Herzan/Table Stable "Active" Isolation table.
- Thread starter rockitman
- Start date
Just some questions. Does the Clearaudio table have any suspension of its own, or is it technically an unsuspended table? Do you have the turntable stand on concrete slab, or was it on a wooden floor on a second story?
yes, concrete slab. Table is a mass loaded non suspended. Perfect design for this application. Suspended tables will benefit too depending on the design.
Bill Demars
Well-Known Member
I was shocked at the improvement the Herzon base made to Christian's system. It played with so much more poise during tough passages, where before it got a bit edgy. More resolution too and a richer presentation. Took his system to the next level for sure.
my TS-140 will be here this coming week about when i'm at the Newport show.
looking forward to it.
Bill, I have no doubt about your report. Though I have not heard the Herzon active isolation, I know first hand what proper passive isolation can do for a turntable and for amplifiers. It has to be heard to be believed and will certainly take the system to a new level. It will be very interesting to hear what Christian thinks about the Herzon under his coming TechDas which is already isolated to some degree. But that won't be until the end of the Summer.
my Herzan TS-140 active isolation shelf arrived yesterday, and I installed it last evening.
I had been looking forward to this since 2005 when a reviewer from Positive Feedback brought over a Halcyonics for me to try. 3 years ago I switched from Grand Prix Audio Monaco decoupling shelves to the Adona 'grounded' racks to be able to optimize isolation devices such as the Herzan. when you combine isolation systems both systems are compromised. back in 2005 we had placed the Halcyonics on top of my GPA Monaco decoupling rack, yet it still sounded wonderful. how might it do when given the chance to work as designed?
no doubt I had big expectations. however; I also thought there was a chance that there might be take-aways that might compromise the benefits. with isolation devices my experience had been there are no absolutes. I did not know anyone who had tried one of these on a SOTA turntable. might it soften the sound?
it turns out it far exceeded my expectations. and I think besides the grounded, mass loaded Adona rack it sits on......and the 6" of concrete the Adona is spiked to, the NVS tt is an ideal match for the Herzan since it's designed to work with it's own isolation shelf. and Wave Kinetics started out as an isolation device builder.
i'll start out with the areas of my concerns, which I need not have had. the snap, impact, and weight of transients and bass is on a level I've never heard before. a huge improvement. and those things were already amazing. now they are 'real'. detail and focus is improved for everything, there is more density, texture, and harmonic sparkle......a vivid 'live-ness' that is hard to describe. the separation of every individual aspect of the presentation is another large improvement.
but really, the important thing is that music is more involving and compelling, there is a greater sense of the playing together, and the emotional content is much greater. I cannot stop listening.
I am astonished at what i'm hearing.
I had been looking forward to this since 2005 when a reviewer from Positive Feedback brought over a Halcyonics for me to try. 3 years ago I switched from Grand Prix Audio Monaco decoupling shelves to the Adona 'grounded' racks to be able to optimize isolation devices such as the Herzan. when you combine isolation systems both systems are compromised. back in 2005 we had placed the Halcyonics on top of my GPA Monaco decoupling rack, yet it still sounded wonderful. how might it do when given the chance to work as designed?
no doubt I had big expectations. however; I also thought there was a chance that there might be take-aways that might compromise the benefits. with isolation devices my experience had been there are no absolutes. I did not know anyone who had tried one of these on a SOTA turntable. might it soften the sound?
it turns out it far exceeded my expectations. and I think besides the grounded, mass loaded Adona rack it sits on......and the 6" of concrete the Adona is spiked to, the NVS tt is an ideal match for the Herzan since it's designed to work with it's own isolation shelf. and Wave Kinetics started out as an isolation device builder.
i'll start out with the areas of my concerns, which I need not have had. the snap, impact, and weight of transients and bass is on a level I've never heard before. a huge improvement. and those things were already amazing. now they are 'real'. detail and focus is improved for everything, there is more density, texture, and harmonic sparkle......a vivid 'live-ness' that is hard to describe. the separation of every individual aspect of the presentation is another large improvement.
but really, the important thing is that music is more involving and compelling, there is a greater sense of the playing together, and the emotional content is much greater. I cannot stop listening.
I am astonished at what i'm hearing.
That's a very nice looking turntable Mike. ...Awesome that your music is now even more involving with your new found 'foundation'! 
Congrats Mike. You summed up my impressions exactly. My replacement unit arrived today. I even installed a brand new cart and it still sounds amazing. (Koetsu Tiger Eye). Have you checked out the lcd screens ?... in particular the axis display ? With active off, you can snap you fingers and the TS-140 detects it by excited lines on the axis display. Re-engage active and the lines don't move. The balance/weight screen is also useful to optimize the balance of the TT on the TS.
By the way, my first unit was a demo that crapped the bed. It was clearly an older model year as it was dark blue in color and the button label area was a bit different. This dark graphite color matches both the stand and TT quite nicely.
Congrats, Mike. I have heard a system that has the Halcyonics tables under a Scarlatti stack, and indeed when you even brush the unit the meter lights up and you know it is actively counteracting the movement. Quite cool.
Congrats Mike and Rockitman, I certainly have audio envy at the moment. My TW Raven AC-3 would probably benefit greatly.
Is the Herzan really plug and play with a turntable? Does the Herzan auto level if the table is not quite loaded equally? I know this can be av problem with Minus K for example.
How much does the Herzan move?
Cheers
Is the Herzan really plug and play with a turntable? Does the Herzan auto level if the table is not quite loaded equally? I know this can be av problem with Minus K for example.
How much does the Herzan move?
Cheers
thanks.
the Herzan will be ideal for any non-suspended tt, particularly on a solid (non-decoupling) grounded rack on a concrete floor. if the turntable has an integrated suspension that cannot be defeated, or your rack is decoupling in some way, or your floor is springy.......any of those factors will compromise the performance since the Herzan will sense those actions and have to try to defeat them. it will still be excellent, but not ideal. I would expect a TW Raven AC-3 would be a good candidate.
it is the most plug and play you can get. here is the process.
1-locate the Herzan on your rack surface.
2-adjust a knurled nut with your finger on one of the four footers on the Herzan so it sits solidly on your rack surface.
3-set your turntable on the Herzan and get it into position.
4-turn it on; servos will whirl for 20-30 seconds leveling the load (this is the last time you will ever hear any noise from the Herzan unless you change the position or weight of the turntable). you can see the top surface move an 1/8 of an inch or more up and down. I would guess that will be determined by how level your rack surface was to start with. mine is very level.
5-the readout will show 'isolation disengaged'. hit the isolation button and it shows 'isolation engaged' and you are rock'in.
that is it. plug and play. the above was about 5 minutes for me.
at the end of your session hit the 'isolation' button to turn that off and then turn off the power switch. the reverse to turn it on.
that is it.
my NVS, particularly with the large halo, two large stainless steel arm boards, and two 7 pound Telos tonearms, is very heavy on the rear leg verses the front 2 legs. no problem for the 300 pound capacity of the Herzan TS-140.
That's a very nice looking turntable Mike. ...Awesome that your music is now even more involving with your new found 'foundation'!
thanks Bob. you now have another reason to come and visit me to listen.
thanks.
no, I've not yet played around with the LCD screens, but I did notice that there are adjustments going on if I just pick up something off the surface of the rack surface. i'm just loving the music so far. when I have a visitor i'll play around with that stuff.
the Herzan and Halcyonics are the same basic technology and work the same. both have products which don't have automatic leveling for $2k-$3k less money. if I was using one of these under a non rotating piece of gear I might not need the leveling and go that way. but under a tt or digital transport I would definitely get the leveling.
the Herzan has the advantage of being a shorter form factor which to me was very important, and the Herzan has slightly better specs in terms of how low in Herz it operates (attenuates noise).
compared to most tweaks, these products are based in solid science, and are fully vetted to deliver specific performance. the medical and science research facilities which are the target market would accept no less. these products actually do what they are supposed to do.
I believe he said size and performance. The halcyonics is a fat thick shelf for lack of a better expression. That's why I eliminated it from consideration. To be clear Herzan is the distributor worldwide. The table is made by Table Stable out of Switzerland.
what Christian said. it's more than an inch shorter, and it's specs are slightly better. if i'm going to do something like this i'm going to get the better one.
there are non leveling Halcyonics units which are quite a bit less money, but the top level Halcyonics unit is in the same dollar ballpark.
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Mike, congratulations. It's wonderful that you improved the performance of your NVS even further with the added active isolation. It must now just be incredible.
I have a few questions: Why do you think the active Herzan is so much better than the plate device that Wave Kinetics supplies with the NVS? Does it isolate to a much lower frequency, or does it simply respond to movement much faster? Perhaps a combination of the two.
I'm also curious about why you don't think the Herzan will work as well with a suspended turntable or when one's floors are springy. I thought it's purpose is to provide an always perfectly level surface which does not allow any vibrations from below to reach the turntable. If the floor moves slightly, the Herzan should prevent that movement from reaching the turntable. I would think that because the ground below a slab is always moving (the shifting plates, trucks, etc.) and a concrete slab more easily transfers that movement up to any table spiked into it because it is more directly coupled to the table. It is just at a different frequency to that of a suspended floor. I would think that an active device like the Herzan could equally deal with all the likely forces below it coming up into the rack. Or, am I not understanding correctly how it functions?
In my case, my turntable has a suspension which is designed to isolate the plater from any motor vibration. The motor is located on a lower platform. If I were to lock down the suspension towers, which is possible, this would defeat that level of motor isolation and I don't see how the Herzan can overcome that.
Finally, why turn the device off after the session? Is it to lesson wear on the servos? I would think that turning it on and off might also cause wear.
Sorry for all the questions. I've been thinking about one of these for a while, but like you, I might have to wait five (or more) years.
I found that the performance of my table improved dramatically with the much less expensive semi-active air-isolation of the Vibraplane, but I have no doubt that it would improve much further with a fully active device like your Herzan. I just can't afford one at the moment. I'm envious as are others. Thanks for the report and great photos.
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