Doctor's Orders-Part Two-The New Listening Room Of Steve Williams

I have to thank "astrotoy" for this album.

1977 Decca

Music is fabulous and if you like a big orchestral sound this is fantastic

According to Larry this was part of TAS Super Disk

Music From The Film Ben Hur

Music is superb and extremely well recorded.

Thanks Micro fir the suggestion

Another shout out to astrotoy

Also on TAS Reference disk

1978 Decca
Again wonderful music and excellently recorded
Quo Vadis

Also composed and conducted by Miklós Rózsa

In May 2015 when I made the decision to get back into vinyl I also made the decision to do an about face in the existing isolation techniques in my system Up to that point I was using Stillpoints Ultra 5's (18 in all) and Ultra 6's ( 12 in all) throughout my system. I felt that I could get more and began researching all the different methods that members use here. My search literally involved a very thorough review of the scientific method used in these different techniques. Some members I found used double isolation and vibration control techniques. I've heard all of the aforementioned and was using one of these in my own system. On my short list was HRS and SRA

It was just about that time when my good friend and fellow member JackD201 let me in on what he called "Our best kept secret" when I asked the question of Jack what he was using. Jack mentioned Critical Mass Systems (CMS) and my usual due diligence took me to the website and perusal of the information whetted my interest especially if Jack (who I consider to be a very gifted and knowledgeable audiophile) said that this was a well kept secret in Jack's part of the world. CMS however was in my part of the world and a quick phone call put me in contact with Joe Lavrencik, the owner and CEO of CMS. Joe from the moment he answered the phone was friendly, receptive to any and all of my questions and tried to answer the most important question as to the scientific reason for why he claimed his product was so efficacious. Joe had no reservation and told me in simplistic terms that even a dolt like me would understand how he felt his rack was superior to anything in the market with which it competes. I thought that was a self assured and very confidant answer to the point that Joe told me he owns a patent on his system and sent me the "white paper" Constrained Layer Damping Systems In Audio. I will include this because I feel it offers a lot of information.

I also researched Joe's patent and even discussed the science behind his racks with users as well as scientists who would understand the math a lot better than I would. The long and the short of it was I ordered a 4 Shelf CMS rack for my new turntable and my phono stage and its power supplies. Jack told me to be prepared for a 3-4 week break in before the sound is at its best. I found that statement difficult to understand but when I sat down and re-read the white paper it all made sense. Joe's racks are either 3 or 4 legged and I chose the "4 legged" because I felt there was even better stability. I ordered an oversized Black Diamond shelf for the TechDas Af

At the end of the month there were clear and distinct improvements in the sound. My overall impression was a better and tighter bass response as well as just a better presence of the music to which I listened. There was more of a personal involvement in the music inasmuch as my digital front end sat on a very old Billy Bags rack with (perish the thought) glass shelves as well as a Zoethecus stand for my Studer A810 and Doshi tape pre. In all honestly and not unexpectedly my analog listening sessions sounded so much better.

I was smitten with what I heard and made a decision that I was going to create an all CMS system for my audio room. Shortly afterwards I ordered 4 Black Diamond amp stands also 3 legged. This is documented in my system write up. The biggest gain with installation of these 4 Black Diamond racks was top and bottom extension with a feeling of grip and presence as well as again a better bass response.

In June 2016 during THE Show at Newport Joe and his wife Joy visited Cathy and I during my annual get together during THE Show. It was then that Joe envisioned a horizontal rack that would sit under the balance of all of my remaining components. He took accurate measurements and shortly after his return to Chicago he presented an initial rendering of his suggestion. I thought it was terrific and the only decision was what shelves t use under each component. I chose Black Diamond for my Playback Designs, Studer and DAC (which I intend on buying in the coming year). I presently have my Doshi sitting on this proposed DAC shelf and I have a 4th Black Diamond shelf sitting under my TechDas. I also have 8 Black Platinum shelves and 2 Black Sapphire shelves. If you look at the attached photos you will see that the thickness of the shelf and therefore the number of layers of damping in that model shelf. As an aside, Joe doesn't like to call his shelves, "shelves". He considers them instruments which are fine tuned to bring the sound floor to virtually zero with his shelves. Only with the sound floor zero does Joe feel the listener has the actual ability to hear what his components truly sound like.

My order was placed in June and only delivered 3 weeks ago. When delivered the rack had a weight of 850 lbs. Joe was kind enough to fly out with Joy and spend the weekend with us and to set up and install the new rack. This involved a tear down on my complete system including the turntable and phono stage with power supplies. Altogether it was perhaps 7-8 hours of work. The turntable that used to be closest to my speakers was now furthest away. As a result rewiring needed to be done but to my good fortune I found that I had sufficient length of each of my cables that no new purchases was necessary.

All the equipment was carefully loaded onto its appropriate shelf and location and once the wiring was complete the system was all turned on. After a few minutes of warm up of the system Joe and I sat down for an initial listen. I looked at Joe and said it sounds like $hit. He laughed and said not to worry. He said to leave a CD on in REP mode as we were all going for dinner to Newport Beach and would be away from the system for about 4-5 hours. When we returned and listened I was stunned. The top and bottom end was sending darn good and the bass was beginning to improve. How could tis be I asked if these are only shelves. Well once again, if you read his White paper you will understand the science. Joe has been gone for 3 weeks now and I have been listening for long periods every day. I feel I am close to maximum benefit derived

So What's Different

The immediate response is the sound stage has now extended out beyond the speakers and there is now a depth to the soundstage that I have never before heard. There is extension of the sound stage well in front of the speakers to the point where as a listener I am beginning to feel that I am a part of this listening event as I am so close to it. The bass is my system is now better than I have ever heard, including the Stillpoints that I used.


What I am noticing is that due to the reduced and virtually absent sound floor, I have had to reduce the gain control on my preamp to levels that I just have never heard. I can understand the basis for this when using different types of cable but have just never experienced this with a shelf rack.

The other thing that really was noticeable was in records where the sound stage can be heard way up along the side walls due to out of phase recording of parts of the music. Best recent example is the remaster of Roger Waters Amused to Death. Previously I could hear the guy talking in the out of phase music half way up my side walls. I listened to this record a few days ago and played the tracks in mention. I almost fell off my seat because the sound was heard literally to the rear corner of each side wall and in a few instances it was like the guy was talking in my ear.. I have just never experienced this

In discussion with Joe he feels that his system brings the listener closer to their music because they are finally listening to their equipment. I must admit that these past 3 weeks have convinced me as I listened to the system break in. Now don't get me wrong as I am not belittling other methods that members use here but I can honestly say that with Joe's CMS racks the change is not subtle but as convincing as anything I have heard before. With Stillpoints the effect is immediate but with CMS this is a 3-4 week break in

Joe also makes a top of the line shelf called the MAXXUM which is even better than the Black Diamond but to order these instead was just beyond my means.

I am hoping Joe might at some point might be able to field some questions from members

Joe and I after the install

Here are some salient features from Joe's White Paper


Loudspeakers are transmission towers that convert electrical signals to vibration. Using the air that surrounds us, they turn the listening room into an intense energy field consisting exclusively of vibration. When we listen to music, we are sitting in an intense vibrating energy field that you can hear and feel. The amount of vibration we consume when listening is miniscule; for the purpose of hearing, we only consume the energy that enters our auditory canal. The rest of it is loose everywhere in the room; the air, the floor, the walls, the ceiling and the components vibrate in sympathy to the vibrations coming from the loudspeakers.

Constrained Layer Damping used in Critical Mass Systems can be defined as a specifically sequenced array of pressurized and non-pressurized materials within a precisely dimensioned encasement where the sequence of materials lowers natural frequency and additionally manages broad bandwidth, multi-directional mechanical waves released by loudspeakers into the air to greatly reduce vibration in components.

Unlike manufacturers that fabricate isolation systems in narrow weight ranges to avoid material failures, Critical Mass Systems are patented (US patent 7,290,759) systems that avoid this major limitation. Our constrained layer damping systems use the same Laws of Physics as isolation systems but have the benefit of supporting equipment in very broad weight ranges; typically from 1 pound to 300 pounds without adjustments or concerns about center of gravity. Higher load limits are possible.

Critical Mass Systems’ designs are based on a range of Laws and principals within physics including, but not limited to, the First and Second Laws of Thermodynamics, Elastic Modulus and the thin rod speed of sound through metals at the molecular level. Elastic Modulus and thin rod speed of sound are utilized at the molecular level and at the atomic level to select materials in our rack architecture. The First and Second Law of Thermodynamics are used predominantly in our filter system construction; however Elastic Modulus and thin rod speed of sound are also as important in the sequencing and application of damping materials.

Critical Mass Systems chooses specific metals used for its rack architecture with respect to their elastic modulus and thin rod speed to ensure even energy transfer throughout the rack architecture thus transferring vibration into the filter systems at predictable frequencies and velocities. This greatly reduces energy spikes that can otherwise propagate through the filter systems and degrade the performance of electrical circuitry and mechanical devices such as turntables and transports causing audible degradation of the output signal.

Elastic Modulus is a mathematical description of a substance's tendency to be deformed elastically when force is applied to it. The elastic modulus of an object is defined as the slope of its stress-strain curve in its elastic deformation region: as such, a stiffer material will have a higher elastic modulus. The elastic modulus of a material is directly related to the degree to which it propagates and/or reflects energy as vibrations are applied to it.

Vertical legs and horizontal supports are high purity (96% to 99%), solutionized, stress-relieved, stretched and artificially aged aluminum alloy – 10 X 106 psi (69 GPA), with a thin rod speed of approximately 5,014 m/s.

Spikes and connectors are high purity (99%) titanium alloy – 15 X 106 psi (105 GPA), with a thin rod speed of approximately 5,090 m/s.

Fixed balls interfacing to filter systems are sintered tungsten alloy – 98 X 106 psi (550 GPA), with a thin rod speed of approximately 6,220 m/s.

Internal damping material is augmented by a metal alloy - 17 X 106 psi (117 GPA), with a thin rod speed of approximately 3,810 m/s.

Our patented filter systems possess a specific internal structural arrangement deigned to manage the transfer of vibration (mechanical energy) from the rack into the filter and from the component into the filter. It is important to note that the filter is not an isolation system in the classic sense as it does not prevent the transmission of vibration in the absolute sense. Rather, the filter system manages the flow of vibration into and out of the component resting upon it as well as the rack architecture supporting it. Thus, the component and the precision support system supporting it become fully integrated into a singular mechanical system.

Here are examples of 2 CMS filter systems:


Black Diamond
Certified aluminum alloy framework
Constrained Layer damping
Dual Zone damping sections separated by a 2.5” elastomeric buffer
Upper Damping Section
18 layer sandwich arrayed in constrained damping layers
3 different top plate materials for rigidity under load
6 different damping materials precisely sequenced based on nomographic damping data
Lower Damping Section
9 layer sandwich arrayed in constrained damping layers
Select bottom plate material for rigidity under load
5 different damping materials precisely sequenced based on nomographic damping data

Black Platinum
Certified aluminum alloy framework
Constrained Layer damping
Dual Zone damping sections separated by a 1.5” elastomeric buffer
Upper Damping Section
18 layer sandwich arrayed in constrained damping layers
3 different top plate materials for rigidity under load
6 different damping materials precisely sequenced based on nomographic damping data
Lower Damping Section
9 layer sandwich arrayed in constrained damping layers
Select bottom plate material for rigidity under load
5 different damping materials precisely sequenced based on nomographic damping data

I am trying to copy the white paper but it's a .pdf and I'm ignorant how to do that so I posted the synopsis. I have Adobe Reader so I will figure it out

I hope to post the white paper because the math involved is quite amazing

Mike Lavigne said:

Steve,

congrats on the new racks; they are beautiful. your room looks great.

and I enjoyed reading your write-up and description of the break-in process......which seems counter intuitive but I've not read the white paper. (added note--I see while I was posting another post from you describes the science....I will read it.)

i'll need to visit again to hear it.

Click to expand...

Hi Mike and thanks for the comments. In fact it was one of your sayings that kept me on track with this project. It was you who said "everything matters"

To hear the sound change over the course of a few weeks was indeed counter intuitive until you understand Joe's goal in design. Another interesting feature is how over the course of a few weeks the component on each shelf almost becomes adherent to the shelf. It must have to do with the material the top of each shelf is made of. In fact when we tore down the system it was a bit of a chore to get each component piece that Joe gives to go under each foot of the component. Those little pieces of metal were densely adherent to the shelf.

Here is the White Paper

View attachment Basics of Critical Mass Systems.pdf