Kait says - “That’s because the entire house is shaking due to the microseismic activity, traffic, etc. This is precisely why audiophiles found out a long time ago that all efforts to build a rigid, solid foundation for their gear are for naught compared to isolating the gear.”
We cannot hear or feel our houses shaking therefore have no idea as to the validity of microseismic activity wreaking havoc on our sound systems. Star Sound Platforms are rigid and so are the majority of racking designs sold in this Industry. The minority involves spring isolation. You were one of a couple manufacturing racks built on spring concepts so if your rack was that good, where is it now?
I have never encountered springs in a recording facility, never encountered springs in musical instruments, never noticed them in sound rooms or studios and never saw them on lathe foundations when cutting masters for vinyl. The only time I experienced springs in audio and/or racking was from two or three companies (copycats included) involved in developing high end audio vibration management systems and I am not stating anything here related to performance so do not go off the deep end again. We are just wondering where all the Industry support has gone.
Kait states - “I can't wait to see what you little monkeys will say next.”
Help me Geoff Kait, my house is shaking from “inaudible seismic activity” and disrupting the sound and quality of my hi-fi system and robbing me of musical quality...
NAH, JUST JOKING - Although my house does shake from sound pressure level with a percussion and rhythm section that sounds like a concert environment and I am experiencing the joy of listening to music. No Walkabout and headphones here - a real sound room, a live sounding system and larger than life stage with lots of attack, sustain and decay combined with lots of space and airiness in between.
There is something about a live concert, recording studio or listening to music in my home that makes me feel good. I need to feel the quiet of the room so one can hear the finger noise on the strings and neck during a cello solo. I require lots of air, depth of feel, attack, sustain and decays - you know that live experience of air moving along with the all important ‘physical body feel’ of emotion and participation. I would rather feel a kick drum in my chest compared to just hearing one in my ears but that is how I enjoy music and that is how we engineer our products to perform at Star Sound. To me, feeling the emotion is as important as hearing every note - they are one in the same.
Kait asks - “I realize I’ve probably asked you this question before but now that you’ve taken case of the vibrations produced by motors, transformers, etc. In the component and vibrations that might wind up there due to acoustic forces how did you address the seismic vibrations? It appears you’re ignoring them. Am I missing something?”
We have always ignored them.
The Great Kait cannot come up with any evidence whatsoever that inaudible seismic activity affects sound reproduction “in real time”. It takes equipment costing millions of dollars to “SHOW” seismic frequencies that are well below that of human hearing.
Ligo is an amazing system but does not relate to audio reproduction as the Audio and Recording Sciences relate to human hearing - we will provide a more detailed explanation forthcoming.
https://www.ligo.caltech.edu/page/vibration-isolation?highlight=passive%20dampingf
I am a sound engineer - if I cannot hear it, we cannot improve or relate to it, so we put our money and research into improving what we can hear and what we do know.
Kate says - “To summarize my answer, the isolation is provided by the ability to move. If the component is resting on a stable solid base (no isolation) it will still move along with the floor and the shaking all over motion the house is forced into by seismic forces, including Earth crust motion (microseisms).”
When a speaker is placed on springs, everything moves about and in situations depending on volume and room pressure level, speakers can also move counter to Earth’s rotation. Everything moves - the chassis, drivers, diaphragms and voice coils move freely - left to right and front to back.
- Since everything is moving around how does one relate to or measure for driver time alignment?
- If a speaker fires from different angles and/or locations while moving, does that affect driver dispersion patterns?
- How do the internal moving parts of a loudspeaker function when subjected to constant flexing?
- Speaker testing is usually done from a fixed foundation and position - not a moving plane, so how would spring movement affect the testing in anechoic or other studio environments?
Analogy: Speakers fire frequencies through air much the same as weapons fire projectiles through air. I would rather fire a weapon from a solid fixed foundation compared to firing it from a moving spring foundation - greater accuracy - the same with speakers (IMO).
In closing Mr. Kait:
We have listened to your springs in action and on many surfaces including stones, woods, steel acrylics, etc. There are too many variables involved to establish a geometry that works for a broad coverage of products unless we took individual chassis and developed an optimized spring sizing for each and every product size and weight for filtering and performance.
Star Sound Platforms are not restricted by weight capacities and are NOT designated “Product Specific”. The smallest Platform will support over one ton of mass.The only difference between the various offerings is shelf sizing, weight in materials, geometries and price. The higher the price the more material is used which results in higher ‘audible’ performance and component operational efficiency. In every product category a single technology is applied.
The same single shelf model number of any Star Sound Platforms increases performance when placed underneath “any” loudspeaker system, electronic components, turntables, power distribution products, guitar or keyboard amplifiers, recording or concert reinforcement mixers, signal compressors, gates and expanders, digital reverbs, microphone stands, AC power transformers, DC power supplies, FM radio output transformers, microwaves, air conditioning compressors, and the list continues to grow.
We never considered Earth’s crust motion or seismic forces to be part of our technology, research or approach to product development as we are focused on improving the 'audible' musical instrument and recording/playback sciences. It would appear in order to provide you any concept of understanding related to our technical approach or why our products perform direct coupled to Earth without the negative effects from inaudible seismic interference would have to result in a product audition. Up for a listen?
Keep to your seismic storyboarding as it delivers a simplistic concept, provides a level of believability and will attract an audience so you can retail your lengthy list of all the different little things you sell. I have no doubt you will continue to stay on the seismic issues telling companies like ours that we are missing the boat and should go back to school only because Ligo and Kait says so.
We do not listen to Ligo. We do not hear electron microscopes. We do not listen in anechoic environments and we certainly do not hear our houses shaking from seismic whatevers, so what exactly are we missing?
You call us little monkeys. Obviously you did not search out the people behind our company or could possibly understand in human terms how to relate with professionals. In our opinion you are an amateurish innovator, tasteless oppressor and a peckerwood (named after one of your products of course). How many bags of rocks have you sold this week?
Robert - Star Sound
