David:
Thank you for mentioning me in your post. I’d like to point out that while I now live on the East Coast, for nearly 30 years I lived in the Earthquake Zone - San Francisco (74-2002). In that time, I met many of the "greats": Dave Wilson (whose WATT/Puppies I was among the first to own); HP of TAS (and I wrote for TAS for all of 2 minutes - Harry was forever firing his staff). At his annual Friendship Party in Sea Cliff, I met the "Old Guard" - those who wrote during the Golden Age 73-1999 and we exchanged stories of how many times each of us had been fired; Scott Markwell, HP’s setup man; Tom Miller. And then, designers David and Luke Manley (VTL) and many others. I learned from them - and gave them some tips, too! and so much of what I know was empirically demonstrated to me. And I was an Editor for Fi Magazine, as well. So, I have more experience than most, and didn’t have to pay for it (I got to listen to components sent to Fi’s office: Jadis, Krells, Wilson Grand Slams, Rockports, Transparent cables and the like).
So, unlike those whose experience was limited to the top level of components, I had access to items for long periods of time. And I learned from it. And it was a swift learning curve with Enid saying do this, HP saying do this. You get the idea. I learned from the best. And they had no ulterior motive for educating me.
What I learned was the same thing the other writers learned: vibration, electricity, power cords: they all made a difference. And since I could borrow things, I wasn’t partial to anything that didn’t work. It was a wonderful learning time, and contrary to what people say, nobody at Fi or TAS wrote an article to score points with manufacturers. We didn’t have to. Power conditioners were new then, but it was clear they mattered, too. And again, I didn’t own these, nor did I write reviews when I was at Fi, but I got to hear a lot of equipment. I shut my mouth, listened to my betters and remained open-minded.
My point is, my experience is pretty vast with expensive stuff and cheaper stuff, so when I post, I go off the wisdom imparted by other writers and even manufacturer, not just my own ownership of Goldmund and Versa dynamic 2.0 turntables, Goldmund Mimesis 9 amp (GOD, that was a magnificent amp), Convergent, Transparent’s best, MIT’s best, Spectral, Benz and Lyra cartridges.The equipment was merely an education. But if you’re not a good student, you won’t benefit. So, when I post, I am simply sharing experiences and knowledge. No one need believe me: I always believe in ’try it for yourself.’
The late Enid Lumley was the one who cued me into moving speaker cable off the floor. That was around 1988, I had a great room: 15 x 27 and another one, 12 x 18 and a gazillion tube traps (okay, only 50 or 60, but it was 1988: NOBODY had Tube Traps then, not even Harry. And those things work. But there’s a trick to them, I assure you.) And, being the mad scientist type, I didn’t stop until I tried every configuration and position on footers, equipment stands, ac plug orientation (which MATTERS!) etc. And I learned one thing: EVERY. SINGLE.THING. Matters. Don’t have cables touching each other, keep power cords AWAY from signal cables. Same things most of us know now: I just had a head start.
So trust me when I say keeping cables off the floor should provide obvious results - unless your electricity is bad (that’ll kill most of the benefits of good equipment) or you have a lot of vibration (I mean, didn’t most of us??? Dave Wilson complained to me (back in ’88) that he’d just returned from HP’s home and that HP’s equipment setup was sloppy (cables touching, equipment on rickety tables, etc. and this was back in 1988!). In fact, Harry’s initial review of the first Rockport turntable was wrong because he had it on a rickety table that was hardly ISOLATION PROOF (read the review if you have it: issue 74/75, winter 1992 and you’ll see that until he got the Rockport pneumatic isolation stand, he came to some big mistakes about the turntable). Removing vibration - it was clear in that review - was a major factor in Harry’s then arriving at the correct conclusion (Michael Gindi, who wrote the main review, and had the Rockport pneumatic stand, which inflated (again, isolation was key) had got it aright before HP). This was clear to many of us as early as 1992. So, vibration isolation DOES STRONGLY affect the end results.
Now in CT, I had ASC’s wall damp treatment on a resilient channel, which means no wall touches the other, nor does the wall touch the ceiling (you fill it in with an adhesive substance at the juncture of floor/ceiling/walls) so the floor isn’t shaking the walls, the walls shaking the ceilings, etc. Dedicated circuits for each components (so 6 dedicated circuits). In other words: no stone left unturned. (That was Harry’s influence: he’d insist I do it right or my reviews would be wrong).
So, vibration counts. Which leads me to my soon-to-be latest addition: the Townshend Seimsic Isolation Platform for turntables, which will arrive Friday. AS Harry used to say, the only good vibration is a dead vibration. I KNOW THIS after 4 rooms, all of different size and construction.
I have Stillpoints SS and Ultra Mini Risers as well as Nordost’s Sort Kones, but suspect the Townshend will be magical, based on isolation down to 3hZ. I’ll keep you posted.
We should ALL keep open minds because the more closed our minds are, the less good our music will sound. And it doesn’t matter how modest the system: experiment as much as you can - but CAREFULLY.
AND UNPLUG THAT DAMN MICROWAVE!!!
