Supporting the SL-1210

[Ammonite Audio]

I have been visiting my (cr@p) woodworking skills to produce a heavy wooden baseboard, using a 38mm thick oak worktop offcut, to support the Techy. I am expecting some Foculpods from eBay to provide some isolation for this board, but nothing has arrived, so some cut squash balls have to suffice for now. The Techy is supported by three upwards pointed Stillpoints, which sit nicely in three places underneath where the alloy chassis is directly accessible (screw mounting points, without the screws). I hope that makes sense, but the pictures below should be clearer.

Anyway, the idea is to support the Techy without interference from any rubbery layers, and support it on a nice massy platform, itself isolated from external vibration.

I think it works - there is a "calmness" to the sound which is immediately noticeable. Also, bass weight appears to have reduced, but definition of bass notes is much better. I need to do much more listening, but if its playing of "Life on Mars" is anything to go by, this is something worth developing.

[jandl100]

Ah, this should be interesting.

I went straight from the stock Techie feet to 2 inch sorbothane hemispheres off eBay (<£15 from The Missing Link folks, me being a cheapskate! ).



An excellent sonic upgrade bringing a much better focussed soundstage and more naturally presented detail, but I suspect there is much more to be had. And they have the aesthetic advantage that they fit precisely in the footer sockets of the Techie and so look made for the job.

I do believe that many do favour solid feet and support for the Techie.
I will be most interested in folks' experiences here.

[twelvebears]

Two very different solutions to the same problem.

I definately noticed a big imporovement when I binned the stock feet for Dave C's 'squidgy' feet and place the Techie on a proper Target wall shelf. The shelf itself uses a thin-ish sheet of glass which is decoupled from the metal frame by four squashy rubber buttons.

I've not tried any other alternatives, but possible options would be a slate slab to replace the glass and that hard contact points (such as Stillpoints etc) between the shelf frame and slab and/or the slab and Techie itself.

I'll get around to experimenting at somepoint, but my gut feel is that with a turntable where presumably it's more about stopping energy getting IN that sinking energy OUT, I'd have thought that damping and isolation would better, but I don't really know.

[MartinT]

I noticed a dramatic improvement in isolation when I fitted Isonoes in place of the Foculpods I had previously been using. Not only do they look good, but the sense of the Techie being perfectly isolated from the real world is impressive. This is further helped by my system rack being suspended on sprung feet.

Bass weight was slightly reduced compared with the Foculpods, but tightness and extension improved.

[Ammonite Audio]

I noticed a dramatic improvement in isolation when I fitted Isonoes in place of the Foculpods I had previously been using. Not only do they look good, but the sense of the Techie being perfectly isolated from the real world is impressive. This is further helped by my system rack being suspended on sprung feet.

Bass weight was slightly reduced compared with the Foculpods, but tightness and extension improved.

I have tried to like the Isonoes, but they seem to make the music sound like the musicians have ramrods up their arrses, in comparison with more 'direct' supporting methods, eg it's a rather contrived and polite performance. The same goes for the Herbies mat, which I really don't get on with (anyone want to buy it?). I know that Marco will disagree, but he has characterful cartridges, amps and speakers, which I reckon paper over the Isonoe shortcomings, or maybe in his case isolation really was needed above all else. Only this morning I had a listening session with the Isonoes and removed them again with some relief. The Technics does need some isolation - and the Isonoes certainly provide that - but I find you need to be careful that the cure does not kill the enjoyment of the music. Hence my wood block experiments, which will be complete only when the eBay seller of the Foculpods needed to isolate the block finally bothers to send them!

[chris@panteg]

Hi Shuggie

Did you have the Isonoes sat on a very hard surface ' like Glass as apparently this is important , according to the Blurb that came with them anyway ? .

[Ammonite Audio]

No, either on acrylic, or the oak block.

[MartinT]

I have tried to like the Isonoes, but they seem to make the music sound like the musicians have ramrods up their arrses, in comparison with more 'direct' supporting methods, eg it's a rather contrived and polite performance. The same goes for the Herbies mat, which I really don't get on with (anyone want to buy it?).

I just cannot reconcile what you are saying with what I hear. Both the mat (especially) and the feet made very positive improvements to my Techie.

[Ammonite Audio]

I just cannot reconcile what you are saying with what I hear. Both the mat (especially) and the feet made very positive improvements to my Techie.

We are all different, so what makes you happy does not necessarily work for me, but believe me I have tried these components over a fair amount of time. I believe the explanation lies in the auditory system, which includes not only the various components of the ear, but also the processing within the brain - each one of us is born with a different listening apparatus and very different brain programming to turn listening into hearing. It's a bit like comparing MP3 codecs - much, much more complicated than just looking at simple time or frequency domain information - psychoacoustics comes into it too. That's why some people (not I) appreciate Schoenberg, Birtwhistle etc; also why some people (also not I) can see those 3D fractal images that were trendy some years ago; and not to mention tastes in art. I appreciate modern abstract art, but most people do not. Audio is no different at all.

I am very interested in exploring alternative ways of getting the Technics to work best for me, but please don't think that I am arrogantly assuming that you, Marco and others are wrong - quite the opposite, since I know you are very happy with what you have. I just find that the SRM acrylic mat sounds so much better to my ears, and that Stillpoints supports result in a much more musically satisfying sound than the Isonoes. It's interesting to note that Dave Cawley states clearly on his website that his squidgy feet are better than the Isonoes, and I can believe that. That the Technics needs some isolation is not in doubt, but isolation is but part of another more complicated equation (which I don't fully understand).

[Ali Tait]

Agreed Shug,we are all different.One man's meat and all that...