Nude Turntable Project

Hi Halcro,

 Congras on the Herzan! An amazing piece of hardware we TT owners all wish for.  I have the Minus K and I have noticed the biggest difference in using this passive isolation platform is when the volume is turned up.

You summed it up perfectly “There is absolutely no strain or stress to any music at any volume and as you turn up the volume...so you want to continue turning it up”

 The degree of effectiveness in using an active or passive isolation platform largely depends on the amount of air-borne energy in the room. My TT sits fairly close behind my left speaker and sub. Prior to using the Minus K in my system, on one occasion, I was able to make my Talea/Titan jump off the record groove when playing  “1812 overture”.  In using the Minus K, the playback sounds consistently beautiful regardless of the volume setting.

The beauty with the Herzan platform is as simple as “plug & play”. The Minus K is a passive system that requires careful set-up (centring the spring, and is load sensitive) to maximize performance.      

halcro
Congrats on your latest acquisition, were you able to find
one locally?

Thanks Norm,

Five years ago after Thuchan listened to my system, he suggested I look into an isolation stand and I investigated Minus K (I didn't know about Herzan).
The trouble with the Minus K (as you would know) is that it requires the load to be more or less centralised and evenly spread.
It can't cope with isolated individual loadings. It's large-scale wobble movement was also rather alarming....😱
I'm sure it suits your turntable perfectly. Can you remind me what turntable you have mounted on it?

The degree of effectiveness in using an active or passive isolation platform largely depends on the amount of air-borne energy in the room.

That's a common assumption many make but I doubt its validity.
Just think about it.......with the Minus K stand, you have not decreased the amount of 'air-borne' energy one iota and as you turn the volume up.....you are certainly increasing it.
Yet isolation stands (of all types) cannot prevent the air-borne energy in the room from interacting with the turntable plinth, platter, tonearms and cartridges directly.
The fact is, the air-borne energy is not of a sufficiently low frequency (and amplitude) to be a direct consequence.
More likely that some of this air-borne energy is absorbed by the rooms structure (including supporting shelves and stands) and transferred via 'structure-borne' feedback.
That's why the Minus K and Herzan stands were designed to combat 'structure-borne' vibrations of the lowest magnitude.

The Herzan is certainly a 'plug & play' design as you say.....
I just hope the electronic actuators and motor controllers have a long and durable life....🙏🏽

Thanks totem,

Herzan USA is the Distributor for Australia (go figure).....so all dealings were directly with Reid Whitney and Tim Rather who were most helpful.
The unit was shipped via FedEx (when the custom top-plate was ready) and was here in three days....😀

As I understand it, if something untoward were to occur, it would most likely need to be shipped back to Switzerland where it was designed and built?

halcro,

"The fact is, the air-borne energy is not of a sufficiently low frequency (and amplitude) to be a direct consequence."

My experience was different.  My tt is placed on a shelf within an alcove along one wall and built into the walls.  The alcove is 60" wide.  Originally I had the tt at the far right end of the shelf which placed the arm/cartridge very close to a corner.  One day I happened to lean over the tt while music was playing at a moderately loud level, I was amazed by the amount of low frequency build-up I heard in that corner.

So after thinking about this I moved the tt closer to the left end of the shelf where the arm/cartridge would be near the mid-point of the length of the shelf.  That was one of those "you notice the distortion once you remove it" experiences.  The sonics were definitely cleaned up, at least noticeably in the bass range.  And so I would always avoid placing a tt in a corner, just to minimize air-borne energy.

Mechanical transmission is another story.