We just got this HRS E1 Isolation platform in for people to hear the noise reduction in more modest systems. (This just happens to be the only system that we could try it on 🙂 )
A customer friend of ours used our platform and heard the noise drop out on his $1600 Project turntable. Dramatic noise drop. He was blown away. So I had to test it out for myself, the next day when I got into work.
Jaw dropping is how I describe my personal observation in the noise reduction here on the MT5 turntable when I loaded the Eric Clapton – Unplugged album.
As soon as I dropped the needle down on “Hey Hey” with the platform, you actually didn’t hear the main noise of needle drop you normally would.
Then Ed Masterson, played “Signe” the 1st song on the album to hear the noise from the crowd clapping in the concert. The soundstage of clapping went from stadium wide, not because that was the actual width of the soundstage, but more because it was one aspect of the recording that perhaps was not as coherent as the instrumental (felt like it) and opened the reproduction to a very distinct width and natural soundstage. (When I looked up the background on his “Unplugged” album, I discovered Unplugged is a 1992 album by Eric Clapton, recorded at Bray Studios, England in front of an audience for the MTV Unplugged television series.)
The noise floor just dropped out, the high quality recording become distinctly more transparent, airy, natural and so many other terms of clarity I could use.
A Note I’d like to Add; Before I wrote this blog post about my own personal experience. Having been an Audiophile for less than 3 years, I wanted to read from another person’s perspective in regards to noise reduction and specifically if I could find, an article on an isolation platform. In my search I found one from the best, a very interesting and relevant point made by Robert Harley, Editor in Chief of The Absolute Sound Magazine, (and author of the book I am reading called “The Complete Guide To High-End Audio“) in an article he shared in 2015 called ‘Critical Mass Systems Maxxum Amplifier Stand Disappearing Act’. I quote Mr. Harley below from the article:
“In my editorial in Issue 246 (“The Law of Accelerating Returns”) I suggested that the goal of assembling the most realistic-sounding audio system is best realized by investing in products that are demonstrably more transparent and resolving.
All too often, audiophiles swap components only to trade one set of colorations for a different, perhaps initially appealing, set of colorations. Years of such “upgrades” don’t bring you closer to musical realism in the long run. It’s better to spend your money on components or accessories that improve the sound without any sonic tradeoffs.”
During our test, Ed made the comment that being an electrical engineer, this platform made more Engineering sense than other noise reduction/isolation products or methods, because it was based on applying mechanical noise reduction. So, I stayed the course on my post here.
My summary: It was very much a Night and Day difference. Two turntables were tested. The first one was a $1600 Project turntable and the second was a $7000 one. The same friend/customer Dave heard both. And from what I understood him to say, was they both had about the same results. An $1100 isolation platform by HRS did this. Very simple test. Amazing results. I encourage you to come in and hear what I did.
E1 Isolation Base Gallery
The gear used:
The McIntosh MC462 Solid State Amplifer, the McIntosh C2600 2-Channel Vacuum Tube Preamplifier, the McIntosh MT5 2-Channel Precision Turntable, and Sonus Faber Olympica Nova III Floorstander Speakers with the REL sub-base woofers turned off. (because one happened to sell the other day)
