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How an audio rack can enhance your amp/pre



Just thought I would share my recent experience with upgrading my sound star technologies rack to the new rhythm rack.

Every now and then, I have a visiting audiophile who really appreciates my system…and traditionally asks – “wow, what makes it sound so good?” My typical answer is it all makes a difference, even down the equipment rack, which can and certainly should be considered a component…but in many cases is overlooked…

Star Sound introduction

About 10 years ago, I was introduced to Star Sound Technologies Sistrum platforms and Audio Points. Audiopoints has always been known for its manufacture of well-designed and beautifully manufactured brass cones used under equipment and as an integral part of an audio stand. This ultimately led to the design of stands designed to transfer vibrations out of components and down to ground. What I didn’t know at the time was how good the Sistrum platforms ‘sounded’. So, I bit the bullet and tried several Sistrum Platforms - what intrigued me about the stands was the design of the Sistrum Platform which allowed a pre-determined pattern of energy, known as Coulomb Friction to develop and dissipate via a high-speed calculated conductive pathway to earth's ground. Which made sense…how do you deal with airborne energy dissipation? I know you could put cones to reduce vibrations from the ‘ground up’ so to speak, but how could you eliminate airborne vibration? We’ve all held our hand on our equipment when music is playing only to feel the equipment vibrate, so how do you deal with it? Draining it quickly to ground made sense, but at the end of the day, all I really wanted to know was…does it improve the sound?

To say I was shocked is an understatement - the Original Sistrum Platforms offered – smoother sound, better transients, dynamics and a lower noise floor. And, the cool part is that you could turn up the sound and the music would flow with greater ease…well worth the investment. Robert at Star Sound was extremely helpful in guiding me through which racks made the most sense for my system.

Rhythm Platforms

Which brings me to 2015…it had been a while since I last spoke with Robert curious as to what his engineering team was up to…which led me to check out the ‘new’ model of Sistrum Stands – the Sistrum Rhythm Platforms.

These new platforms / shelves were substantially heavier, with a nicer overall finish than the original stands, with more grooves allowing for substantially more options to place points in various places under your equipment to refine the sound even further. In addition, the shelves were engineered to deal with resonances in a more efficient manner…The brass cones at the bottom of the rack were substantially bigger in size - 3 inches and quite heavy. The brass cones under the equipment were attached with nicely crafted screws that could be hand tightened and no longer required a screw driver… a nice feature making it both easier to put together but also the amount of tightening could influence the sound. The brass and platform rods are modular, making it easier to put together and painted in a beautiful black finish – in combination with the brass I would say the improvement in the WAF factor is significant – the stands are really impressive to look at. As for structure, these things were a solid as could be – and heavy! Not going anywhere, even in an earthquake!

My system includes VAC equipment, preamp, amps, DAC and a transport. As well as power supplies. Most of which now rested on the new Rhythm Platform.

Listening Impressions:

My first impressions were clearly a lower noise floor with enhanced dynamics, while also being able to hear deeper into the soundstage, which now extended well outside of the speakers. Tempo was faster, due to better-defined, leading edges. The high end was ‘cleaner’, with more sheen and decay on symbols and hi hats. Brass had that right bite to it, without over doing it…Bass lines were tighter which led to better ‘rhythm’ … and best of all, I could crank up the volume and the dynamic range seemed to extend effortlessly, which was a nice surprise.

One thing I noticed, that was true of my initial experience with Sistrum Platforms, is that the newer Rhythm Platforms sounded progressively better after 3 days of ‘settling’ and reached full potential after about 1 week. So some form of break in is required.
Over the years, I’ve tried different racks and various cones under equipment, whether if be soft, hard, ceramic, rubber (or some variation of ‘absorbing material’ etc.) you name it. All of which ‘altered’ the sound, but nothing came close to the Sistrum Stands holistically; while the new Rhythm stands, just take it all to a higher level…
While I cannot expound eloquently on science of Coulomb’s Friction, I can tell you that whatever they are doing at Star Sound visa vie their racks, it works…and it’s not subtle. This is a very audible improvement in your listening experience. If you want your system to perform at its highest level, I would suggest that you maximize your investment in your equipment by letting it do what it does best and put it on a Sistrum rack that will allow it to perform at its best. And if you want the best, I would strongly recommend the Rhythm Platforms.
wisper

Showing 9 responses by atmasphere

atmasphere's avatar
atmasphere
12,101 posts
 
Some General Rules: when to use squishies as opposed to points:

All audio equipment benefits from damping.

Squishies (ex.: Sorbathane) is useful when vibration is affecting the equipment via the shelf on which the equipment sits. It provides isolation.

Points, such as TipToes or Stillpoints, provide coupling to the shelf or platform on which the equipment sits, and are more useful when the vibration you are trying to control is airborne. Ideally they do not allow vibration to go the other way (they are mechanical diodes). So they are 'sinking' vibration away from the equipment.

So if you have a damping platform you would use a point system to couple your gear to the platform. But the platform might sit on a set of squishies if the shelf it sits on is uncertain.

If you have an equipment stand, generally you would use either points or a platform. Some stands (I use a Sound Anchors stand) have damping properties but you should beware- not all do. Most stereo cabinets (like those from Ikea) and curiously, the Stillpoints equipment stand, have resonant qualities and require decoupling- squishies.

A proper equipment stand with damping properties is usually hard-coupled to the floor using a point system. I use a set of Aurios Pro bearings as they relieve lateral vibrations as well as providing coupling. Prior to their installation I could hear footfalls in the loudspeaker- now they are absent.

These ideas are not new BTW!! My Scully LP mastering lathe was built in the late 1940s and employs a special table equipped with adjustable points for feet. On top of that is perched a damping platform that decouples from the table using a set of squishies. IOW audiophiles did not make this stuff up; its been in use by pro audio for decades longer. So its not bogus or imagination and there are actually rules for their use. If you follow them you will get better results. Wolf isn't nuts and neither are the people riding him.
atmasphere's avatar
atmasphere
12,101 posts
 
Agear, take a look at my post- especially the part about how our Scully lathe was built.

Engineers who poo-poo this stuff have to somehow work out how to get past that...
atmasphere's avatar
atmasphere
12,101 posts
 
TheKong, its actually a pretty simple concept: A point has a large area at one end and a very small area at the other. So vibration at the large end can be focused into the point; vibration at the point is defocused at the large end. While not nearly as efficient as an actual electronic diode, they do work.

theaudiotweak: there proved to be many updates (or repairs; in some cases it was hard to tell which it was we were doing when we resurrected this machine) that helped our machine along. For example we had to do a lot of work to the transmission so vibration from it and the drive motor was simply not making it to the lathe itself. This paid off in spades. The original decoupling parts in the drive used leather for decoupling, which was rotted; we used some materials that were a little more 'space-age' :) made of actual damping materials. The result is that the lathe is very quiet- when we cut lacquers, they are so quiet that when you play them the playback electronics are the noise floor, not the lacquer, regardless of what electronics are used.
atmasphere's avatar
atmasphere
12,101 posts
 
Are you Norwegian?

Nope. We moved here in 1970 from North Carolina.
atmasphere's avatar
atmasphere
12,101 posts
 
Schubert, I played string bass in a local high school and was recruited to also play in the Mac Orchestra when I was a senior in high school. I continued to play there for a couple of years and also in the St. Paul Civic Orchestra, also conducted by Edourd Fourner. But I did my engineering work at the UofM.


Geoff, the key is to teleport the mechanical energy away from the vibrating object or at a minimum trick the mind into believing it has happened.....:)

We can easily see the effects of improper setup relating to the use of points (or lack thereof) in our cutting lathe (you can see the extra vibration in the grooves via the microscope) so I know for a fact that the above statement is incorrect. This follow up statement:


Let it vibrate! The equipment, room foundation, racking, walls, floors and ceilings are going to vibrate regardless. Listening to music is a dynamic experience where everything involved in reproduction or live performances is going to vibrate; even our own diaphragms located inside our heads - vibrate.

-is thus also measurably incorrect. Sound Anchors uses a laser aimed at the equipment on their stands to show that it indeed vibrates less when on their stands.

We already know that many electronic parts are sensitive to vibration: tubes, transistors, ICs, resistors and capacitors can all exhibit microphonic properties. So it is useful to eliminate vibration as much as possible and the technology of points and vibration absorption materials, associated with proper stand and platform design has been proven effective for the last 6 decades and is not going to go away just because someone says it is imagination or the like.

In short the idea that vibration is not going to make a difference is specious, plain and simple. If anyone suggests otherwise, turn around and run as hard as you can.
atmasphere's avatar
atmasphere
12,101 posts
 
I didn't know MAC used ringers.

At the time they only had one other person playing bass. So they came to my high school looking for recruits as we were close by and our orchestra was the best high school orchestra in the state. Times sure have changed!
atmasphere's avatar
atmasphere
12,101 posts
 
however we do Not agree with your comment “proven effective for the past 6 decades”. If you are implying ‘sixty years’ of vibration management in audio;

To the best of our knowledge:

Audio Points was the second ever conical shaped product in the audio marketplace and began selling in 1988. Tip Toes was the first and began selling in late 1987. In the mid 1990’s audio racking was still largely referred to as furniture. We can trace the first absorption stands using sand, lead and rubber based systems from companies such as Zoethecus and Bright Star along with the first mechanical grounding racks from RoomTune and Sound Anchors to the early 90’s. The Sistrum Platforms™ release was in 2000 and was the first audio racking system marketed bearing the name recognition as a “platform”.

You might want to take a look at my prior posts. As I mentioned in them, my Scully LP mastering lathe employs a heavy steel table which has adjustable points built into its feet. It was made in the late 1940s. Upon the table is a special vibration-damping platform, on which the lathe itself resides. The lathe has three feet, all quite pointed and adjustable which engage cups built into the platform.

So this use of points precedes the Mod Squad by about 3 decades and change.

It is incorrect to say you can't get rid of vibration. A proper vibration damping system translates vibration into heat. I use Ultra Resolution Technologies platforms which were developed by Warren Gehl (currently at ARC; he also designed a very effective platter pad for damping resonance in LPs; although very effective neither product is still in production) and they have proven quite effective. Platforms are also used beneath powerful microscopes for the same purpose and are shown to be quite effective- so much so that some audiophiles have used the same platforms in their home systems.
atmasphere's avatar
atmasphere
12,101 posts
 
Discwasher made an anti-vibration damping platform in the 1970s.

Ampex recognized that vibration was a problem in the late 1950s and esoterically mounted their circuit boards in their 351 electronics as a result.

I saw the first Sound Anchor stands about 1987. Bob Worzella came up to St. Paul and installed them at House of High Fidelity. At first they were just speaker stands but by 1989 he was building equipment stands too- complete with anti-vibration platforms.
atmasphere's avatar
atmasphere
12,101 posts
 
Bdp24, the Aurios Pro Bearings I use did get mentioned by me earlier. They work fine.

Paul at TRL was on me for years to buy a Scully and let him mod it. I would love to own a tape player but I have young kids and its just not practical.

BTW, I spent over 10 years in the twin cities for my surgical training (UM). Loved it. Married a native and then moved south. Where in Saint Paul are you?

My Scully is an LP mastering lathe, not a tape machine, equipped with a Westerex 3D cutterhead. As you can imagine vibration is a big deal with an LP mastering lathe and its informative and amusing to see that the solutions audiophiles have been coming up with were in place 65 years ago.

We are in St. Paul near Macalester College.
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