High End Isolation - HRS, SRA, Active platforms

Hi, I went from a Arcici Suspense stand with Symposium Ultra shelves on top of the stock acylic shelfs, to a Finite Elemente Pagode master reference. Also added Finite's cerabase feet for the rack and 5 sets of cerapucs for the equipment.

The diff? Noise floor dramatically dropped. Allows details, spatial clues, coherence etc emerge. This was not subtle.

Hope this helps you some...

For active isolation (ie. Halcyonics), is there a benefit to isolating each individual component to it's own platform, or could one place several stacked pieces. I'm thinking of a DAC/transport stacked onto one platform. Appreciate anyone with first-hand experience.

Be careful, there isn't a "one size fits all" isolation solution. It is sort of like asking - "what's the best food?". Depends upon what your system needs and what you have a taste for.
My preferred "cost no object" strategy is to get the room / environment right and not even try to deal with transmitted vibration after the fact. A neat benifit is that stand choices can then be about looks and convenience and economy.
I have to deal with vibration sourced quality & reliability issues as a job thing now and then, it is pretty tough to get the best vibration readings if you are measuring something mounted on a vibrating floor structure. Also, the fix for one problem (adding mass for example) is the curse for another.

In my experience air isolation is not the Valhalla of isolation. Sometimes the sound becomes a bit disembodied, loosing some of it's palpability. Imho some sort of constraint layer damping is superior in case of audio. Of course in high tech laboratories they use tables with air isolation. But laboratories have nothing common with high quality sound reproduction!

Chris

I can only add a few comments and perspective from what I have recently experienced. My previous rack was one that I put together based on a design similar to the Mapleshade Samson rack. (I only mention Mapleshade's rack to give a visual of the type of rack I was using. I have no experience with their specific racks). My previous rack served my needs of holding all my components. I imagine it also did something (as slight as it may have been) to address the problems of vibration and resonance. I recent changed to a rack that made a HUGE difference. I purchased a rack from John Stehno of Dynamic Contrasts. The rack I purchased is a prototype of a racking system John has been developing the last number of years. He will be releasing his new rack design in the next couple months. John's new rack has significant improvements over the prototype design I purchased. When I installed my new rack, I could not believe the improvements. I was shocked at the level of improvements in all areas of performance. The soundstage more that doubled; significant improvements in every area . . . clarity, detail, air, dynamics, noise floor, etc. absolutely jaw-dropping results. The day after my new rack was setup, a number of friends were over. I played something that they were all familiar with and had heard on my previous setup. After the first four notes of the first song, one individual looked at me in amazement and simply said, “WOW”. The improvements were not subtle and everyone else easily noticed them. The incredible thing is that with my new rack, I have realized improved performance from every component installed on the rack. Imagine making a major upgrade in every component at the same time. That is the result I have experienced. I am not affiliated with Dynamic Contrasts, I’m just one very satisfied customer. We all desire to get the maximum potential performance from every component in our system. I think I am much closer to that goal with John's racking system. I haven't tried everything else out there. However, based on the improvements I have experienced, I have to say that John has a true solution to vibration and resonance control, or management, no matter how you look at it. I now realize that the rack is a vital component (maybe the most significant component) in my system. It put a new perspective in me regarding the importance of getting the rack right. BTW, the rest of my system is comprised of the following: Theta CD and DAC, Nuforce amps and preamp, Aerial 7B speakers. By no means the best out there, but no slouch either. The sound I am now getting is way beyond what I thought possible.

In regards to your question of stacking components, my new rack has three shelves. This leaves me to stacking two components. My DAC is on it's own shelf, my transport and pre are stacked. I have not yet experimented with a different arrangement. My future plans are to either go to a single box CDP with digital inputs or go to a computer fed DAC. I'm sure I would see/hear improvements by not stacking components, but, that remains to be seen/heard. I just think that stacking is a bit of a compromise of the fullest benefit of the racking system design.

Rob, you have a great system. I am convinced that John's racking system would take your system to levels you didn't think were possible, as it did mine. I noticed you are using Sistrum stands under your amps and speakers. John approaches vibration and resonance from the same direction as Star Sound Technologies. I believe he has far surpassed them in his implementation. John is also a member of Audiogon, do a member lookup search for: Stehno or email him at: [email protected]

I hope this helps.
Robert