REVIEW: Silent Running Audio - Virginia-Class Reference isoBASE

[tima]

Well, piggy backing off this thread, here are my observations of my Zanden Digital Equipment under 5 different scenarios in the same system (mine) involving bespoke rack, HRS M3X+Nimbus+DPX damping plates, and SRA Ohio XL Class Isobases:

1. Zanden on my equipment rack (4" thick birchply on 1.5" slab of slate)
2. Zanden + HRS M3X+Nimbus (Underneath) and HRS DPX or Artesania Damping Plates (On Top) on rack
3. Zanden + SRA Ohio XL Isobases on rack
4. Zanden + SRA Ohio XL Isobases (on top of HRS M3X shelf with HRS DPX damping plates) on rack
5. WINNER: Zanden + SRA Ohio XL Isobases (on top of HRS M3X shelf but NO DPX damping plate) on rack

In a word, 5 wins, hands down. It is clear to me that SRA really mean it when they say they have calibrated the SRA isobase to the specific equipment incorporating its dimensions, materials and weight distribution. For the FIRST TIME EVER in 10+ years, adding an HRS DPX damping plate did NOT work.

NOTES:
HRS M3X + Damping plates (or Stillpoints U6s with HRS Nimbus Couplers + Damping plates)
- great combinations.
- I NEVER use Stillpoints without HRS Nimbus Couplers, except with big Wilsons or the Gryphon where the elastomer would collapse under the weight.
- they add a complete surety of sound, an increased density of note and a purity of tone
- the signal gets stronger/denser more confident
- no change in tonality that i could discern (NOT the case with Stillpoints alone)
- bass power, propulsiveness is far stronger
- it proves to be a great combination with the Zanden which (under less ideal isolation circumstances) can come across as too filigreed or 'pretty'
- CONCLUSION: This is an almost ideal combination to my ears, because you get the organic qualities of Zanden which are tremendous and unique in my experience...but with detail, power, propulsive dynamics which have matched all of the major comers of its generation (Esoteric, etc) which were known for power, incisive detail, etc.

SRA Ohio XL Isobases
- This was a 'funky experience' for me
- For the first time, i learned that a surprisingly GREATER amount of bass transients, soundstaging can come from isolation of equipment than i EVER imagined.
- For the first time, even on extreme treble transients, i did NOT hear the sound come for a nano-second from the tweeters.
- The sound has completely pulled AWAY from the speakers
- Further, the soundstage is now more dramatically different than ever before with deep house spreading across the front, back, sides with ethereal noises/special effects, and classical dropping more dead center into the back of the soundstage...and even spreading out WAAY in the back once again

Now that seems 'normal' as an upgrade...but what is NOT normal (to me) is that in spreading the instruments out...i ALSO experienced a NEW order of priority in the instrumentation...ie, i heard certain violins become more prominent while other [same frequency] instruments took a back seat in priority/scale.

At first, it seemed like tonality or sound had changed...and yet each individual instrument seemed fine...exactly as before...no change in tonality

And then i figured out that by re-locating instruments, really precisely ordering/organizing instruments, you really start to understand how the artists were performing, how the mixer was working through the edits...and trying to relay what was happening. And thus a 'flatter' presentation becomes a mix of layers where the priorities of each instrument are presented to you, along with the actual notes, air, power, etc...

...couple this with a strange kind of organic presentation of silence (which i suspect in reality is just far, FAR better decay and details of when a note finishes into silence and when the new note starts)...and what happens is that not only do you get a far better presentation of each instrument within the ensemble context (ie, who is lead instrument, who is not, etc)...but you ALSO get a much better sense of how artists are pausing, playing off each other in the ensemble...

I have never heard this before in any isolation, or equipment that i have used do this to anywhere near this extent...not even the mighty Zanden, CJ or Gryphon...and not the HRS, Stillpoints, Artesania shelves, footers, dampers...i have to credit this to SRA.

Well done.

SRA Ohio XL Isobases + HRS M3X
My only other final note is that just as SRA Isobases are designed to be on even more secure racks (ie, SRA CRAZ Rack)...i decided to try the SRA on top of the HRS M3X shelf to further isolate everything from the floor/room...it worked well. Really well. Perhaps, our equipment rack might be inadvertently contributing to some of the original observations of the Zanden...in any event, i am 'guessing' that any vibration has reduced dramatically with the HRS M3X and on top of the HRS M3X, now the SRA Ohio XL.

Get commentary LL21 - thanks for writing.

Vibration physically alters audio equipment and no component is immune. How a given component reacts to vibration is a function of its design, materials, and placement - and given differences in those factors, no two components react exactly the same. While you can put component X on an SRA platform designed for component Y and receive benefit, the full performance that is the outcome of their Component Specific Design is gained when using a platform built for a specific component.

I've found that venue context or ambience along with dimensional attributes are sonic characteristics apt to be revealed further when vibration is mitigated. Same with attack and decay, micro-dynamic gradation, tonal shadings and harmonics coming off instruments. We don't realize we're hearing 'fuzzy edges' or blurring or even warmth until vibration in the reproduction chain is reduced. Sometimes, this can get cashed out as a heightened sense of presence and vitality. Sometimes the performance simply sounds more natural. One of my theories is vibration mitigation reduces temporal distortion of the signal and reveals its impact most immediately in those sonic characteristics dependent on time.

Since your SRA Ohio XL Isobases are on the first tier of the Ohio series, I'll tempt you to call Kevin Tellekamp to learn if further gains are possible. Please follow-up with any further improvements you uncover.

 

[LL21]

Thank you Tima...it was your review which was one of the key factors in my decision to go for it, sight unseen. Yes, I have spoken with SRA about upgrades......or possibly experimenting with a few SRA's elsewhere.

Regarding your comments...i agree in my more limited experience. I suspect that this last bit of detail (particularly location) is very very susceptible to minute distortion. Lose that infinitesimally small element of the original signal or distort it by just a hair, and:

1. The meaning of 'silences', pauses, breathes, gentle starts/stops, staccatos/syncopations are lost. They become simply passed by unnoticed in the music. Instead of when the system captures them, and there is sometimes an entirely different or complementary narrative around the silences, pauses to the music.

2. The precise and organized placement is gone...the signal waver means almost like it cannot 'hold' the note in place...so the note just come out 'generally' not 'precisely'...and multiply that by several instruments...each with its own minute subtle nuances, changes, pauses...and suddenly there is a lot of super-subtle 'meat on the bones' artistry that is lost. The main beat, rhythm, voice, instruments are all there...but the minute interplay is not.

 

[VPN]

Tim,

Looking around for pictures of SRA Virginia class platforms I find that most people use them under power amplifiers, but not so often in the preamplfiers - even in the pictures in the Lamm site.

Considering the level of the signals, I would consider that a preamplifier would benefit more of the platforms than the power amplifiers. What is your opinion on this issue?

Microstrip,

After talking with SRA, I just ordered a Virginia(ae) class plaform for my CH L1+X1 preamp stack, so it will be directly on the floor. I will move my Innuos Zenith Statement to the lower shelf of the Scuttle mk3 where the preamp is currently located. I was told that the preamp will sound better on top of the Virginia(ae) class platform and that it is always better to have one platform per component, isolated and custom, than on a rack that is shared with other components. However, the individual platforms take more floor space.
Cheers,

VPN

 

[tmiddle2]

Get commentary LL21 - thanks for writing.

Vibration physically alters audio equipment and no component is immune. How a given component reacts to vibration is a function of its design, materials, and placement - and given differences in those factors, no two components react exactly the same. While you can put component X on an SRA platform designed for component Y and receive benefit, the full performance that is the outcome of their Component Specific Design is gained when using a platform built for a specific component.

I've found that venue context or ambience along with dimensional attributes are sonic characteristics apt to be revealed further when vibration is mitigated. Same with attack and decay, micro-dynamic gradation, tonal shadings and harmonics coming off instruments. We don't realize we're hearing 'fuzzy edges' or blurring or even warmth until vibration in the reproduction chain is reduced. Sometimes, this can get cashed out as a heightened sense of presence and vitality. Sometimes the performance simply sounds more natural. One of my theories is vibration mitigation reduces temporal distortion of the signal and reveals its impact most immediately in those sonic characteristics dependent on time.

Since your SRA Ohio XL Isobases are on the first tier of the Ohio series, I'll tempt you to call Kevin Tellekamp to learn if further gains are possible. Please follow-up with any further improvements you uncover.

I have the original Ohio Class for my integrated tube amp and am interested in what footers most are using between component and the base?

 

[MarkusBarkus]

...I have the Ohio-class XL2s and I don't use any additional footers. Two Luxman m900 amps, stock footers. I have had them for two years this month.

 

[PeterA]

,

Surely there are thinks that are clear from start - when listening using the Lamm's LL1's and ML3's, even tweekless, orchestras have seem to have more instruments than with any other amplifiers ... The pairing is really much more subjectively silent - this hard to explain concept that can't be expressed in dB - than any other system I have hosted, solid state or tube. No A/B is needed.

This is a very interesting comment more so about the equipment then the amplifier stands which are the subject of the thread. What Francisco is describing is really about resolution and I have not heard it described in this way before. “More instruments in the orchestra” is just a wonderful description. it is so simple and easy to relate to.

 

[tima]

I have the original Ohio Class for my integrated tube amp and am interested in what footers most are using between component and the base?

SRA suggests not using anything between its platforms and what they sit on. My VA-Class Amp stands sit on carpet over concrete. Also, their platforms and racks are designed to accept components directly without intervening component footers.

My VA-Class platform for my turntable sits on my SRA Scuttle. Its spikes can damage the Scuttle's shelf. SRA provides very small metal cups with flat bottoms to hold the spikes and protect what they sit on.

 

[tmiddle2]

SRA suggests not using anything between its platforms and what they sit on. My VA-Class Amp stands sit on carpet over concrete. Also, their platforms and racks are designed to accept components directly without intervening component footers.

My VA-Class platform for my turntable sits on my SRA Scuttle. Its spikes can damage the Scuttle's shelf. SRA provides very small metal cups with flat bottoms to hold the spikes and protect what they sit on.

Thanks. My integrated tube amp has been atop my SRA base for many years with no (known or suspected) issues. This is with the stock footers.

Just recently resolved a resonance issue after installing a Townshend Platform under the cdp. Really was fascinating to hear the effects of different footers atop the Platform, all unacceptable to my ears until inserting a set of TAOC TITE35S4 (cast iron) isolators. This was my first experience to hear effects of a tweak such as this and has me wondering if a set Center Stage footers might help to drain any amp resonance to the SRA?…

 

[tima]

Thanks. My integrated tube amp has been atop my SRA base for many years with no (known or suspected) issues. This is with the stock footers.

Just recently resolved a resonance issue after installing a Townshend Platform under the cdp. Really was fascinating to hear the effects of different footers atop the Platform, all unacceptable to my ears until inserting a set of TAOC TITE35S4 (cast iron) isolators. This was my first experience to hear effects of a tweak such as this and has me wondering if a set Center Stage footers might help to drain any amp resonance to the SRA?…

Can't really say as I have no experience with those devices. Likely you will hear a difference -- whether it is an improvement or just different is your call. Let us know if you try that.