Mr. Lin
Lunatic Member
Well, a few nights ago, for the first time in nearly two years, I set up my Pro-Ject RM-5 to play some records. Long story short, I moved, the RM-5 got packed up, I bought a bunch of amazing CD players, and then when I was ready to listen to records again I only had the Thorens TD125 MKII on hand - not that that was a bad thing.
It's always been clear to me that the Pro-Ject is sonically superior to the Thorens, despite how great the latter sounds. But one thing the Thorens has had on the RM-5 is background silence. For the first few years I've had my RM-5 I struggled with noise issues: first hum, which was eventually cured with the right pair of purpose-made interconnects, and a new grounding approach, then surface noise (not the inevitable, usual kind), which was reduced when I realized I was turning the gain on my phono preamp too high, and finally, the infamous motor-induced hum audible in the background when records are played at 45rpm on some Pro-Ject turntables.
Truth be told, I'd gotten kind of depressed about the Pro-Ject while it was packed away, and decided maybe I should just forget about it until I have the money for a newer, better turntable. After all, background silence is more important to me now than ever, largely because of my recent experiences with good CD players. Then a recent thread popped up on AK about the new kit for Pro-Ject turntables that's supposed to fix any hum problems, just as I was preparing to finally pull the thing out and use it again. Not encouraging.
So here's what happened: First I placed it on the piece of furniture I'd previously put the Thorens on. Mind you, this is a new house, and I'm talking about different furniture. All listening is now through headphones (see signature for equipment list). I installed the Dynavector 10X5 cartridge, from which I'd removed the plastic body. Initial results were not good. There was lots of surface noise, and even a bit of hum audible at the 33rpm speed.
Then I realized I'd forgotten to level the turntable (whoops). That reduced surface noise considerably. And then, I got the idea to have my phono preamp (on a different piece of furniture) switch places with the RM-5.
This might be getting a little drab so I'll get to the point. With the turntable on this other piece of furniture - which is sturdier and better isolated - I immediately noticed a dramatic reduction in noise all around. This was promising, and rather exciting. Next I tried using one of my sets of Herbie's "Iso-cups" with his "db Neutralizer" material balls, on top of Herbie's Super Sonic Stabilizer discs (I have a bunch of that stuff lying around). Despite the silly names, these things work wonders with certain components, and this was about the best result I've gotten yet. Steve Herbelin doesn't just have balls, he's got balls that get results.
First of all, the background silence is now on par with the Thorens, and that's huge. Second, there's absolutely no hum audible when playing at 33rpm, unless I turn the volume knob all the way up, which is waaay higher than listening levels, and that hum is from my tube phono preamp. Third, I tried playing a 45rpm record with the volume cranked at the beginning of the lp (where you could normally hear the hum the instant the stylus touched the vinyl), and the hum is gone!
Obviously people have known about the importance of turntable isolation since before I was even born, and I knew about it before this experience too, of course. But at my previous residence, I had my RM-5 on a piece of furniture that, looking back, wasn't really appropriate for that application, and must have been significantly degrading the sound. This is an exciting development because the sonic strengths of the RM-5 (largely due to its carbon fiber tonearm I believe) are many, and now its biggest weakness - motor-induced noise - is basically eliminated. Right now, as I'm listening to Sun Ra's Supersonic Jazz, I can confidently say this is the best the RM-5 has ever sounded with the Dynavector 10X5 installed. It has the detail, the finesse and refinement, the imaging, dynamics, and timbrel accuracy, and, of course, the sought-after "black" background.
Below are some pictures of the turntable with the Herbie's Iso-cups underneath. The balls are interchangeable, but the "db Neutralizer" type is supposedly designed specifically for turntables, plus it's not slippery like the ones made of various gemstones and wood, so the turntable is not at risk of sliding off the footers.
Under the Iso-cup you can see the gray SS Stabilizer disc. Info on those is available on the Herbie's Audio Lab site, but it's basically meant to add "virtual mass" to the tops of components, the same effect as when you just rest your hand on the chassis of something. But I've started using them as bases for footers, and Steve Herbelin confirmed that that is another thing they're meant to be used as.
Under that, the rather unsightly pieces of folded paper. Why? Well, I used college-ruled for a linear frequency response... Seriously, although it looks sloppy, sliding these under certain bases, one piece at a time (like the famous playing cards trick) allowed me to level the turntable as accurately as possible (with the leveling tool I have, that is), thereby bypassing the built-in cone feet of the RM-5:
And of course there's room left for the indispensable Speed Box to be tucked neatly under the plinth:
In what other ways have I approached the battle against vibrations? I'm about to start another thread - don't worry, it will be more succinct - about the last cherry on top of everything here, ZYX Silent Metals.
...
It's always been clear to me that the Pro-Ject is sonically superior to the Thorens, despite how great the latter sounds. But one thing the Thorens has had on the RM-5 is background silence. For the first few years I've had my RM-5 I struggled with noise issues: first hum, which was eventually cured with the right pair of purpose-made interconnects, and a new grounding approach, then surface noise (not the inevitable, usual kind), which was reduced when I realized I was turning the gain on my phono preamp too high, and finally, the infamous motor-induced hum audible in the background when records are played at 45rpm on some Pro-Ject turntables.
Truth be told, I'd gotten kind of depressed about the Pro-Ject while it was packed away, and decided maybe I should just forget about it until I have the money for a newer, better turntable. After all, background silence is more important to me now than ever, largely because of my recent experiences with good CD players. Then a recent thread popped up on AK about the new kit for Pro-Ject turntables that's supposed to fix any hum problems, just as I was preparing to finally pull the thing out and use it again. Not encouraging.
So here's what happened: First I placed it on the piece of furniture I'd previously put the Thorens on. Mind you, this is a new house, and I'm talking about different furniture. All listening is now through headphones (see signature for equipment list). I installed the Dynavector 10X5 cartridge, from which I'd removed the plastic body. Initial results were not good. There was lots of surface noise, and even a bit of hum audible at the 33rpm speed.
Then I realized I'd forgotten to level the turntable (whoops). That reduced surface noise considerably. And then, I got the idea to have my phono preamp (on a different piece of furniture) switch places with the RM-5.
This might be getting a little drab so I'll get to the point. With the turntable on this other piece of furniture - which is sturdier and better isolated - I immediately noticed a dramatic reduction in noise all around. This was promising, and rather exciting. Next I tried using one of my sets of Herbie's "Iso-cups" with his "db Neutralizer" material balls, on top of Herbie's Super Sonic Stabilizer discs (I have a bunch of that stuff lying around). Despite the silly names, these things work wonders with certain components, and this was about the best result I've gotten yet. Steve Herbelin doesn't just have balls, he's got balls that get results.
First of all, the background silence is now on par with the Thorens, and that's huge. Second, there's absolutely no hum audible when playing at 33rpm, unless I turn the volume knob all the way up, which is waaay higher than listening levels, and that hum is from my tube phono preamp. Third, I tried playing a 45rpm record with the volume cranked at the beginning of the lp (where you could normally hear the hum the instant the stylus touched the vinyl), and the hum is gone!
Obviously people have known about the importance of turntable isolation since before I was even born, and I knew about it before this experience too, of course. But at my previous residence, I had my RM-5 on a piece of furniture that, looking back, wasn't really appropriate for that application, and must have been significantly degrading the sound. This is an exciting development because the sonic strengths of the RM-5 (largely due to its carbon fiber tonearm I believe) are many, and now its biggest weakness - motor-induced noise - is basically eliminated. Right now, as I'm listening to Sun Ra's Supersonic Jazz, I can confidently say this is the best the RM-5 has ever sounded with the Dynavector 10X5 installed. It has the detail, the finesse and refinement, the imaging, dynamics, and timbrel accuracy, and, of course, the sought-after "black" background.
Below are some pictures of the turntable with the Herbie's Iso-cups underneath. The balls are interchangeable, but the "db Neutralizer" type is supposedly designed specifically for turntables, plus it's not slippery like the ones made of various gemstones and wood, so the turntable is not at risk of sliding off the footers.
Under the Iso-cup you can see the gray SS Stabilizer disc. Info on those is available on the Herbie's Audio Lab site, but it's basically meant to add "virtual mass" to the tops of components, the same effect as when you just rest your hand on the chassis of something. But I've started using them as bases for footers, and Steve Herbelin confirmed that that is another thing they're meant to be used as.
Under that, the rather unsightly pieces of folded paper. Why? Well, I used college-ruled for a linear frequency response... Seriously, although it looks sloppy, sliding these under certain bases, one piece at a time (like the famous playing cards trick) allowed me to level the turntable as accurately as possible (with the leveling tool I have, that is), thereby bypassing the built-in cone feet of the RM-5:
And of course there's room left for the indispensable Speed Box to be tucked neatly under the plinth:
In what other ways have I approached the battle against vibrations? I'm about to start another thread - don't worry, it will be more succinct - about the last cherry on top of everything here, ZYX Silent Metals.
...