti and the
Chicago Symphony's performance of Beethoven's 9th. What followed was
extraordinary and unprecendented in my CD audio experience. The soundstage, simply
, exploded and the centre became a hypnotic black hole taking me to the very rear of
the stage to realize every previously hidden detail.
"You have saved my CD collection. I had been moving out of CD into SACD, DVD -- and vinyl."
Wayne Waananen, The BOLDER Cable Company
"It really does make a difference."
Daniel Erway, Prescott, Arizona
"My Grungebuster CD mat arrived a week ago and I just wanted to let you know it has
proven to be one of the best improvements to my system I have experienced, which
may be because it seems to be just what my system needed. I listen mostly on AKG K
-1000 headphones which are a kind of auditory microscope ... revealing everything. I
love their dynamic, alive quality but there were times when the sound was just too
bright and harsh, and it would tire me out if I listened too long or too loud. NOT
ANYMORE! The Grungebuster has smoothed things out just right without damping any
of the musical detail or excitement. Thank you for your excellent product and for the
reasonable price."
Mike Schneider, Cordova, Tennessee
"Wow! I've played with my new grungebuster now for a couple of hours. This is
amazing! I'm listening to a guitar jazz CD right now and I can hear the resonance from
the hollow-body guitar. Thanks for another great product at a great price!"
David Larsen, Adrian Michigan.
"If I could have tried it first I would have payed twice as much. Simply amazing."
Jerry Mathews, Port Ludlow, Washington
"A happy return customer. Ordering another CD mat so I can have a CD ready to load
-- I can't listen to any CD now without the mat. Great stuff."
Roe Fleenor, Leander, Texas
"WOW! It's not usual for me to send an email raving about a product, only done it
twice counting this one. I must admit that when I first opened the box, I felt like an
idiot paying almost $200 for some small parts. Don't get me wrong, I realize your
products are not mass produced and most likely hand made, so I'm sure that justifies
the price. I am amazed at the added performance they have given my system, and
consider it to be a real bargain in the end. I've never realized near that kind of
improvement with a $190 upgrade. I knew that there would be some improvement, but
considering the damping I've already done, I thought the improvement would be subtle.
"I found there was much room for improvement. First I tried your tube dampers, and
like everyone else says, there was a definite improvement. See a big old smile on my
face! Next went on the GrungeBuster CD Mat, wow more improvement! Finally I added
your isolation feet, even more improvement! All in all the accumulative effect of your
products elevated the performance of my system with a cheap CD player above what
I've heard with my SACD player (which I have in the shop for repairs).
"Before, the performance of my system wasn't even close with the CD player compared
to the SACD player, the SACD player being night and day better. I'm now hearing
things I've never heard before on the CD layer of my hybrid disks. Your products have
elevated the performance of my system, with a cheap CD player, beyond what I've
heard with the SACD player! I can't wait to get the SACD player back and install the isolation feet on it.
"My system has improved in all areas, tighter bass, more dynamic, smoother yet more
detailed (those two
things usually being mutually exclusive), truly amazing detail in the extreme highs, and
even better imaging. I am one very happy camper! Congratulations on your really
surprisingly effective products. I'm sold, and have a feeling you're going to see a bunch
of orders from the Austin TX area after my buds hear this."
Roger Jones, Wilmington, Delaware
"The grungebuster 'SP' CD platter mat has really taken my Pioneer PD-65 to another
level in resolution of music, a more solid bass, and clarity. I had the opportunity to
audition one of Chris Own's dAcK! digital audio converters in my system over the last
few weeks -- all I can say is WOW! This $399 non-oversampling DAC with the
grungebuster delivers music as close to high end analog reproduction these ears have ever heard."
Benoit Willemaers
"I was quite skeptical about cd-mats and such. I bought this one, to be honest, just
for fun. I must confess I was a bit surprised at the first tests. On percussions, I got
back a few milliseconds at the attack, making them more engaging. Some voice are also
now better defined. And, cherry on the cake, guitars and strings have more 'body.'
And this in a mid-fi setup (I've not more than one grand on this system). Great work!"
David Morris, Modesto, California
"I bought your CD Mat sometime back, after reading your Audiogon ad. Your mat
outperformed my Marigo Crossbow mat by such a wide margin, that I laughed and
smiled throughout my first listening session with it (and I have loved it ever since)."
Robert Bryant, Sacramento, California
"The grungebuster does an excellent job of damping CD's. The resulting sound is
cleaner, less smeared, more controlled and more dynamic. Voices, delicate instruments,
drum transients and dynamic contrasts are more spatially accurate with this mat in
place. It outperforms the 'Tuning Sheets' at a dollar per sheet, it works better than the
AUREX mat (they went out of business), outperforms CD edge rubber rings, better
than the old Monster Cable sound rings, more compatible than my old heavy 'bluemat,'
and blows the marker pens out of the water. You'll not likely find a sonic upgrade more
cost effective in your system without spending thousands as opposed to this $20 mat."
Mark Sestak, Bokeelia, Florida
"I just wanted to let you know that NONE of my CDs are played until the CD Mat is
placed on them. It's as if it has become a requirement. Automatic. And you wouldn't
believe how fast I can do it now. Thanks."
Julien Therrien, Shelby, North Carolina
"I think it's fantastic. I mean, it didn't transform my system, but works as advertised.
The soundstage seems deeper and to be layered in finer gradients. Images are more
solid, bass is tighter and recordings that are a little edgy seem to smooth out some."
Bob Mitchell, Westminster, Colorado
"Kudos to you for your product, it is much more effective than the CD Blacklight I used to use."
Mario Reyes, Wilmington, Delaware
"I recently purchased the CD Mat and I'm floored by the improvement it made. I spent
a some time A/B'ing with and without the mat. I picked a track from a CD that had a
really clean, close-miked vocal line without any accompaniment. With the mat, the
vocals were shockingly clear and precise. I was able to pick up a lot of subtle things
such as inflection, tongue against teeth, breath against microphone, etc. Without the
mat, a lot of these subtle things aren't heard. Even the 'tone' of voice was better. A
definite winner, especially for $20!"
Rob Thomas, San Francisco, California
"The mat continues to surprise me. At the Inmate gathering this past weekend we
played a disc raw, with the Marigo and with the Grungebuster. Those with a preference
chose the Grungebuster."
John Kwinn, Oak Lawn, Illinois
"I received my CD mat in yesterday's mail. I used the mat later that night when all the
chores of the day were done. This is on an old Theta Data II. The results were
stunning! Instruments that I never realized were heard; this is on a standard red book
disc. Separation, improved sound staging were immediately evident. I played well into
the night. The best $20 I've ever spent."
Greg Gresham, Beaufort, South Carolina
"This dang thing works great. I have used one of them Crossbow things, but the
grungebuster is just dang better."
David Aikens, Parkinson, Australia
"The Grungemaster CD mat produced a very noticeable change with more precise
imaging and added weight to the sound. I had problems with my first disc, first getting
the mat reasonably centred and then with the player not recognising the disc for a
while. I got it on much easier with the second disc and had no problems with the player
recognising the disc, and with the third disc again no problems with the player.
Obviously there's a bit of a knack to applying the disc but it doesn't seem difficult and
the results justify the effort involved in developing the knack
"This is basically my first experience with a CD mat, apart from a brief trial of the TNT
Audio DIY mat made from a 5.25" floppy disc which I didn't regard as particularly
successful. I was therefore very pleased to find your mat works as advertised."
Sam Disney, Cincinnati, Ohio
"I tried many CD mats including the Audioprism Blacklight which for me had no positive
effect I could detect. I do own a Marigo Crossbow and previously thought this the best
CD mat available which seemed to make a very slight improvement.
"Herbie's surpasses the Crossbow and is the best CD mat I have ever used. There
have been many expensive CD rings/labels that you could apply to CD, but cannot be
removed (this breaks my golden rule of never apply a tweak which cannot be removed).
Herbie's is a very pliable thin rubber-like material that firmly adheres to CD, but can be
removed after use. There is no slippage/spin of the mat, and it seems to do the best
job of any mat of cleaning up CD grunge from sound."
Randall Thomann, Coralville, Iowa
"The grungebuster does a very good job of taming overly bright CD's."
Mark Blackburn, Chicago, Illinois
"The Grungebuster Mat is not what I would call a tweak du jour. It is The Bomb! Its
use for CD play is now mandatory, and found that I got a subtle improvement playing
DVDs. Slightly less grain made for a smoother video performance on an already great
disc like The Fifth Element. The improvement with CD play is, however, not particularly
subtle. The palpability factor increased as a distortion factor that I had blamed on other
equipment decreased. Timbre seems truer, etcetera, etcetera. Music is certainly more
riveting in my audio lab these days. Oh yes, the tube dampers certainly help my system
to properly serve the music. Thank you for these fine creations."
Ed Quintens, Koksijde, Belgium
"Better and sharper image on our modified Sony ES DVP 9000 ES; even the sound is
more accurate. Good job, man."
Mark Latkowski, Salt Lake City, Utah
"Received the Grungebuster SP yesterday. All I can say is that upon first listen it is a
great product! Detail, depth of soundstage, both dramatically improved.
"Thanks for a great value product!"
Julius Moshinsky, Alameda, California
"Thank you! There is a definite improvement in digititis level, with less pain to the ear
and more detail audible. Its physical attributes are outstanding also--easy to apply, remove, and store.
"The best mat I have used, and I have tried a number over the last decade."
Fred Muskal, Stockton, California
"Works like a charm. Thanx."
Larry Welsh, New York
"Your Grungebuster allowed me to listen to a Linda Ronstadt CD that was so harsh I
couldn't play it. Now, it's very pleasant. Thanks."
Barry Schultz, Englishtown, New Jersey
"For the Mat itself, I have one word....'WOW'
"I currently have an Aurex CD mat, which I am unhappy with. The Aurex mat seems
thin and flimsy. It curls up around the edges, which makes it very difficult to load it into
the player. I love the fact that your mat sticks to the disk.
"My son had his Jimmy Neutron DVD in my DVD player, so I figured I would throw the
mat on, to see if I can notice a difference. The color and the sharpness were amazing!
The surround sound in my 7.1 setup was significantly better then before, with a more
spacious and open sound stage. If the improvements were this good on an animated
children's movie, I couldn't wait to try it out on my DVD Audio, SACD, and DTS disks."
Ed Strelow, San Jacinto, California
"I have tried several mats over the years and given up on them. This one is much
better. The improvements were evident on all equipment, but somewhat less obvious
on the better CD player (CEC belt-drive) and a memorex portable but very obvious on
a standard Teac. It helped a dvd player, somewhat more I felt in the sound than
picture, but there was some increase in picture clarity and edge, giving somewhat more
of a 3-dimensional effect to the picture. All listening was done with Koss ESP 950 or
Stax 404 electrostatics. I am getting several more."
Jim O'Neill, Dubuque, Iowa
"Oh my God, you wouldn't believe how much better. What it does to the soundstage
and upper frequencies is phenomenal. They really work."
B.B., California
"It was a pleasure finding something local in the Central Valley. It arrived next day.
Here's what I found: My DVD player and car CD player didn't like it AT ALL. My new
NAD 541i CD player loves it! I attach the grungebuster to the disc, do the air bubble
thing then attach my hideous little AUREX wafer-thin stabilizer to add some extra
damping (I have to do something with the AUREX). The AUREX sticks to the
Grungebuster! Anyone who knows, understands the improvement to the digital sound
by removing the strident, harsh edge CD's exhibit during playback. This product is
great! Thanks again!"
Jay Carlberg, Modesto, California
"I got the tube dampers hooked up and the CD mat working, and boy it's amazing
what an improvement it was. Thank you very much for such fine products, I got a
good value and I appreciate it."
Mark Kirby, Baltimore, Maryland
"Just wanted you to know what a winner the grungebuster cd mat is. One of those
upgrades that gets you hauling out old music to hear it for the first time. I tweak my
cd's to the max, and they sound pretty good already. And I'm used to improvements
both incremental and dramatic for tweaks. This one was special. I've spent hundreds of
dollars for less. In terms of bang-for-the-buck, this thing is in a class by itself."
Robert Matthews, Fairfax Station, Virginia
"With this mat, I can hear more of an improvement than with the tube damping rings.
This mat definitely works! All the GLARE is gone! I played my Andre Bocelli, Tuscani CD
from start to finish, and it sounded the best I've ever heard it. The hardest part was
lining up the center hole, so the mat would be centered. I still don't think it is centered
perfectly, but it is good enough to realize all the great benefits.
"All I can say is that now the music is so glare free, that I find myself turning up the
volume more, because all the glare and grunge is gone! This is the smoothest my
system has ever sounded. The bass is much improved, (tighter and more precise). And
the sound stage is much more open than before. It's like I'm finally hearing all the stuff
that's on this CD for the first time! I can't think of any more adjectives to describe my
new sound. All I know is that I really like it! The music is much more pleasing to me
than any other time that I can remember! And I think I'm finally realizing all the good
benefits of my Golden Tube SE-40 amp. The mat makes my tube amp sound like solid
state on the bottom, and the best of tubes on the midrange and top! I have tried the
black CD rings that fit over the edge of the CD, and they seemed to clean up some of
the glare, but with this mat, I think I wouldn't even have to use those rings that fit
around the edge of the CD anymore."
Damon Newman, Hurst, Texas
"Although the concept made sense, I was rather skeptical. However, you'll be glad to
know I found myself pleasantly surprised."
Bob Zurcher, Spokane, Washington
"Yes it does work! The music seems to come from a darker space or a quieter
background. The bass is crisper and the midrange is cleaner. With some CDs the
change wasn't subtle. It works on DVD's too (as you know), the sound is improved
and I'll be darned if the picture doesn't seem improved."
B. D. B., Oregon
"I just did a mini-comparison on a few recordings with and without the mat. Here's
what changed when I slapped the mat on:
"Mozart: Die Sonaten Für Klavier und Violine (Sonatas for Piano and Violin) (Deutsche
Grammophon) -- The instruments seemed richer and clearer, especially the piano, with more separation.
"Rolling Stones: Let it Bleed SACD -- I noticed slight improvements in clarity and focus,
but the biggest difference was deeper bass.
"John Coltrane: A Love Supreme SACD -- There was more texture in the symbols,
more separation, and deeper bass.
"White Stripes: Elephant -- Again, I could hear more texture, and I also noticed better
decay of the instruments. There was deeper, more present bass as well."
Ad van Rooij, Netherlands
"There is more focus of the instruments and a better 3d stage. Voices have more
contour, there is more space around the instruments and the instruments which are
further behind are better defined. The mat is a big step ahead. To change the mat is
easy but it takes time."
Alan Olan, Sidney, Australia
"I was not prepared for the improvement in the sound. I played the new Ataris CD
which sounds quite harsh at high volumn and instantly noticed that the vocals are
more focused and the instruments were easier to discern. The harshness was also
gone, I think the silences are darker and the music more dynamic. I've been really
enjoying the music. Great product."
Jesse Trimble, Virginia
"The grungebuster enhances the effect of the Auric Illuminator, which I have treated all
my CD's with, bringing about more fullness to the sound. It's really amazing what the mat does."
Yovo Komlan, Linden, New Jersey
"It works more good than Marigo."
John C.
"It makes much more difference in my cheap cd/dvd player than it does in my nice
transport. I'm assuming its because the transport has better damping built into it."
Matthew Trom, Portland, Oregon
"I like it! On first impresion, the sound is much smoother. It was easy to place on the
CD by leaving the CD in the case, getting the grungebuster centered, then laying it
down across the CD. Easy!
"The grungebuster works partly to moderately fantastic. It's one of those items that is
not obvious, but you find out you miss it when it's gone. I have used the Marigo
Crossbow, CD Stoplight and other tweaks, but I think the grungebuster works best."
Harry Tan, Acquitaine, France
"Received the Grungebuster, slapped it onto my favourite test/audition disc (actually a
couple of them, ranging from Reference Recording's Tutti sampler to Chesky's Women
of Song, as well as James Taylor's Hourglass album). In the end, I sat through all these
albums and took me about 3 hours to eventually pull myself away from the system.
"I'm using the 'T' version of the Grungebuster for my CEC TL5100. I must say that it
worked very well. With it, the overall presentation became smoother (yet with no loss
of detail), less 'grainy' and weightier in its mid-bass and lower bass presentation (more
bloom or fleshed-out perhaps) and the soundstaging is definitely widened. I do like the
overall effect and I find it quite relaxing and musical.
"I also have a Statmat (not the latest CDi Blue version) and obviously I just have to
compare both of them. Based on the principles with which both mats are founded
upon, they obviously impart a different sonic signature whenever they are applied
respectively. The Statmat presented a somewhat lighter and airier picture, with
seemingly more space between instruments and singers. However, the soundstage is
not as wide as the Grungebuster. Both definitely give a better sonic presentation
compared to playing disc without either mat. If I was to choose between them, I would
say that it would depend very much on the recording itself. Both have different positive
attributes and are equally enjoyable.
"However, since I have both of them, I decided to do one last evaluation, and that is to
use both of them simultaneously. I placed the Grungebuster onto CD, then the
Statmat onto Grungebuster. This combination seemed to give the best of both worlds.
The end result is a more realistic presentation of the music, yet without any notable
digital glare or graininess. I have tweaked my system to reduce the dreaded digititis to
a large extent (Level 2 Modwright modified Perpetual Technologies P-3A DAC coupled
to its P-1A brother, and powered by a Monolithic P3 power plant, connected to the CEC
via PS Audio XLR Xstream digital cable, various Vibrapod and DH Cone + Squares
footers, after-market power cords etc), but the mats simply improved upon the
smoothness (with no less musical dynamism when required) and analog-like quality of
my CD playback system. In short, I like what they do very much.
"So, congratulations on the Grungebuster. It's simple but effective and I would not
hesitate to recommend it to my friends when they come and listen to my system.
Together with the Statmat, the combination proved to be very addictive in that the
music really draws me in and just lets me enjoy it more, rather than putting on the
audiophile/tweaker hat."
Isaac Perry, East Orange, New Jersey
"It works very, VERY good, especially on the top end. I'm really happy with it."
Mark Kirby, Baltimore, Maryland
"I'm very happy with my grungebuster. With the grungebuster riding them, CD's and
SACD's invariably sound better."
Dave Pastorino, Willow Grove, Pennsylvania
"I like your CD mat. Works very good!"
Helge Nylund, Veradale, Washington
"I've tried it on DVD, DVD-A and SACD. In all cases it adds a sense of space. For
multichannel playback there is now a more continous field with smoother front/back
pans. The tonal balance is tilted towards a warmer sound. The bass is smoother and
seems to go a little deeper. The treble has a slight improvement in detail. As far as
improving picture quality it seems a tad sharper, but hard to say without test patterns.
If only the price could come down to around a buck I'd buy one for each disk. Great product."
Frédéric Laglaive, Paris, France
"The Tenderfeet and the Grungebuster CD Mat are nice; they improve the CD player sound."
Lon Armstrong, Austin, Texas
"I've played around with the cd mat for several days now, and they definitely DO
SOMETHING. They seem an improvement to me, not a 'Look At Me' screaming
improvement, but they seem to smooth out the treble a little and also open up the
midrange a bit and make ambience (say the reverberance of a piano as an example) a
bit more noticeable. I have to confess that comparing the mat on a cd to the cd
without a mat I didn't always prefer the mat on the cd... but I mostly did. Sometimes
that little bit of digital bite may be just the ticket to a trumpet or an electric guitar!
"I like mine and am glad that I ordered it."
David Shuck, Escondido, California
"The CD mat sounds great -- more warmth, bass, less glare, more dynamic, quieter."
Gary Raymond, Berkeley, California
"Sounds like vinyl to me -- but without the snap, crackle, pop."
Blake Palmer, London, Ontario
"First, let me state that I do not have a $3,000 digital front end and I do not know how
this product will function with a really high end player. That being said, the tweaked
DVD player that I use currently sounds better in my opinion than an Arcam Alpha 8SE
which I sold a few years ago.
"I have used an Audioprism CD Blacklight for a few years now with decent results. The
improvements with the Blacklight were subtle, and I would use it regularly, except when
CD or DVD playback simply would not function with it.
"I recently read a thread on Audiogon which stated that the Marigo mat was the best
of the bunch. I have no experience with the Marigo simply because I didn't want to spring the $80 for it.
"The Herbies mat is $20, not exactly a huge sum. I would highly recommend it,
particularly for those with cheaper digital gear; whether it brings about as much of an
improvement with higher end gear, I cannot say.
"The 'Grungebuster' is simply far superior to the Audioprism Blacklight. Audible
improvements could easily be heard on music where vocals previously seemed to 'trail
off' and not be easily understood (Bob Dylan's Love and Theft and Emmy Lou Harris'
Wrecking Ball for example). The Grungebuster imparts a clarity which was simply not
there before with the Blacklight mat (which itself improves very slightly upon a nude CD
). The good thing about this clarity is that it comes about without a 'thinning out' of
the performance. On the contrary, background becomes noticeably darker, instruments
are more fleshed out, bass performance is slightly enhanced and the top end is
noticeably cleaned up as well. One thing that I cannot stand is an increase in clarity that
is accompanied with any lean aspect being applied to the music. This is not the case
with the Grungebuster; in fact just the opposite occurs. Both Pat Methney's guitar and
Charlie Haden's bass (Under the Missouri Sky) really filled out and have never sounded
better in my system with the Grungebuster. On certain tracks (certainly not every one
on every CD), I can actually hear info that I have not heard before. Ironically, this
usually occurs in relatively quiet 'solo' passages where there is a background
accompaniment from one or two other instruments (Jimmy Smith's 'Damn' comes to mind here).
"In short, the Grungebuster lives up to its name, for all of $20. There is a newly found
smoothness, a noticeable improvement from top to bottom (bass midrange and high
frequencies) a removal of grain and edge, and a revelation of more musical info and increase in clarity.
Harvey Shapiro, Skokie, Illinois
"The grungebuster CD mat does work better than any other mat I have owned."
James Smith, New York
"So your Grungebuster is awesome!"
Rick Zuniga, Santa Ana, California
"I received your Grungebuster last week. It works like you said it would. I use it every
time I play a CD."
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Questions?
1.973.239.1799
