RM30 and Isolation Platforms

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic. Read 1431 times.

Hipper

RM30 and Isolation Platforms
« on: 15 Jul 2014, 09:10 am »
Has anybody used Symposium Isolation Platforms under their VMPS speakers?

http://www.symposiumusa.com/svelte.html

This question was asked some years ago but no one seemed to have the experience.

With the down firing passive woofers and large feet Brian maintained that these speakers should sit on the floor, including carpet, and no spikes should be used. I have in the past used John Casler's 'Tallboy' tweak using a block of wood and that didn't have any bad effect on the sound. I therefore think the principle is that there should be no gap between the speaker's foot and the floor.

Shear Bliss

  • Jr. Member
  • Posts: 59
Re: RM30 and Isolation Platforms
« Reply #1 on: 15 Jul 2014, 03:30 pm »
Hey Hipper,

I have used 18"x18"x4" butcher blocks under my RM-1s with success, but mainly to raise them up so their tweeters were above my seated position. I now use 2" casters on them as well as on my larger ST/Rs. Being able to move/place them far more important to me, and the bottom end is still fantastic.

DW

John Casler

Re: RM30 and Isolation Platforms
« Reply #2 on: 15 Jul 2014, 05:02 pm »
IMO, they would offer benefit "only" to those on wooden and or suspended wooden floors, where mechanical isolation is needed.

On a concrete or solid floor their value would be limited.

As well I don't see any physics that supports any of their claims:

   
Quote
Superior transient preservation
    More focus, with more precise imaging
    A quieter background with a lower noise floor
    Improved picture quality with video devices
    Better bass, with less distortion and "boom"
    Improved high frequency air, detail, and dynamics
    Better soundstage

The only real advantage is decoupling from a wooden floor that vibrates (and thus makes noise) when mechanically coupled.

Hipper

Re: RM30 and Isolation Platforms
« Reply #3 on: 15 Jul 2014, 06:01 pm »
Thanks Shear Bliss and John.

The theory is that some vibrations come from outside, not just the floor. These vibrations can be very low - 10kHz or less, 'seismic vibrations', from lorries, building works etc.. Here's a link to the idea:

http://www.barrydiamentaudio.com/vibration.htm

I tried Barry's bicycle inner tube idea. It doesn't really work on my speaker gear rack but on my headphone rack, a less sophisticated one, it does seem to add a small amount more detail and 'airiness'. I'm not sure yet if it doesn't muddy the bass a bit.

His ball bearing idea is similar to Symposium's Rollerblocks.

Hipper

Re: RM30 and Isolation Platforms
« Reply #4 on: 23 Apr 2015, 01:00 pm »
I carried out some trials and thought I'd report on my findings.

There are benefits, exactly as described by the Symposium website:

http://www.symposiumusa.com/faq.shtml#1

I bought Symposium Svelte Platforms, two 19" x 24". The cost was $1,300 - not cheap. It may be possible to use smaller (therefore cheaper) platforms but they will be smaller then the feet of the RM30Ms. They are 5/8" high so have minimal impact on raising the speakers. My speakers sit on carpet which in turn is on a rubber/foam sonic insulation of about 1" in order to reduce sound travel to my neighbour below. This apparently is not ideal as it's better to use these platforms on a hard surface. Following advice, in order to level the speakers I used slivers of metal underneath the platforms. Of course I had to try and get my speakers exactly positioned as they were before - distance from the two walls, toe-in, and distance from my ears. This took around two hours! So the speakers sit on the platforms which sit on the carpet - no cones or other footers are used.

In my listening tests I was trying to hear if I could detect more percussion details on specific tracks. I thought I could but it wasn't really significant. After getting fed up with this I thought I'd try and relax and just listen to some of my favorite music. I wasn't too disapointed because I had already tested the platforms under my gear with good results I thought.

At first the music seemed louder then normal yet I was listening at the normal volume (I can set the volume exactly and note the volume levels for each CD). Then I realised that all instruments and voices seemed more seperate and more defined. In particular things like piano and rythym guitar which were usually in the background seemed easier to follow and very enjoyable. A violin came in with a sharpness that was unexpected. Kick drums on some tracks could be felt when they weren't before. These are I understand all symptoms of lowering the noise floor, which is exactly what Symposium claim they do.

Since then I've been going through my favorite CDs and I hear all this with all of them. Nice!

I think there are only two other ways to get this sort of improvement - better power supplies, and better extraction of data from the CDs, by cleaning say.

I would highly recommend trying these platforms under the speakers (and under your gear for that matter -I've got a sophisticated rack yet improvements, particularly under the CD Transport and amp can be had).