Seismion - new active isolation platform from Germany

Zeotrope

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Great news!
As an owner of both DarTZeel 18NS and 108 and Seismion platforms, I can attest to the significant difference the Seismion make. It was about as big of an improvement as transitioning from Kondo Japan M77 and Souga to the DarTZeel.
 

Scatterbrain99

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Aug 18, 2016
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I would love to learn which LPS's you and other Seismion owners are using. I have four Reactio's and am contemplating a few more to complete things. I have yet to try a LPS.

And I am curious: what differences in sound quality do you hear when going from their standard SMPS to an LPS with your Seismion's?

I've tried few high quality linear PSU with my seismions. However, I realized that peak current delivery is very important. I ended up using LHY Audio LPS80VA and LPS160VA models, because despite their modest price the peak current delivery being 5A+, made the Seismion sound better than other more expensive linear PSU I tried which were 12V/3A max.
 

Zeotrope

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I am using 12V/5A linear power supplies from Teddy Pardo. At about $400 each, they are fairly reasonably priced. Made in Israel by a team that only builds power supplies. I would trust them over just about anyone else when it comes to quality PSUs.
 

Seismion

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Dec 9, 2021
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BTW: We are glad to announce a new cooperation with german turntable designer Helmut Thiele. Helmut has 30 years of experience in designing his own turntables and cooperating with other companies. While he designed the mechanical housing for the active damping base ADB01, the active isolation components, well known from the Reactio and Reactio plus, are contributed by Seismion.

A few first photos together with his TT01 turntable can be found in the thread:
https://www.whatsbestforum.com/thre...-dedicated-active-isolation-base-adb01.38599/

Helmut will be attending this week's AXPONA show in Chicago, this will be a great opportunity to experience the new system first hand for everybody who has the chance to visit it.
 
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Jazzjunkie

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Apr 11, 2024
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@TLi: your nice tube amp looks very heavy and seems to have quite more weight back where the transformers are placed. Can you compensate this difference in center of gravity with leveling the platform mechanism, so it still works as intended?
 

TLi

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May 27, 2016
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@TLi: your nice tube amp looks very heavy and seems to have quite more weight back where the transformers are placed. Can you compensate this difference in center of gravity with leveling the platform mechanism, so it still works as intended?
Audio Note Kondo Kagura 2i power amp is 62kg each. The rear end is more heavy.

Reactio Plus has four screws in four corners to adjust the tension of the springs. It compensates the loading to give a level platform.
 

Jazzjunkie

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Thanks, yes, would possibly be more borderline with a 100kg amp, but good to hear it can compensate this weight in the back. You have some really nice gear, phew..
 
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Seismion

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Thanks, yes, would possibly be more borderline with a 100kg amp, but good to hear it can compensate this weight in the back. You have some really nice gear, phew..
Hello Jazzjunkie,
as TLi wrote, the Reactio plus is capable to adapt to uneven weight distribution. While the maximum payload for a centric mass is about 100 kg (actually slightly more than that), this value reduces a little bit if the center of gravity (COG) is out of the middle. Think of it the way, that each corner can carry about 25 kg. If the mass is concentrated more to one side, then this side will have to carry more than the other side.
That means your 100 kg system with unsymmetric COG is indeed borderline.

However, since the whole production is done in-house at Seismion, we offer the option to adjust the weight limitation of the Reactio plus according to our customers need. The only limitation is that the minimum weight also increases the same amount, which means for example a range 10 - 110 kg, 20 - 120 kg etc. up to maybe 50 - 150 kg.

We offer this option without additional costs.
If you are interested to get such a system, feel free to contact us directly.

Marcus
 
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Jazzjunkie

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Thanks Marcus, this flexibility is appreciated!
Do you also think about offering more than 2 size options?

Some platforms like the Accurion Silencer have an LED indication of active compensating operation and (non)operation out of optimal range. From this thread I got, that you currently just offer the latter. Any LED, especially when often flashing, can be annoying, but if so, it’s also easy to cover it or, it could be designed by the manufacturer, so that it can be switched off. I think an optional display of the grade of compensating operation with a simple LED (no screen) would be interesting and shouldn’t stretch the budget too much. Am I wrong?

It would also be very interesting to know about differences of your product compared to concrete other main competitors (aware that this would just be your point of view).

And how does coupling of the equipment to the platform influence the quality of operation? I suspect, the harder the better but which direction should e.g. spikes have?

I guess you’re used to the fact that folks who think about such products tend to go a bit into detail ;-) But no problem to contact you directly for detail questions in case you prefer.
 
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Seismion

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Dec 9, 2021
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Thanks Marcus, this flexibility is appreciated!
Do you also think about offering more than 2 size options?

Some platforms like the Accurion Silencer have an LED indication of active compensating operation and (non)operation out of optimal range. From this thread I got, that you currently just offer the latter. Any LED, especially when often flashing, can be annoying, but if so, it’s also easy to cover it or, it could be designed by the manufacturer, so that it can be switched off. I think an optional display of the grade of compensating operation with a simple LED (no screen) would be interesting and shouldn’t stretch the budget too much. Am I wrong?

It would also be very interesting to know about differences of your product compared to concrete other main competitors (aware that this would just be your point of view).

And how does coupling of the equipment to the platform influence the quality of operation? I suspect, the harder the better but which direction should e.g. spikes have?

I guess you’re used to the fact that folks who think about such products tend to go a bit into detail ;-) But no problem to contact you directly for detail questions in case you prefer.

In fact, our Reactio plus does not feature an indication if the load adjustment is in the optimal range or not. However, there is only the two conditions a) top-plate is free to vibrate and b) top-plate is clamped and not able to move. It can easily be identified by touching the top-plate with the hands. Once it is free, it is not really important to have it precisely levelled, as long as there is some gap up and downwards then it is enough.
An optional display, and other features is on our list for a new generation of Reactio isolators. For now, the main focus is on a perfect isolation performance.
And answering your questions about the comparison of other competitors: we (and actually also our industrial customers) performed measurements under the same conditions, which proved that our isolators have a better low-frequency isolation (which is the most difficult one to achieve) in realistic operation. Beside that, our isolators offer a much lower noise level, which is essential for a perfect isolation result.

For example Accurion (now belonging to Park Systems) publish the following performance curve on their website (i4 product flyer, page 5):

accurion i4.png
I want to focus on the text below, which states the graph was measured at a velocity of 100 µm/s. This basically means they placed it on a shaker with a controlled, large excitation while performing the measurement.
One can easily understand that this is not the typical environment where the isolator is used. Normally, already the floor or base structure, where the isolator is placed on should be as vibration free as possible.
Surely, Accurion did this on purpose. My educated guess would be, that they don't achieve the same performance with low excitation, since they are limited by their noise floor.
We at Seismion measure our isolators by a pure floor excitation, which in our lab is about 100 times smaller than 100 µm/s. And still, we achieve the same isolation performance as with larger excitation. Audiophile clients with the highest demands for perfect music reproduction typically already take care of a noise- and vibration-free environment. Here is where our Reactio really shines and brings it to a new level.

Concerning coupling with the devices on top: yes, typically it should be a hard and direct connection to the isolator. You can consider every soft connection above the isolator as another (passive) isolation stage, which means the Reactio does not have a direct intervention on it anymore. This would be especially important for devices like turntables, which generate some vibrations on their own.
 
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Jazzjunkie

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Apr 11, 2024
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Thanks much for the detailed answer!
Regarding coupling to the platform, I guess the more resonating part should be coupled with tip direction to the less resonating (if we speak of directional spikes or similar), correct? Would you say in case of a heavy record player, the base of the Seismion platform is more resonating (from floor resonances) than the player itself or the opposite?
 

TLi

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May 27, 2016
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Active isolators like Seismion and others reduce vibrational energy from transmitting through the isolators. You can look at them as a buffer between the rack and equipment. Coupling equipment and active isolator is another issue all together.

You can use your favorite spikes or footers above and below isolators to fine tune the sound. IMG_3747.JPG I have used many different spikes, metal cubes and footers both above and below the platform to get the sound that I want. It is a fun process. You start with nothing and bit by bit add the couplers.

Enclosed photo shows my current setup under my preamp.
 

Jazzjunkie

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Apr 11, 2024
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Thanks for your input! To be honest, I didn’t assume I’d tweak the sound with how I use and couple to/from active isolation, but rather assumed, there’s a way that makes it most effective. If I’d not like the resulting sound, I’d search elsewhere to modify/improve. That’s why I asked for the “proper” way to couple/decouple to and from the top and bottom of it, depending on how self-resonating the equipment on top is.

Can you maybe help with another question:
For a record player it’s more essential to get it in perfect horizontal balance than for amps. The Seismion platforms have 4 feet (not 3, which would make defined horizontal leveling easier but certainly be less stable). Do the 4 adjustable Seismion feet offer enough height variation for leveling? I’d want to avoid, having to buy additional (3) leveling feet for above or below as you did. But if I had to…do you have recommendations for smaller or bigger feet with height adjustment option?
 
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