A Copernican View of the Turntable System

I also got me TS-150 directly from Herzan dealing with Tim -- a very easy process. 

I have posted the interference readouts from my installation as part of my system description (https://systems.audiogon.com/systems/5707#&gid=1&pid=31)

You can see from the traces that in my room I get a lot more background seismic activity than Halcro does. This is a wall shelf installation so that may explain why the main activity is in the vertical dimension. The time base for the scan is 165mS so the frequency of the activity is 10-12 Hz or so -- it strikes me that as this is close to the resonant frequency of arm/cartridge combinations it may be that eliminating this may be one of the reasons the effect of these active platforms is so profound.You can also see that in my setup I get some motor noise transmitted into the stand which the TS-150 does a good job of removing. My TT (EAR DiscMaster) is designed to prevent this noise making it into the platter (via a decoupled tension bearing and the give in the toothed belt) but it should help to also not have noise build up in the stand itself

Anyway just wanted to add my voice to back up what @halcro says about the benefits of addressing the record player as a system and working from the ground up

Dohmann may know his onions, but that "shield" would seem to offer no more isolation than is seen with the typical Denon, Victor, Technics, etc, designs that also shield the platter by sinking it down low, nearly level with the surface of the plinth. It may be that for a belt-drive, such an elevated highly visible shield is needed to accommodate the need for the belt to circumscribe the platter proper.

The Herzan has been integrated in my system for 6 months now, and not only is it the final 'piece' of the jigsaw for the 'Copernican' puzzle.....but it singularly is the most significant contributor to the elimination of 'distortions' and the elevation of sound quality that I have experienced in 40 years of audio.

That is because it is effectively acting as the plinth. The arm is now rigidly coupled to the platter, which is as it should be.

I'll jump in to comment only on an experience with air-borne interference with my turntable. 

My listening room has a 5' wide alcove along one sidewall.  Within that I constructed two full width shelves to place source components.  This accommodates freestanding record storage boxes underneath.

Initially I placed my turntable at the far right end of the top shelf.  Unconsidered at first was the result of the arm/cartridge being very near a corner as it's arc traced a record.  One day I had reason to lean over the platter area while music was playing.  I was startled to hear the amount of low frequency build-up in that corner.

Considering those air-borne vibrations were affecting my vinyl performance, I moved the turntable toward the left hand end of the shelf.  Of course the table was still the same distance from the sidewall, but being close to the mid-point of the 5' shelf, the arm/cartridge now operated some distance from either corner.

The result was obvious with any music played at moderate to moderately high levels.  It was overall much "cleaner", with greatly improved definition and reduce sonic smearing.

Just as we want to avoid corner placement for nearly all loudspeakers, I believe all component placements should follow the same guideline for best performance.  And hey, it was free!

Hi Ralph,
I've noticed that both you and J.Carr have recently 'transferred' over to 'The Dark Side' by adopting the new Technics SL1200 DD turntable over your previously loved belt-drives.
The Empire in your case and the Final Labs and big Micro Seiki in Jonathan's.
Can you reveal why you have changed, and what the Technics does that the Empire doesn't?

Regards
Henry