f you look at most suspended designs they are all using reflective materials, such as metal or a softer plastic acrylic with a damping system of springs, or rubber o rings. Please tell me in this type of design how is energy coming off the plinth being dealt with? An SME table is a big flat sheet of heavy metal which is being isolated on rubber o rings. Most plastic acrylic tables the thickness and density of the acrylic absorbs some of the energy as acrylic is a soft plastic, but if you tap on it you still get a sense of ringing, damped but it still rings.
Take apart my turntable ... smack the heavy brass sub-platter, brass platter, super hi carbon steel sub-chassis ... and guess what ... they all ring like a amplified bell. Yet as unified team, fit together as designed, you'll injure your finger trying to make 'em ring.
To my ears, design and material are not exclusive, they need to work hand in hand.
Absorption?
Perhaps a matter of semantics, but in my books, it's more important to quickly (very very quickly) dissipate energy away from the stylus / groove relationship than "absorbing" resonance & vibration. Plus, it's far more important to minimize energy transmissions directly at there source (motor/bearing/environmental) than it is to "absorb" or have to dissipate 'em later.
As far as environmental vibrations goes, well ... hence the suspension, but unknown to most, a suspension system should also act as a filter to control interior based noise transmissions; not just incoming environmental vibration. In my travels, the Achilles heal with many a "good" suspension design is that they allow too much lateral movement, therefore changing the relationship between the pulley, belt & platter ... causing potential timing issues. Suspensions can be very tricky to setup, and perhaps they'll always represent some form of a compromised "fix" to the problem at hand ... until of course ... some breakthrough design ...
I've never heard the Merill, but based on their "philosophy" ... I'd certainly like too. That said, I've also heard far too many audiophile "hype" stories crumble in the face of actuality ... so I'd certainly not expect ... the biggest breakthrough in turntable ... but I would certainly expect a high degree of excellence.
tb1
