Suggestions please - Do I need isolation platforms?

The Audio Consultants ‘magic’! After a home demo the difference against AQ was astonishingly revelatory. No hesitation to order the Chime3 AE and have been very impressed since.

Will also be placing an order in due course for HRS isolation platform with Nimbus feet / damping plate. The improvements I heard were clear and worthwhile.

Keep the faith and don’t listen to the naysayers :+1:

4 Likes

Thanks to all.

I like things as they are, sonically and visually, and like the Do Nothing advice. Also, even if putting a platform under 52 or NDX2 or Superline would make a 1% improvement to sound, I wouldn’t notice it.

I also note that dealers I have known for a long time and trust just don’t sell them or anything more exotic than expensive interconnects - are they just more resistant to woo-merchants or is their lack of interest partly economic?

However, a forum like this encourages me to wonder if I could get 1% from each of 4 or 5 such changes - more than enough to notice and be pleased, if only I tried them all.

It also seems that most on the forum either (a) don’t believe in these things on principle/ common sense/ aesthetics, or (b) have tried specific examples in actual systems and bought something that for them improved the sound. As with chatting with friends and hi-fi shop people over the years, few (but not none) seem to have tried good platforms and decided that platforms made no improvement. Is that really just a believer/ sceptic bias showing?

Do Nothing may still win of course, but rabbit-holes like isolation and flash cables don’t go away, and I keep wondering. From the comments so far, if I do anything at all, it will probably involve calling The Audio Consultants.

4 Likes

As it’s in a dedicated room, the aesthetics clearly aren’t as important. I’m so pleased you took my comments in the spirit in which they were intended.

2 Likes

I dip in and out of this forum.

My desire to scratch the upgrade itch or go down the rabbit hole is proportional to the time I spend reading forum threads.

I am at my most content with my system when I am not constantly reading about potential improvements.

Note to self……

4 Likes

I have Townsend Pods under my TT very effective.

1 Like

Great. As Origine Live, Townsend products are rare here. It’s always interesting to see different products, not always Fraim, Lp12, and glass shelves. :grin:

1 Like

Thanks.

1 Like

At one stage some Quadraspire dealers had loan kits of Qplus “feet” for home trial. About as discrete as you can get, reasonably easy to place and remove. I saw/heard them in a demonstration placed under a Rega turntable on an SVT rack with positive results.

1 Like

I have found that vibration isolation products can make a difference …sometimes, with different makes and models.

@MDS has a 500 system which is excellent. I THINK he uses Quadraspire pucks. He was lent a set of the pucks and ended up buying lots for use under his Naim PSUs, from memory.

As to the efficacy, I am going to be as much use as a chocolate fireguard. The system sounded bloody good before, when I listened to it after the upgrade (a couple of months later) it was still great :wink:

I use IsoAcoustic Gaias under my SBLs to good effect.

Worth borrowing some variations and having a go if you are curious. I would buy a set of Hudson HiFi anti-vibration isolation feet for £20 as a control.

M

1 Like

I am in touch with Stephen Harper at Audio Consultants, and will report back on whether any recommendations lead to a dramatic improvement in sound quality.

2 Likes

The experiment begins!

Stephen Harper was very helpful and is sending me a trial pack of bits - when I am done, I will just send/ deliver it all back to him. From our chat, and my reading blurbs (and desperately trying to remember about resonances and the like from university days), I suspect that, if the HRS stuff has no benefit that I can detect, then there will be little point trying most of the rivals, and probably no need to consider the full HRS platforms and their eye-watering prices.

I also plan to get a piece of granite to try under my LP12 instead of the MDF sheet of the Targett wall bracket. My experience with my table and chat with Stephen both suggest granite should out-perform MDF/ wood/ metal/ glass.

I plan to try putting the HRS feet under boxes one-by-one to see which (if any) shows a discernible benefit. IIRC, Stephen reckons the most obvious benefits will be LP12 (with granite or with existing MDF board), then CDS2, then 52 and Superline, then the NDX2 and power supplies, with the power amp least likely to show much change.

Conversely, I am hoping that none of it makes things better, so I can spend no money and also stop wondering about incremental support improvements. However, I’ll let my ears decide whether any of it works in my case and my room, at the volume I like.

I’ll post again with results, and expect to be agreeing with @916SPS or with @anon4489532 within a couple of weeks. Whatever else, I’ll be better informed.

5 Likes

Hi Nick, try the HRS feet underneath the granite with the LP12 sitting on the granite - that’s essentially what I have with my LP12 - other than it’s a HRS Isolation base with feet that have the same tech as the HRS feet you don’t want the LP12 to be too damped. If you like this set up the Isolation base is many times better.

The CD player, HRS, Superline and 52 should clearly sound better with than without HRS
Are you putting 3 or 4 under them?

Look forward to hearing your results.

1 Like

Thanks @916SPS.

I worry that c.10kg of granite + LP12 = ripping bricks out of the wall, and expensive disaster, but I think we used the proper bolts 20 years ago - fingers crossed.

I am not sure that I can fit a full Isolation Base on the wall bracket & under the LP12 - the slot in the Target bracket is 460mm X 355mm and it does need to stay on the wall bracket. Of course, they make bespoke sizes, but cost/benefit maths will surely bite before than.

I intend to try granite versus MDF under the LP12. Then with HRS feet under the LP12, on each surface. Then exactly the MDF/Nimbus feet/ Granite/ LP12 sandwich you suggest.

As a separate test, I will try putting Nimbus feet under various Naim boxes. I could put Isolation bases instead or as well as Nimbus feet between granite shelves and Naim boxed, but hope that the test does not make me want to do that.

Stephen has suggested using 4 feet where I can, and is also sending top plates…

2 Likes

The top plates didn’t work for me the sound was too damped by them. Don’t know if you have space on your frame but I have the Isolation base on the top of my frame because the base was far too heavy for a wall bracket. The HRS bases and Nimbus Assemblies stop floor and airborne vibrations so you don’t get feedback or have the stylus skipping.

1 Like

When I had an LP12 I used a Sound Organisation wall shelf which was similar to the Target and worked well. The original Trampolinn made big positive difference, however. I’d look in that direction first.

1 Like

Thanks @916SPS - as mentioned, the LP12 can’t go on the granite rack, which is full. Getting more space would mean taking out a chimney-breast. I hope not to like the sound of the top plates, as I don’t much like the look.

@Michaelb, you are right that they are similar, though many here rate the comparable TP Vulkan & Audiotech equivalents as a bit better in sound and Mana as better again. However, a lot of people think that clever feet or platforms make a significant improvement difference, so actually trying a good example looks sensible.

I have heard Trampolins do a decent job of fixing obvious problems on a support, but thought the result a bit blander than ideal. I may have been mistaken - it was a while ago.

If all my experiments do is confirm that heavy stuff like granite is a terrible idea for an LP12 and that the feet and platforms make things worse or have no effect at all on all my boxes, I’ll be relieved. However, the experiment looks worth doing.

2 Likes

Yes, I. agree: you’ve got to scratch the itch and give them a try!

1 Like

Reading this thread I tried putting my Avid isolation platform under the LP12 (non-Trampolin) and thought that it sucked some of the life and vitality out of the sound. A better place for the Avid is under the Radikal, I’ve found.

Thanks @dynaudio. What is the rest of the kit and did you compare the Avid option to any others?

2 Likes

Hi - the LP12 sits on a Henly Designs stand, on the top level glass surface. The LP12 has the standard base/feet, no Trampolin, with Aro/Keel and Karousel.

The Avid was the only platform I tried - it is lightweight with Sorbothane feet. Seems to be most effective when used on Radikal and on NAC 252.

I may look in to getting a Trampolin 2 fitted at some stage. Years ago though it did have Trampolin 1 fitted but I didn’t like it and got rid.