Herzan/Table Stable "Active" Isolation table.

Thank you for the warm welcoming Steve. It is nice to engage with users of this site and learn about how they use their audio equipment.

I actually live much closer to your neck of the woods than my company's location (Rancho Santa Margarita). If you have a turntable that you think may benefit from an active vibration isolation system, I will be happy to give you a hands on demo at the office or bring one to you so that you can try it out for yourself. We are very open and flexible with evaluating our tables.

Some people are trying to drag Steve kicking and screaming into owning a turntable, but it hasn't happened yet.

Hi Northstar,

I have included an internal view of what the TS Series looks like. As you will see in the provided picture, the circuitry working in concert with the piezo sensors and actuators. In addition to the internal framework of the TS Series, there is a very precise and calibrated method in which the sensors, actuators and circuitry work together. I hope this is helpful in what information you are looking to receive.

I will add, this is only part of the table, (top plate is resting on the surface). Here is another view of the internals as well.

No torture at this end Christian

Reid-No disrespect intended, but is there really $12K of material, labor, overhead, and a reasonable profit (less than 12% profit) in this device?

rockitman said:

but Steve, you don't know what your missing until you hear a well sorted TT in your own system...

PS: Not trying to be a bad influence.

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Never say never Christian

Steve Williams said:

No torture at this end Christian

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I think it tortures the vinyl lovers the most, who view it as a wasted potential. C'est la vie. Or maybe, c'est la guerre.

Steve Williams said:

Reid

welcome to WBF

I see we are neighbors. I live in Coto De Caza and see you are in Laguna Hills. I lived in Laguna Hills from 1978-1993. I might have to drop by your business for a hands on demo

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Steve,

Did you realize that your preamplifier will need four isolation tables? Perhaps buying a turntable to try the TS-140 would be cheaper ...

Hi Mep,

These systems incorporate numerous low frequency sensors, actuators and circuitry components that are individually made and assembled to achieve the highest level of precision possible. These tables are unable to be mass produced due to their highly technical nature, requiring careful assembly and precision during their build. Each table is also thoroughly tested and evaluated to ensure they meet a specific standard of performance and reliability.

Also, the original intention for these systems were geared towards high resolution microscopes (i.e. AFMs, SPMs, etc.), which required a high level of consistency, reliability, and performance.

We are confident in their ability to address the needs of our customers and demonstrate value to them once utilized with their application.

Thank you for your feedback and posted question.

rockitman said:

he should stop torturing himself and get it done...

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10 years ago i gave Steve a very nice record in the hopes that he would get into vinyl....so far, not yet.

4 years ago he did get into tape.

Reid, Thank you for joining this discussion. I welcome and appreciate your contributions. Those pictures of the interior of the TS unit are very impressive and explain in part how much more complicated (and costly) your system is than my passive air unit.

I currently have my turntable on one of those less effective passive air isolation platforms with active self leveling. I am curious about vibrations being drained from the device that is being isolated. I have attempted to deal with this by placing my turntable on a whole bunch of steel. As you mentioned in one of your posts, the air platforms are most effective when they operate within 80%-90% of their maximum design load. For this reason, I have preloaded my isolation device with a 130 lb steel ballast plate. With the weight of my turntable, I am within about 10 lbs of the maximum load for the Vibraplane.

I also think this massive steel ballast plate helps to absorb or dampen any vibrations generated by the turntable as they are drained down and away from the turntable through the four feet with steel ball supports. So in effect, I think the Vibraplane is lessoning vertical vibrations moving up toward the turntable, and the mass of the unit plus the steel ballast plate provide a sink into which internally generated vibrations can drain down away from the turntable. Unfortunately, unlike the Herzan, there does not seem to be much horizontal or other axis of isolation in my system.

Could you please confirm that in fact this is what is happening in my system, and then also describe how your Herzan active isolation platform deals with vibration generated by the turntable itself? It seems that your primary market is for microscopes and such in various research settings and these involve devices that may not generate as many internal vibrations as do some turntables and CD players. Regardless, from the reports in this thread, your Herzan is extremely effective.

To give you some idea of my particular system, here is a photo showing my turntable, steel ballast plate and air isolation platform. Incidentally, I also discovered that the motor controller for the turntable also benefits from being up on the isolation platform:

microstrip said:

Steve,

Did you realize that your preamplifier will need four isolation tables? Perhaps buying a turntable to try the TS-140 would be cheaper ...

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With tubes on all four boxes and no cages, any kind of stacking could be perilous I suppose. Can you fit two pieces side by side on 1 large isolation platform?

In any event, still expensive. As the saying goes..."in the context of your system, the cost of this new [ fill in the blank ] ...is not that expensive..."

Mike Lavigne said:

10 years ago i gave Steve a very nice record in the hopes that he would get into vinyl....so far, not yet.

4 years ago he did get into tape.

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I still have that record Mike (St James Infirmary at 45 rpm)

I actually heard it on my system when a friend brought by his Clear Audio TT and hooked it up to my system

I am happily retired now and as a result I will be carefully making any future purchase decisions

Nick Doshi will be delivering and setting up (finally) his tape head preamp in the next few weeks so I will be looking to enlarge my tape library

Bruce is quite enamored with his Doshi unit and has even started some tube rolling

lloydelee21 said:

With tubes on all four boxes and no cages, any kind of stacking could be perilous I suppose. Can you fit two pieces side by side on 1 large isolation platform?

In any event, still expensive. As the saying goes..."in the context of your system, the cost of this new [ fill in the blank ] ...is not that expensive..."

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Lloyd

this is not a problem with the LL1 preamp as they are each fully enclosed

As I see it I would have to wonder about this technology being refined specifically for audio. For instance is it really important that the Herzan performs down to 0.5 Hz?? Nice that it does but short of a California earthquake, is that a frequency that is necessary.

IOW why can't the company start thinking out of the box and consider the untapped source of revenue from audiophiles

Someone mentioned in an earlier post that manufacturers of TT's should think about using this technology built into the platforms that come with the TT

Steve Williams said:

I still have that record Mike (St James Infirmary at 45 rpm)

I actually heard it on my system when a friend brought by his Clear Audio TT and hooked it up to my system

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I still have a hi rez (48/24) copy of that record recorded to my computer, made from my vinyl system. Sounds pretty good, but not as good as the original record when I played it live.

so how low a frequency is a foot fall? Your other examples come no where near 0.5 Hz