Upgrade from TW Acustic Raven AC-3 to what?

Alec,

As you know, there are those who constantly tweak to a fanatic point. Those guys try everything a manufacturer has to offer, and Raven owners are no exception. I know several of them, and from what I can gather they all disagree on the merits...like always. :-D

I suppose you'll have to see for yourself, right?

Best,
Win

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Dear Alec,
Having read some of the early responses I think the idea of taking an unsuspended table and converting it into a suspended one by means of the support seems to defeat the object of the exercise ;^)

I know that this suggestion might go against the grain but assuming that you are applying the vinyl directly to the copper platter, have you considered trialling a few mats?
One reason I say this is that the mech impedance of the copper platter is dissimilar to vinyl and you may get a more acceptable result by improving the match?

Speaking from experience I was in a similar position to that which you describe. It seemed like sacrilege to add to what should be a perfect interface but I cured the problem by first of all adding the basis of the Ringmat Support System i.e. a hybrid mat consisting of a thin latex Base Mat plus the "Gold spot" Ringmat.

Further to this I also notice that dressing the cables to prevent undesirable vibration being passed into the T/T was critical. (In fact it is critical to suspended tables too but possibly more so here)

The stand I use is multi-stage (3 shelves), tri-spiked on each level (so no micro-rocking) and made not from maple but oak. It isn't massively heavy and the resonant frequency isn't too low - so it will act as a mechanical filter when situated on a concrete floor.
The spikes ensure that only a tiny proportion of vibration is passed from one level to the next and this shrinks correspondingly as you progress up the stack. By the time residual vibration reaches the T/T it has passed through 5 levels of minimal coupling (if you include 2 within a set of Stillpoints.)
Whatever is left we would hope would be dealt with by the T/T's own mass.
This basically leaves airborne feedback and the Supply/Tonearm cables as the final sources of feedback.

Airborne feedback is almost untreatable apart from a separate room or moving the T/T further away from the speakers. The T/T should handle this ok provided it isn't mounted directly on top of the speaker. ;^)
Mech cable resonance on the other hand is treatable. It's worth playing around with this factor as I mentioned earlier.
Hope my experience proves helpful in some way.

Thanks Win.
Thanks Monnglum, my AC3 is still sitting via Stillpoint feet on a 35lb TAOC platform placed on a 3 shelf TAOC rack. I haven't tried other platforms like MinusK or Vibraplane which were suggested by a few folks.
My new arm/cart did change the sound though. They are flatter and more neutral than the da Vinci arm/cart.

Hi Alec,
Glad you are winning :) The SME is a great tonearm.
If you are ever feeling reckless and feel like like using the other arm pillar you should try the Phantom ;^)
All the best,

I have had an ac3 and i upgraded in this order,
3 motor pod, realy nice improvement.
Then the black night feet, nice improvement but not as dramatic as motor upgrade.
bn platter, is the most significant improvement, the darkness is gone and the soundstage is much bigger. Bass is better defined and digs deeper.

So, i think these upgrades are great but you must look at the cost of replacing the tt with another unit or a blk night tt
Then it starts to mske sense.