Center StageUltra TT
Critical Mass Systems is proud to announce the launch of the height-adjustable Center StageUltra TT footer made for turntables. We considered designing a height adjustable footer for turntables the ultimate challenge. Executing this design ultimately led us back to our proving grounds for a footer requiring the ultimate in vibration mitigation; our LS series footers (now available through Von Schweikert Audio).
Loudspeakers are powerful machines whose function is to vibrate. Transferring mechanical energy out of a resonating enclosure without affecting the performance of the loudspeaker is no small challenge. But by building on our previous success with loudspeaker footers, we can offer a new form of excellence to you as the height-adjustable Center StageUltra TT footers for turntables.
Dimensions and weight:
Center StageUltra TT is 2” in diameter with a height adjustment between 1.5” and 1.75" (50.8mm x 41mm to 45mm). +/- 5 microns. Weight: 7 ounces / 200 grams. There is no weight limit. Adapters are available.
A sidebar: My daughter-in-law, Ewa, visited recently. She made an off-the-cuff comment I found to-the-point and worthwhile passing along. Ewa is a Ph.D. Electrical Engineer as is my son, Justin. Justin’s field of expertise is photonics. Ewa’s field of expertise is making the lasers that create the photons. You don’t want to play poker for money with these two.
Ewa asked me what I was working on and before I could finish explaining she said, “Oh, this is very interesting. We have many problems with the power units we use with lasers. They tend to vibrate like crazy and calming them down can create measurable output issues. So, what you are trying to do is find the perfect balance point between not too much and not too little energy transmission; the sweet spot. You need the perfect balance point between push and pull. If you push too hard, the sound will become too brittle and if you pull too much, the sound will become too soft. Is that it?“ Yes, that was it.
Ewa stripped the complexity out of the problem (as brilliant people tend to do) and simply and clearly described the ultimate challenge; avoid over-damping and under-damping the turntable to find the “Sweet Spot”, as she called it.
A set of 4 Center StageUltra TT footers has over 30 contact points of differing diameter directly touching the bottom of the turntable. This is vastly more complex than the 4 contact points found on a set of 4 Center Stage2M footers.
Calculated to 1/10,000 of an inch over the surface area of the foot, these damping contact points transfer unwanted resonance out of the table without affecting its engineering qualities. The table, the arm and the cartridge retain their characteristics, the noise floor drops away to nearly nothing and the music leaps to life. In most cases the transformation starts immediately and is often breathtaking to experience.
The benefits of the height-adjustable Center StageUltra TT footer can transfer to electronic components too.
Center StageUltra TD
Critical Mass Systems is proud to announce the launch of the Center StageUltra TD footer made for tape decks. You know that tape decks are motorized devices that function using constantly turning spindles powered by internal motors whose vibrations cause tape decks to be in a state of elevated internal resonance. Transferring mechanical energy out of the resonating enclosure without affecting the performance of the tape deck playback mechanisms was accomplished by building upon what we learned from executing the height-adjustable Center StageUltra TT footers for turntables. We eliminated the height-adjustment features and recalibrated the damping materials to account for the reduced mass of the foot.
Make no mistake, the Center StageUltra TD foot is just as finely tuned as its bigger brother. It delivers clearly audible excellence under tape decks with the same 30+ damping touch points of varying dimension built in.
Dimensions and weight:
Center StageUltra TD is 2” in diameter with a height of just over 1” (50.8mm x 27mm). +/- 5 microns. Weight: 5.3 ounces / 150 grams. There is no weight limit. Adapters are available.
The benefits of the height-adjustable Center StageUltra TT footer can transfer to electronic components too.
What to Expect
We named these two footers "Ultra" for a reason. In both, the damping "sweet spot" achieved using 30+ touch points is so finely tuned, so accurate, so perfect for the weight, dimension and materials used to fabricate the foot that placing 1 set of either under your front end component is, well, amazing.
Amazing means an unexpected expansion of the soundstage in width, height, depth and image definition. Expect improvements in vocal expression and realism, and instrumental timber, separation and weight. Expect to hear new musical details previously obscured by an elevated noise floor. Expect greatly improved front-to-back layering and image stability. The bottom line: Expect your system to bring you closer to the original real event as it was originally recorded.
