last June i moved my -2- Taiko Tana/Herzan TS-140 active isolation units from under my SGM 2015 server and my NVS turntable to under both my darTZeel 458 mono block amplifiers. the 458's had been sitting on Box Furniture amp stands for the last 6 years. when i did this move we listened before and after and myself and my helpers easily heard the improvements.
https://whatsbestforum.com/threads/...ct-ii-digital-nvs-tt.25310/page-5#post-515620
and for the last 10 months i've greatly enjoyed this change.
however; there was a trade-off. and that was that i had removed the Tana units from the SGM server, but more importantly, from the NVS turntable. the net effect with both was maybe negligible, since a rising tide raises all ships. but........how much had removing the Tana from the NVS reduced the performance? i had already done a A/B on the SGM so i had a feel for that change.
about this same time i decided to take a break from any system upgrades for a while.
i had not had the stock passive Wave Kinetics anti vibration shelf under the NVS since 2013, over 5 years. and back when i originally added the stock Herzan TS-140 for under the NVS the system was different in a number of different ways. so much has changed. the question was how much better might the now mature Taiko Tana TS-140 compared to the NVS platform? it seemed i was listening to less vinyl. could this be somewhat due to the lack of the Tana? i knew i needed to figure this out for long term strategic system building reasons.
then there was the question of how good were the Box Furniture amp stands which i had A/B'd 10 months prior? i knew from Ed from SGM's visits when he tested my floor that is was exceptionally calm sounding. might the floor sound better than the Box Furniture stands? might the floor sound nearly as good as the Tana under the dart mono's? do i really know how good those Tana units are doing under the amps?
and then there is the whole 'remove the tweaks' every once in a while to test the result and make sure it was not wishful thinking.
if i was going to consider spending 5 figures and adding a 5th Tana unit for the NVS tt i needed to do some investigations to justify it's ROI in my end game mentality.
i asked 2 local friends, Jazdoc and Andrew.....who are very familiar with my system and hear sightly different than me, to come over last Saturday afternoon and assist me moving the amps, turntable and Tana units and listening.
and that is what we did. first we listened to the Tana units under the amps, then shut off the active isolation, then removed the dart mono's onto the floor and listened again. after the cartridge warmed up it was a clear nod from all three of us to the Tana's under the dart amps. note that the build quality of the dart mono's is crazy good, and the dart mono's have a built in suspension system for the power supply.
since we had already listened to the NVS with stock passive platform, we now moved one of the Tana TS-140 units to under the NVS turntable. again, we all three agreed a clear benefit to the Tana TS-140 over the NVS stock passive platform.
mission accomplished. questions answered. many thanks to my good friends jazdoc and Andrew for their time and support. i could not have done this by myself and also appreciated their objectivity.
i ordered the 5th Tana unit on Friday, will be here in a month or so.
i'm excited to hear the NVS + Tana with the dart mono's + 2 Tana's. that should be awesome sounding.
https://whatsbestforum.com/threads/...ct-ii-digital-nvs-tt.25310/page-5#post-515620
and for the last 10 months i've greatly enjoyed this change.
however; there was a trade-off. and that was that i had removed the Tana units from the SGM server, but more importantly, from the NVS turntable. the net effect with both was maybe negligible, since a rising tide raises all ships. but........how much had removing the Tana from the NVS reduced the performance? i had already done a A/B on the SGM so i had a feel for that change.
about this same time i decided to take a break from any system upgrades for a while.
i had not had the stock passive Wave Kinetics anti vibration shelf under the NVS since 2013, over 5 years. and back when i originally added the stock Herzan TS-140 for under the NVS the system was different in a number of different ways. so much has changed. the question was how much better might the now mature Taiko Tana TS-140 compared to the NVS platform? it seemed i was listening to less vinyl. could this be somewhat due to the lack of the Tana? i knew i needed to figure this out for long term strategic system building reasons.
then there was the question of how good were the Box Furniture amp stands which i had A/B'd 10 months prior? i knew from Ed from SGM's visits when he tested my floor that is was exceptionally calm sounding. might the floor sound better than the Box Furniture stands? might the floor sound nearly as good as the Tana under the dart mono's? do i really know how good those Tana units are doing under the amps?
and then there is the whole 'remove the tweaks' every once in a while to test the result and make sure it was not wishful thinking.
if i was going to consider spending 5 figures and adding a 5th Tana unit for the NVS tt i needed to do some investigations to justify it's ROI in my end game mentality.
i asked 2 local friends, Jazdoc and Andrew.....who are very familiar with my system and hear sightly different than me, to come over last Saturday afternoon and assist me moving the amps, turntable and Tana units and listening.
and that is what we did. first we listened to the Tana units under the amps, then shut off the active isolation, then removed the dart mono's onto the floor and listened again. after the cartridge warmed up it was a clear nod from all three of us to the Tana's under the dart amps. note that the build quality of the dart mono's is crazy good, and the dart mono's have a built in suspension system for the power supply.
since we had already listened to the NVS with stock passive platform, we now moved one of the Tana TS-140 units to under the NVS turntable. again, we all three agreed a clear benefit to the Tana TS-140 over the NVS stock passive platform.
mission accomplished. questions answered. many thanks to my good friends jazdoc and Andrew for their time and support. i could not have done this by myself and also appreciated their objectivity.
i ordered the 5th Tana unit on Friday, will be here in a month or so.
i'm excited to hear the NVS + Tana with the dart mono's + 2 Tana's. that should be awesome sounding.
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