Active Anti-vibration Platforms : Accurion i4 and Herzan TS150

CKKeung · Apr 16, 2015

A number of WBF members are active anti-vibration platforms users. There is a long discussion thread : http://www.whatsbestforum.com/showt...Table-Stable-quot-Active-quot-Isolation-table

However, this is a new tweak for audiophiles in Hong Kong. One of the reasons is the high price. Luckily, the Euro is low recently, making prices of these European products a bit more accessible.

Two brands are available in Hong Kong : Accurion and Herzan (Table Stable).
A gathering was held last weekend by my friends and I to home-test both and to select the suitable model for group-purchase.
They were tested in 4 home audio systems, all are pretty highend (Alexia; Q7; Mini2; Goldmund). Some have LP system and some have digital frontends.
All the 4 systems were in concrete apartment buildings.

The Herzan HK dealer sent a manager/science officer to accompany us, doing measurement on the floors, racks and gears with his lab-grade equipment.
Herzan's main customers in HK are labs of universities & hospitals and he does such field measurement & installation there quite often.

Below is a photo showing the two platforms tested (Accurion i4 and Herzan TS150). That mediocre all-wood table is for photo-taking only. The two platforms were tested on much better hifi racks.

I will post the findings in the following post.

Elberoth · Apr 16, 2015

Are you running a group buy ? Would it be possible to take part in such a group buy, even if I'm not HK based ?

CKKeung · Apr 16, 2015

There are many photos. Here are just a few on different frontends.

CKKeung · Apr 16, 2015

We tested the platforms on preamps too.
Poweramps were not tested. They were heavy and we didn't have enough time.

CKKeung · Apr 16, 2015

Elberoth said:
Are you running a group buy ? Would it be possible to take part in such a group buy, even if I'm not HK based ?

Hi Adam,

I will send the contacts and the prices to your mailbox later.
However, I am not sure if the HK dealers are willing to sell cross-regions.
Also, the prices in HK may not be the lowest, due to shipping costs from Europe.

rockitman · Apr 16, 2015

Have you noticed any performance advantage with one unit over the other ? The both isolate well below 1Hz so I suspect any advantage would be negligible at best.

PeterA · Apr 16, 2015

Christian, good isolation previously was anything around 3-4Hz. I think a Vibraplane and Minus K are around 2.5-3 Hz. Then came along these active units which go even lower than that. But what exactly does "isolate well below 1 Hz" actually mean in the real world? What kind of resonances are there at that level, though I don't even know what level we are talking about.

I'm also curious if the group heard any differences between the two units.

spiritofmusic · Apr 16, 2015

I am currently in the process of buying a UK-made Spiers And Robertson air rolling diaphragm shelf, 24" x 24", for my tt that will sit on an inert spiked slate table. This is in effect an up to date iteration of the Vibraplane concept, and is good for isolation similarly down to 2.5Hz. The discussion on active isolation going down to 1Hz came up, and the conclusion from the Spiers people was that 1Hz frequencies are generated by sub sub sub bass phenomena maybe many blocks/miles away like wind turbulence, roads and bridges flexing, underground structures resonating, earth movements etc. Now if you really believe these phenomena will be massively significant re tt performance, than by all means go ahead and buy the pricey $15k/£10k Accurion/Herzan shelves. Our conclusion was that for real world applications, the Spiers air shelf at £2.5k/$4k is just as practical for all intents and purposes, and a damn sight more affordable.
The other advantages the Spiers shelf has is: larger footprint than active/Minus K (even bigger available too); more reliable air bladders than Vibraplane; and less fussiness w/need for optimal loading like the Minus K. My idea is to use the spiked slate table as in effect single tier stand, the Spiers shelf on this, and to load a Symposium Acoustics Ultra shelf on top in addition, to deal w/vibrations in the 5Hz regions.
Interestingly, the Spiers people are adamant that active isolation is optimised for static non moving devices like electron microscopes, whereas their air isolating shelves are used on measuring equipment w/moving components analogous v.much to a tt/tonearm arrangement, making it a more appropriate choice mechanically.
I know that Keith of Purite Audio has demoed/measured both the active Accurion and air Spiers, and in quite a few ways the measurements on the Spiers was superior in pure isolation terms than the Accurion, and had the edge in SQ too - good enough for me.
This venture will end my OTT/OCD attempt at SOTA tt isolation.

CKKeung · Apr 16, 2015

spiritofmusic said:
I am currently in the process of buying a UK-made Spiers And Robertson air rolling diaphragm shelf, 24" x 24", for my tt that will sit on an inert spiked slate table. This is in effect an up to date iteration of the Vibraplane concept, and is good for isolation similarly down to 2.5Hz. The discussion on active isolation going down to 1Hz came up, and the conclusion from the Spiers people was that 1Hz frequencies are generated by sub sub sub bass phenomena maybe many blocks/miles away like wind turbulence, roads and bridges flexing, underground structures resonating, earth movements etc. Now if you really believe these phenomena will be massively significant re tt performance, than by all means go ahead and buy the pricey $15k/£10k Accurion/Herzan shelves. Our conclusion was that for real world applications, the Spiers air shelf at £2.5k/$4k is just as practical for all intents and purposes, and a damn sight more affordable.
The other advantages the Spiers shelf has is: larger footprint than active/Minus K (even bigger available too); more reliable air bladders than Vibraplane; and less fussiness w/need for optimal loading like the Minus K. My idea is to use the spiked slate table as in effect single tier stand, the Spiers shelf on this, and to load a Symposium Acoustics Ultra shelf on top in addition, to deal w/vibrations in the 5Hz regions.
Interestingly, the Spiers people are adamant that active isolation is optimised for static non moving devices like electron microscopes, whereas their air isolating shelves are used on measuring equipment w/moving components analogous v.much to a tt/tonearm arrangement, making it a more appropriate choice mechanically.
I know that Keith of Purite Audio has demoed/measured both the active Accurion and air Spiers, and in quite a few ways the measurements on the Spiers was superior in pure isolation terms than the Accurion, and had the edge in SQ too - good enough for me.
This venture will end my OTT/OCD attempt at SOTA tt isolation.

Hi spiritofmusic,

Thanks for the info.
But to be frank, we did experience devices using air-bladder mechanism before and we want something better and diff.
I have not posted all our findings yet. There is a tweak that has elevated the performance of Accurion to another level ...
I will post our findings today.

CKKeung · Apr 16, 2015

Discovery 1 :

The Herzan scientific officer told us how to select sites for installing the active platforms. Essentially similar to what Mike Lavigne said in another WBF thread : concrete floor, not tall rack/table, rigid rack/table ... etc.

When he measured the baseline vibration before applying the Herzan, he found:
- Apartments located on lower floors have less vibration, although all are concrete buildings.
- Apartments located in an island (Hong Kong Island) have more vibration than those located in a peninsula (Kowloon).
- The location of the component relative to the loudspeakers is important because the sound wave makes direct impact. In fact, when one of the people in the room shout, increased vibration can be detected on the rack & component.

CKKeung · Apr 16, 2015

Discovery 2 :

- The benefit of Accurion & Herzan is universal, i.e. improvement present for all types of components (LP turntables/CDP/SACD/DAC/phonoamp/preamp/PSU...).
- Even hiend hifi racks have been used, there was still significant benefit.
- The degree of benefit was quite unpredictable. We thought turntable & CD transport should be benefited most but it turned out that the Trinity DAC exhibited the biggest benefit, second only to a AW Accustic turntable. Many possible factors : built of the components, rack quality, apartment location & baseline vibration ... etc.

The lesson learned is that since the benefit is universal but variable for individual components, it's best to have home-trial before buying.
If home-trial is not available from the dealer, buy just one and test it on each of the components before making the decision of buying more.

CKKeung · Apr 16, 2015

Discovery 3 :

The Herzan TS150 and Accurion i4 have different sonic characters! This is mind-blowing!

They are on par overall but Accurion has better treble (extension, imaging, airiness) whereas Herzan has better bass (authority, speed, resolution).

The diff is not large but clearly audible. All of us could notice the diff within 30 seconds.

CKKeung · Apr 16, 2015

Discovery 4 :

Can the performance of these two platforms be further improved? The answer is YES!

When we gave Herzan a Goebel Statement powercord, there was easily audible improvement, particularly in the mid-range and musicality.

Accurion i4 employs a small external switching-mode power-supply.
When we replaced it with a Kenneth Lau linear power-supply, it transformed into another beast, bettering Herzan in all aspects!

It's a pity that the Goebel and linear psu have different owners and we did not tested them together.

To us, active anti-vibration platforms are the first can of worms and the pc/psu tweaks are the second can of worms.

PeterA · Apr 16, 2015

This is fascinating. Thank you so much for posting your findings, CKKeung. I use Vibraplanes under my SS amps and suspended turntable. The improvement is significant. I would love to experiment with active isolation at some point. How would you describe the difference between these active units and an air bladder type device?

As an aside, I've always wanted to test a different power cord on my Loricraft RCM. Just kidding.

rockitman · Apr 16, 2015

I like how the herzan has a graphic led allowing visualization of the vertical, left and right horizontal vibration planes. The Accurion has no such real time information....unless significantly cheaper than the table stable I will stick with the same.

CKKeung · Apr 16, 2015

rockitman said:
I like how the herzan has a graphic led allowing visualization of the vertical, left and right horizontal vibration planes. The Accurion has no such real time information....unless significantly cheaper than the table stable I will stick with the same.

Yes, Herzan has a led screen and the vibration detection/monitoring function and weight distribution function are useful and convenient.
Therefore, after the gathering some of us will buy Accurion and some will buy Herzan.

Audiocrack · Apr 16, 2015

CKKeung said:
Discovery 2 :

- The benefit of Accurion & Herzan is universal, i.e. improvement present for all types of components (LP turntables/CDP/SACD/DAC/phonoamp/preamp/PSU...).
- Even hiend hifi racks have been used, there was still significant benefit.
- The degree of benefit was quite unpredictable. We thought turntable & CD transport should be benefited most but it turned out that the Trinity DAC exhibited the biggest benefit, second only to a AW Accustic turntable. Many possible factors : built of the components, rack quality, apartment location & baseline vibration ... etc.

The lesson learned is that since the benefit is universal but variable for individual components, it's best to have home-trial before buying.
If home-trial is not available from the dealer, buy just one and test it on each of the components before making the decision of buying more.

Thanks for this update. Were any tube components used in this try out? As I mentioned before on the WBF, I agree that the Trinity dac really befenits from active isolation (in my case: a Halcyonics micro 40 and later the Halcyonics/ Accurion vario devices under my wooden racks). However, in my situation the effect on my tube preamp (including fully tubed power supply) was the most profound.

CKKeung · Apr 17, 2015

Audiocrack said:
Thanks for this update. Were any tube components used in this try out? As I mentioned before on the WBF, I agree that the Trinity dac really befenits from active isolation (in my case: a Halcyonics micro 40 and later the Halcyonics/ Accurion vario devices under my wooden racks). However, in my situation the effect on my tube preamp (including fully tubed power supply) was the most profound.

Yes, we tested them on an Audio Research Ref 10 preamp with good effect.
The Trinity dac was in another system so the comparison was not a direct one.
However, the effect on Trinity DAC was so large that it puzzled everyone. Quite unexpected because its chassis is milled from a solid block of aluminum.

Audiocrack · Apr 17, 2015

CKKeung said:
Yes, we tested them on an Audio Research Ref 10 preamp with good effect.
The Trinity dac was in another system so the comparison was not a direct one.
However, the effect on Trinity DAC was so large that it puzzled everyone. Quite unexpected because its chassis is milled from a solid block of aluminum.

Yes, Dietmar's products are extremely well built with top notch components. Even without active isolation the Trinity dac and pc&drive sound awesome, but using the Halcyonics devices (clearly) bettered the sound quality in a significant way. Have no (technical) explanation for this. Did you try active isolation with the Trinity pc & drive as well?

Good to hear that active isolation is getting more attention in your audio community. I know AE is using SRA devices but I believe that with active isolation there is still something to win.

XV-1 · Apr 17, 2015

CKKeung said:
Discovery 3 :

The Herzan TS150 and Accurion i4 have different sonic characters! This is mind-blowing!

They are on par overall but Accurion has better treble (extension, imaging, airiness) whereas Herzan has better bass (authority, speed, resolution).

The diff is not large but clearly audible. All of us could notice the diff within 30 seconds.

How do you get the best out of both?. I would want better treble and better bass

Active Anti-vibration Platforms : Accurion i4 and Herzan TS150

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