Thats the question! I don’t have one (yet) but will follow this topic with great interest.
That is indeed the question. iRAP or cRAP? It very likely depends what the equipment is currently standing on. I’ve used glass and balls beneath equipment very successfully in the past, which may be another perhaps more tried and tested option.
Well I’m posting up the picture of my Superuniti (again…Zzzzz) to just demonstrate its not on a dedicated rack but a beautiful mint G-plan dressing table (solid wood 1970) so wondered if I’m just being stupid to get one (an isolation platform) or not? The unit itself weighs 12.2kgs so it’s resonant frequency must be quite low plus the isolation through the piece of furniture must help!? Might just save my cash.
I have a 5 cm granite slab under my Rega Rp10 and a nice butcher block under my Melco.
Both give great results and are not very expensive.
Yes I’m wondering about using a near perfect size piece of toughened glass I have in the garage with some Nitrile O-rings underneath. That’ll cost be next to nothing. Nice System pics by the way Monsieur Rooster
Recipe for a v effective but not v expensive glass platform here:
Could be just a case of suck it and see.
Naim have their own take on such things over and against many others out there, making use of the resonant nature of the outer case and buzzing transformers along with glass, cups and balls.
sure I read that rega gave this a thumbs up
Pondering trying the Isoacoustics Delos under my Rega P10, between it and Fraim glass. Anyone here besides @JosquinDesPrez use Delos?
I’d suggest trying a Fraim glass (or equivalent) with Fraim balls and cups. Alternatively the Quadraspire platform.
Actually I might give these a go…
solidairaudio hifi-isolation-feet
Placed under my piece of toughened glass. Manufactured in the UK too (in their own machine shop) so no Chinese crap only £100 set Uses high strength neodymium magnets to ‘float’ the supported kit thus total isolation from the source of vibration.
It should work, no reason to not
Audiophile Base still make their Base and Stratabase platforms, in different sizes - the BO1 is exactly the same width as Naim boxes. They look very neat and are extremely well-made, I use four of them. Of course, I can’t say whether they are better than Quadraspire or others.
I’m no expert on these things but the phrase “uses high strength neodymium magnets to ‘float’ the supported kit” makes me wonder if that magnetic field will interfere with the electronics …
The field strength of a magnet falls dramatically with distance so beyond a few cm there would be little to influence an inductor. I should think they have measured any stray field and considered it too small to have an effect.
I work in superconducting magnets…field strength inside the bore enough to support a 747 but a few metres away it has little strength left.
Went super cheap in the end. Toughened glass that I had in the garage, four self adhesive rubber pads from B&Q (£2.50) with four self adhesive felt pads (£2) under them to protect the furniture. Does it work… I can’t really say there’s any sonic difference but my missus is pleased there’s less chance of the Superuniti feet marking the top of her dressing table.
Kimbleman,
If you’ve not noticed an obvious improvement then I’d say it’s back to the drawing board. I suspect the glass is too thin and the pads too compliant.
Can I suggest an alternative? Try cutting a 9mm or 12mm rectangle of MDF slightly larger than your Naim kit and then glueing 4 small oak door handles underneath in the corners. This is, in my opinion, a very simple and cheap solution that will work to decouple your kit from that bigger bit of ‘mass’
If you like what you hear you can always spray it matt black?
It could just be there is no problem in the first place and what this is telling me is that the furniture and the Superuniti mass / rubber feet are providing all the necessary vibration mitigation?
I suppose the only way to prove it would be to deliberately introduce some vibration into the system by adding it locally (by using a small modal shaker) and playing music at the same time. It
IF there’s an audible difference then it’s worth doing if not…it’s a snake oil / emperor’s new clothes phenomenon!?
What I’m driving at is if I can’t hear a difference then maybe there is no difference to be heard in the first place.
It does however protect the furniture
In my experience, providing further separation for my NAIM boxes from my Isoblue stands with (3, in each case) isolation feet provides a noticeable improvement in SQ.
Your negative experience is caused by ineffective/inappropriate materials IMHO.
I’m a bit surprised your wife is happy with those ugly white pads. I’d suggest getting a piece of glass the same size and colour of Fraim glass cut, buying some Fraim ball and cup supports and then sticking a thin piece of self adhesive plastic on the bottom of them, cut to size, to protect the sideboard.