Hi Audiobuilder, You must have attended the open house of Austin Audio Tech. the excellent Appogg platforms are made here in Austin by Aaron Lindsey and Scott Oliver. The web site is:
http://www.appoggsystems.com
You will find good info, pics, and prices. G. |
What I heard at the open house was quite impressive. Any reviews, comments? |
Audiobuilder, I have advanced prototypes of the Appogg platforms in my system in Austin, and am planning to write a review for Positive feedback. The platforms are only now getting to market, so no formal reviews have been written as yet.
I can confirm that the effect of the platforms is very positive. They seem to solidify imaging and staging. They let the equipment yield a little more detail without creating obvious frequency hotspots. In my system the benefit is particularly evident/positive on the TEAC Esoteric X-01 CD player. The platforms are tunable to component weights. The platform under my Jeff Rowland Criterion preamplifier still may need a little tuning as the component may be a little too heavy for the particular unit under it. I have not yet tried Appogg under my Rowland 312 amp. |
The Appogg Systems web site is temporarily down for maintenance. Aaron will put it back online as soon as maintenance is complete. G. |
Audio Builder,
I was surprised to see your post here on these platforms as I currently am lucky enough to be auditioning these babies.
I too was at the dealers open house(Man I sure liked those Eben 3 speakers, wow!!) as well and after speaking to the builder/designer turns out he lives very close to me. I managed to talk him into bringing one of those platforms to my home. He first had me listen to a few of my reference songs and then he put one under my preamp-WOW! I mean right off the bat I heard the improvement. I think the most noticeable improvement is the noise floor or lack thereof. I didn't think I had much noise that was until this baby was dropped into my system! It really helped take the bite out of my Martin Logans, very enjoyable/musical.
I have never been much of a "platform" type guy in the past due to their cost and to be honest I just haven't heard that much of an improvement, but this platform is different. I heard the improvement right away. There's no doubt, it works very very well.
Man in the last couple of weeks I've been fortunate enough to either purchase some very fine products, or have the opportunity to try out some fine products-some of which I intend to purchase as soon my poor wallet recovers from my recent splurges! The Shuguan Treasure tubes, VAC PHI 110, MBL CDP and the Appogg platform. Jeezz I need to win the lottery soon....
John
There are some great products starting to come out of Austin, the "Music City" is really starting to live up to it's name IMHO, maybe it should be renamed Audio City. ;) |
Great to hear that there was a positive audible effect under your preamp.
Does the isolation platform work under amps?
The responses have gotten me excited. I need to set up a home audition. |
I will have the effect on amps answer in a couple of weeks, I am working with them to build a pair for under my VAC Phi's. I too was impressed by them at the Austin show and Aaron just seems like a really solid and detail oriented guy so far! I'm pretty enthused and expecting good things on the amps. |
Audiobuilder, I will be testing the Appogg platform under my Rowland 312 amp the week of Aug 24th. Will post results here. Guido |
Audiobuilder,
Well the designer/builder stopped by with another surprise, an arm full of the darn things! He put one under my amp as well as the power supply and yes sir, it does make a difference under your amp. It seems that no matter where it is applied it pretty much does the same thing; cleaner/blacker back ground, less noise and just allows the music to flow with ease for lack of a better word/description. It appears that they fall under the catagory of "the more the merrier".
At the moment there is one under almost every piece of my gear, I was thinking "well how nice, coming by personally and putting them in my system". Yeah, now I know what they're up too-it's a trap! They are setting me up so when he comes to take them back and I can't stand it without them I'll be forced to buy em! Damn them.... ;)
John |
The website mentioned some polymer suspesion compound between the platform and the chassis. Can someone explain what that is? Are they balls like the Ginkgo platforms? Weight limit? Anyone tried it under a suspension turntable?
FrankC |
The platforms are factory-tunable to component weight up to 200Lbs. The polymer between the top acrylic plate and the chassis is sorbothane. The chassis base is chambered and is filled with a goop used in the electronics and military fields for absorbing mechanical vibrations. Guido |
I was speaking with the designer and he mentioned that he felt the sorobothane wasn't responsible for the great absorbtion but rather it is the "goop" that does most of the work. What ever it is the darn stuff works wonders, now I'm going to have to buy a couple of these things. My wife loves what one of them did for her turntable and I'm really digging the improvement with one under my preamp! Let me tell you from experience; DO NOT let them slip one into your system "just so you can try it out", you'll suddenly find your wallet a little bit lighter.
John |
Talking about wives. . . my own wife, who is always hypercritical about the esthetics of audio components, has immediately remarked about the understated elegance and refined looks of the Appogg platforms in my system. Guido |
I have been auditioning 3 of the Appogg isolation platforms in my system for the past 2 weeks. I have had them under my transport, my dac and my tubed preamp. This afternoon, Scott and Aaron came by so that we could do a comparative listening with the platforms in the system and then with all 3 of them removed. With all 3 removed, the sonic difference was easy to hear - to me it was a loss of air around performers and seemingly moving the performers closer together towards the center of the soundstage. There was a loss of delicacy in the upper frequencies and some loss of depth in the soundstage. Perhaps the bass was a not quite as tight as well. We then put the platforms back under the transport and dac and a lot of of this vanished. We then put the last platform back under the preamp and while not as dramatic a change as putting back the first 2, it still was an audible improvement and completely back to what we heard before removing all 3 platforms. I went ahead and purchased all 3 platforms. By the way, Scott and Aaron do give great customer service. One of the nice things about the platforms besides the improved sonics, is that even though for maximum effectiveness, the platforms need to be sized for a specific component's overall weight and weight distribution, if you change a component, Scott and Aaron can modify the platform for the new component's weight and weight distribution (assuming the new component will fit on the plinth). |
What's interesting is that the Appogg platforms enhance treble detail while they render upper frequencies sweeter and more delicate. Do not think for a second that 'more delicate' treble implies some glossing of harmonic or low level detail. . . on the contrary! Guido |
Aaron is coming by this week with some Appogg platforms.
I am dreading the visit because I will have to explain to my wife about the new audio gear. |
Audio builder,
Did you get a chance to audition the platforms? So far I am loving mine and I think I may have gotten lucky and Aaron has forgotten about me!! If he shows up to pick them up I think I'll just pretend I'm not home. Oh wait, he's not on this forum is he??? ;)
John |
Unfortunately Aaron had to cancel his visit on Friday and my sons birth on Saturday threw a positive kink into this past week. With some luck and sleep, I will be able to get Aaron over here this coming week.
I wonder if Aaron can make a special isolation platform that will cause newborns to sleep thru the night? |
If so, I want the tweaked version for 1 year-olds!!!! |
Audiobuilder,
Congratulations on your newborn!! I hope all is well with your newest arrival, if it's your first prepare for life changing events but they're all worth it!
Well just as I feared one of the platforms has been removed from my system(went out for another to try), snatched right out from under my preamp-I miss it already!
I am currently rearranging my system to try and get the platform back under my Preamp. The difference when the platform was removed was easily noticable... :(
John |
Five years later, and I cannot find Appogg on the web.
Does anyone have any info on the company or their products?
Are they still in business???
Thanks. |
