A Copernican View of the Turntable System

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

Hi Folkfreak,
We must be related.....
Palladian cartridge, Herzan.....😁
I trust you're still enjoying the Palladian..?

Your supporting shelf for the turntable is most unusual....
I can understand the reasoning behind it (assuming you have springy floorboards)....but perhaps you swapped one problem for another..?
Suspension systems (as I know from engineering) are designed to MOVE...😱
Not only side to side, but also up and down depending on the details.
I can well understand how the readouts are more severe than in my situation.
The Herzan in your case must really be earning its keep....👍
On the positive side, the differences when the isolation is 'ON' compared to 'OFF' must be night and day...?
Are you able to describe the effects you are hearing?

Regards
Henry