Active Anti-vibration Platforms : Accurion i4 and Herzan TS150

Basement

I thought about the error correction,etc. If the isolation is preventing the error correction and data recovery (which in its self doesn't bode well IMO) from having to come into play it might sound better, no?

The drive is designed such that the head and disc are tightly coupled. The error correction is pretty extensive and the whole idea is to maintain proper data flow. Think of all the drive accesses a computer network handles flawlessly. Given your basement location I would not be concerned but obviously some feel there is benefit in isolating their server no matter where it is located.
 
Have you noticed any performance advantage with one unit over the other ? The both isolate well below 1Hz so I suspect any advantage would be negligible at best.

WHAT did you say???

Differences that are "negligible at best" MUST be sought out, detected and corrected. This is WHAT'S BEST! :D :D
 
Accurion i4 needs a 24V-5A dc input.

Here is the photo taken during our gathering :

View attachment 19902

Kenneth entertains overseas orders. His linear PSUs are best-buys in the market. He can be contacted at diyla1209@yahoo.com.hk

Thanks. I wonder how much of the improvement comes from the fact your are not polluting you AC line with a noisy SMPS, and how much (if any) comes from limiting the amount of noise that goes into the Accurion itself.

If it is the former, than powering the Accurion form a separate power line should solve the problem. I will try to power it from my separate, 'dirty', household AC line first.

The possibility to replace the PSU may make it a better buy than Accurion's audiophile line - the Silencer, which uses a built in SMPS.

det-av-silencer.jpg


http://www.accurion.com/active-vibration-isolation-products/silencer
 
CK, have you compared the Kenneth Lau to the Paul Hynes power supply?
 
Thanks. I wonder how much of the improvement comes from the fact your are not polluting you AC line with a noisy SMPS, and how much (if any) comes from limiting the amount of noise that goes into the Accurion itself.

If it is the former, than powering the Accurion form a separate power line should solve the problem. I will try to power it from my separate, 'dirty', household AC line first.

The possibility to replace the PSU may make it a better buy than Accurion's audiophile line - the Silencer, which uses a built in SMPS.

det-av-silencer.jpg


http://www.accurion.com/active-vibration-isolation-products/silencer

the 'Silencer' audiophile model does not have auto-leveling.
 
How do you get the best out of both?. I would want better treble and better bass :D

Buy both for each and every component and stack them under each and every component and don't forget the power cords and grounding for each and every component, problem solved, audio euphoria!!!
:eek::p
 
Thanks for that heads-up. I missed that.
No auto leveling means its out of consideration....

I would think that this feature is more critical for placement under a turntable than it would be for under a DAC, but that is only speculation on my part. Do these units go out of level over time? And if so, is it because of changing loads, uneven loads, or some other reason?
 
I would think that this feature is more critical for placement under a turntable than it would be for under a DAC, but that is only speculation on my part. Do these units go out of level over time? And if so, is it because of changing loads, uneven loads, or some other reason?

I agree. Leveling only needed for a TT.
 
Thanks for that heads-up. I missed that.
No auto leveling means its out of consideration....

my first exposure in my room to active isolation was with the Halcyonics unit in 2004. that included leveling. but the importer had a problem with distribution because the technical sales side sold direct to industry/academia/research and the audiophile side needed margin for dealers. so they came up with the 'audiophile' Silencer without leveling (still at the same or higher price) to differentiate it from the technical side and allow margin for distribution thru audio dealers.

I can't say how that process worked out but I would not go down this road without leveling. for all the sensors and actuators to work ideally it needs to be level. my understanding is that like the most advanced passive units there is a process to get it level which needs to be followed.

and now they have various products targeted at smaller electronics and instruments at lower price points. most of those have auto leveling.

you need to compare all the specs to see what sort of flexibility the unit you are looking at has. active decoupling comes in many shapes and sizes.
 
Mike, I'm really not sure why Keith's trial w/the Accurion i4 is to be considered sub standard due to underloading. From what I gather the GP Monaco tt that was the subject of the trial is around 30kg, and this is in the sweet spot for the i4. If it wasn't why would the rep have gone ahead w/the trial knowing outcomes would be less than ideal?
FWIW, the Spiers and Robertson air table is pretty forgiving of load, and the 25kg of my Trans Fi Audio Salvation tt should work pretty well on it.
 
If one of these active units is around $10K full retail, I would think that some enterprising company could modify the technology and integrate it into a top tier turntable. It might even be simpler and less costly than the air suspension on the TechDas tables. The addition of active isolation to some table like the VPI DD or Kodo the Beat, or even an SME might elevate the performance to such a degree that it would be easily worth the extra charge and might even put such a table into "super" status at much less than the $50-100K+ tables.

Are Jonathan Tinn, AJ Conti and others considering this?
 
Thanks for that heads-up. I missed that.
No auto leveling means its out of consideration....

You can still manually level the unit with the keys provided. I had one at home back in 2007 or so, when I had a full ARC setup (Ref3/8/110).
 
If one of these active units is around $10K full retail, I would think that some enterprising company could modify the technology and integrate it into a top tier turntable. It might even be simpler and less costly than the air suspension on the TechDas tables. The addition of active isolation to some table like the VPI DD or Kodo the Beat, or even an SME might elevate the performance to such a degree that it would be easily worth the extra charge and might even put such a table into "super" status at much less than the $50-100K+ tables.

Are Jonathan Tinn, AJ Conti and others considering this?

And when you add active isolation to super status tables, you get super duper status sound...;)
 
The both isolate well below 1Hz so I suspect any advantage would be negligible at best.

I just tried to look up some of the specs for these units.

The Accurion begins isolating at .7 Hz and is 20% effective at that frequency according to the graph. At 1Hz it is 40%, 2Hz 80% and 3.5 Hz, 90%. Transmissibility is 0.1 at 5Hz and 0.01 at 10 Hz.

I presume the Herzan isolation begins around the same .7 Hz but it does not approach 100% isolation until 10 Hz. The Herzan transmissibility is 0.1 at 3.5 Hz and 0.01 at 10.5 Hz.
 
You can still manually level the unit with the keys provided. I had one at home back in 2007 or so, when I had a full ARC setup (Ref3/8/110).

Both Accurion i4 series & Nano series and Herzan TS series have auto-levelling function.

If the load placed on them is too uneven to level and function, the platforms will indicate.

Herzan's led screen has an advantage here. It can show the distribution of load on its diff zones. The owner can then redistribute the loads accordingly.
 
CK, have you compared the Kenneth Lau to the Paul Hynes power supply?

Hi bonzo75,

No direct comparison done. There are not many Paul Hynes owners in Hong Kong.

Kenneth's psu has an important advantage : there are high ampere models up to 7A, 8A or even >10A.
Other brands of linear psu rarely have such high power models.
These high power models are important particularly for CAS audiophiles because HD & NAS are power-hungry.
Also, Kenneth's high power models are cool & stable. They are to be kept turned-on continuously.
 
?...

Herzan's led screen has an advantage here. It can show the distribution of load on its diff zones. The owner can then redistribute the loads accordingly.

I am not sure led screen is an advantage. Led screen tends to give out high frequency noise back to the main line. That's why Ayre KXR preamp uses a very expensive LED module that's on all the time to reduce high frequency.

Separate question: Given vibrations is #1 enemy to speakers, have one tried these platforms under speakers?
 
I am not sure led screen is an advantage. Led screen tends to give out high frequency noise back to the main line. That's why Ayre KXR preamp uses a very expensive LED module that's on all the time to reduce high frequency.
Separate question: Given vibrations is #1 enemy to speakers, have one tried these platforms under speakers?

Hi adyc,

Agree with you on that led screens are usually noisy.
At least the one on Herzan is a simple monotone one and can be switched off.

I notice a trend of more and more hifi gears having a colourful screen on them. Some of them are even touch screens!

Active platforms are new to HK audiophiles.
Do any audiophiles in N America or Europe have experience of placing them underneath loudspeakers?
 
Mike, I'm really not sure why Keith's trial w/the Accurion i4 is to be considered sub standard due to underloading. From what I gather the GP Monaco tt that was the subject of the trial is around 30kg, and this is in the sweet spot for the i4. If it wasn't why would the rep have gone ahead w/the trial knowing outcomes would be less than ideal?
FWIW, the Spiers and Robertson air table is pretty forgiving of load, and the 25kg of my Trans Fi Audio Salvation tt should work pretty well on it.

Spirit, I agree that if he was using the i4 then I was wrong to make that comment. my memory tells me I checked into whatever Accurion unit he was using and it had approximately a 30 pound limit. if somehow I got it wrong, or maybe it was 30 kgs instead of pounds. I tried to find the thread where he referred to his testing but so far I've not found it. please point me to it so I can see where I screwed up. I try to get my facts straight but maybe missed on that.
 

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