A world first? Passive v active isolation platforms test
- Thread starter spiritofmusic
- Start date
Hahaha.. a small giggle before bed gives me a good sleep.
You meant tinkle, surely
I think pre-sleep routines need their own thread.
Tang, I’ve just confirmed with Jarek order for my third and fourth Stacores, for hopeful March delivery.
Next week my analog gets reinstalled, with tt/arm going on my existing Stacore Adv.
Tang, I’ve just confirmed with Jarek order for my third and fourth Stacores, for hopeful March delivery.
Next week my analog gets reinstalled, with tt/arm going on my existing Stacore Adv.
No, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it works just fine LOL.
Francisco, the current craze sweeping the world of tweaks and foo is the shaking of Entreq ground boxes.
I’ll sit pretty (on or not on Stacore) while the others practice some gym moves with their Entreq.
Francisco, the current craze sweeping the world of tweaks and foo is the shaking of Entreq ground boxes.
I’ll sit pretty (on or not on Stacore) while the others practice some gym moves with their Entreq.
My tt gets reinstalled on Stacore Adv in a couple of days.
I’m not going to be able to do a direct a/b Stacore v active as I did for my cdp, so it’ll just be me posting my impressions.
I have a reasonably good memory for how my tt sounded on my Symposium Isis rack, and my demo on active Accurion i4 a little while back.
I’ll use these as my comparison points to describe what I hear.
I’m not going to be able to do a direct a/b Stacore v active as I did for my cdp, so it’ll just be me posting my impressions.
I have a reasonably good memory for how my tt sounded on my Symposium Isis rack, and my demo on active Accurion i4 a little while back.
I’ll use these as my comparison points to describe what I hear.
Thanks for that Bill.
Peter of Alternative Audio in the UK was over to help reinstall my tt. Basically a 24 month wait after I played my last lp in Dec 2015 ahead of my apartment sale forcing my system into storage.
Other than a brief install 6 months ago, this is my first chance to hear my tt at home for all this time.
And critically it’s gone on my Stacore Adv platform (cdp now vacated its previous pride of place).
Unlike previous comments that compared passive to active, I’m not able to have done so in this case. So my comments are limited purely to the changes I’m detecting with my tt in the Stacore compared to my previous install on Symposium Isis rack.
I’ll post my thoughts as I formulate them. But initial impressions are highly impressive counterbalanced by a few caveats linked to a few setup parameters having changed as well, incl psu burn in issues.
Peter of Alternative Audio in the UK was over to help reinstall my tt. Basically a 24 month wait after I played my last lp in Dec 2015 ahead of my apartment sale forcing my system into storage.
Other than a brief install 6 months ago, this is my first chance to hear my tt at home for all this time.
And critically it’s gone on my Stacore Adv platform (cdp now vacated its previous pride of place).
Unlike previous comments that compared passive to active, I’m not able to have done so in this case. So my comments are limited purely to the changes I’m detecting with my tt in the Stacore compared to my previous install on Symposium Isis rack.
I’ll post my thoughts as I formulate them. But initial impressions are highly impressive counterbalanced by a few caveats linked to a few setup parameters having changed as well, incl psu burn in issues.
Last edited:
O! Great Marc! Finally!
I'd put the PSU on the floor and move the TT so that its center of mass is above the geometric center of the platform.
Then perhaps try to squeeze the PSU if it fits anywhere.
Cheers,
I'd put the PSU on the floor and move the TT so that its center of mass is above the geometric center of the platform.
Then perhaps try to squeeze the PSU if it fits anywhere.
Cheers,
I do get that.
But I have v little latitude in placement due to the relative shortness of one-piece tonearm wire. That PSU is actually my Straingauge energiser (in effect, phono), and my wire is not long enough to have the energiser elsewhere other than up against the tt.
So I’m stuck with this install detail as is.
The good news is, things are sounding good.
But I have v little latitude in placement due to the relative shortness of one-piece tonearm wire. That PSU is actually my Straingauge energiser (in effect, phono), and my wire is not long enough to have the energiser elsewhere other than up against the tt.
So I’m stuck with this install detail as is.
The good news is, things are sounding good.
Sawasdee Marc,
Nice to see your tt is up and running. Will be a while for things to settle and sounding as excellent as you hope for..burning in, finetuning cart, etc. Once you get "the" sound I doubt you will want to know how it would be if your tt were on a different platform. Now its no longer an easy process like putting your cd player on and off a Stacore. Look forward to reading your love diary.
Kind regards,
Tang
Nice to see your tt is up and running. Will be a while for things to settle and sounding as excellent as you hope for..burning in, finetuning cart, etc. Once you get "the" sound I doubt you will want to know how it would be if your tt were on a different platform. Now its no longer an easy process like putting your cd player on and off a Stacore. Look forward to reading your love diary.
Kind regards,
Tang
Thanks Tang, likewise you and your new AS. No way am I moving my rig now it’s installed. I do have a visitor over soon who feels the Basic would be a better option for his tt than the Advanced, but I’ve informed him I’m not doing this trial (removing additional top plate and resiting tt on platform below).
Having moved my tt to the Stacore Adv, I’ve now moved my cdp off it and back to my Symposium Isis rack.
And so a good opportunity to assess the change in de-Stacore’ing my digital.
By no means is the sound terrible from my Eera cdp sans Stacore.
It could hardly be, I loved it for the 3 years I ran it on my rack.
But it’s lacking quite a bit in comparison.
Most critically, the soundstage has receded, shrunken and flattened. Natural warmth has thinned out, and dynamics generally are less marked. It’s the recession of the image that’s the most negative thing about losing the Stacore, and it’s not subtle.
I’ll be very happy to reinstall the Eera back on a Stacore Adv in the Spring, when I order a couple more (also to isolate my preamp).
And so a good opportunity to assess the change in de-Stacore’ing my digital.
By no means is the sound terrible from my Eera cdp sans Stacore.
It could hardly be, I loved it for the 3 years I ran it on my rack.
But it’s lacking quite a bit in comparison.
Most critically, the soundstage has receded, shrunken and flattened. Natural warmth has thinned out, and dynamics generally are less marked. It’s the recession of the image that’s the most negative thing about losing the Stacore, and it’s not subtle.
I’ll be very happy to reinstall the Eera back on a Stacore Adv in the Spring, when I order a couple more (also to isolate my preamp).
Well, 40 hours into the kind of burn in period that made me seriously doubt my mind, and tbh the whole hobby itself, I’m locking down truly great results on the analog side.
Now, I haven’t been able to run active v passive under my tt as I did under my cdp.
But I have been able to a/b the tt on my Stacore versus on my original rack.
And there really is no contest. Bass is the single biggest area of impvt of analog on the Stacore. I’ve never been near this level of bass extension, articulation, natural warmth and start/stop quality with zero bleed into mids.
Mids texture, depth, imaging and air are all off the scale good, really allowing the soundstage to fill the room. Highs are sweet and rounded, definite evidence of more to come here.
And with all these gains shrunken and recessive listening to the tt on my rack, I’m confident in stating the Stacore hits a home run again, more positives to add to what the platform is doing for my cdp and balanced transformer.
One final massive plus for the Stacore. My air bearing linear tracking arm is absolute lovely sounding, but is a real devil in day to day use. It has to be ABSOLUTELY level and isolated from vibrations to run smoothly and not skip or mistrack. My floor is both springy and not level, and yet my arm has never tracked more securely than it does now, with the tt/arm on the Stacore. All with the platform sitting on the floor, the tt being no more than 5” above ground level. This in itself is almost worth the price of admission.
Now, I haven’t been able to run active v passive under my tt as I did under my cdp.
But I have been able to a/b the tt on my Stacore versus on my original rack.
And there really is no contest. Bass is the single biggest area of impvt of analog on the Stacore. I’ve never been near this level of bass extension, articulation, natural warmth and start/stop quality with zero bleed into mids.
Mids texture, depth, imaging and air are all off the scale good, really allowing the soundstage to fill the room. Highs are sweet and rounded, definite evidence of more to come here.
And with all these gains shrunken and recessive listening to the tt on my rack, I’m confident in stating the Stacore hits a home run again, more positives to add to what the platform is doing for my cdp and balanced transformer.
One final massive plus for the Stacore. My air bearing linear tracking arm is absolute lovely sounding, but is a real devil in day to day use. It has to be ABSOLUTELY level and isolated from vibrations to run smoothly and not skip or mistrack. My floor is both springy and not level, and yet my arm has never tracked more securely than it does now, with the tt/arm on the Stacore. All with the platform sitting on the floor, the tt being no more than 5” above ground level. This in itself is almost worth the price of admission.
Last edited:
Gosh, just over six years since I last updated this thread. I feel old!
I've just taken out my balanced transformer which has freed up a Stacore Basic + that I was using under it.
I've now moved that to my gear location, and moved my Eera CDP onto the Stacore from my Symposium rack.
And the improvement is immediately apparent, across all parameters.
My system is so much better than a few years back, that improvements in air and bloom are much more apparent when present, and this is exactly what I'm hearing with the Stacore isolating my CDP.
A fantastic bonus alongside my improved outcome from better power.
I've just taken out my balanced transformer which has freed up a Stacore Basic + that I was using under it.
I've now moved that to my gear location, and moved my Eera CDP onto the Stacore from my Symposium rack.
And the improvement is immediately apparent, across all parameters.
My system is so much better than a few years back, that improvements in air and bloom are much more apparent when present, and this is exactly what I'm hearing with the Stacore isolating my CDP.
A fantastic bonus alongside my improved outcome from better power.
I'm reminded just how good Stacore is as a solution. It's absolutely convincing as a product to pull every iota of audio goodness from a well performing component.
Marc, I followed this thread when you first started it. I have had similar revelations until I tried something different and was able to pull out even more iotas of audio goodness from a well performing component. You cannot know what is missing until you discover it.
I had thought that I had reached the potential from my turntable when I installed the right thread replacing the non-stretch belt. Then I started experimenting with thread tension and finally thread length. The result was an ever increasingly convincing presentation.
The Stacore may be the best solution for you. Have you experimented with what the Stacore sitting on and what is between the feet of your component and the top surface of the Stacore? Who knows what you might discover?
Last edited:
Absolutely Peter, I remain amazed both at how certain applications can work so well, just be ultra revealing yet remain wholly musical.
Similar threads
 | Steve Williams Site Founder | Site Owner | Administrator |  | Ron Resnick Site Co-Owner | Administrator |  | Julian (The Fixer) Website Build | Marketing Managersing |