Halcyonics under my tt. Wow

Lewm, yes, you are right I've got mine, but I really do wish everyone could have these magic devices, and I would love to have several more. I know from personal experience that you cannot get the same benefit from a second component stacked on top another on the Halcyonics. I have tried it with a transport on top the dac and a dac on top a music server.

But Tbg, As I understand it, you own 3 Halcyonics platform, albeit maybe not the Silencer. So why are you frustrated? It is we paupers who ought to be frustrated.

Elberoth2, I heard that they hoped to sell it for $8500 or less, but I have never seen it listed.

I think you can see why my experiences are so frustrating. It has become unobtainium.

How much does the Silencer retail for in the US ?

I think I am the one who suggested, some years ago on this site, that the Halcyonics table would outperform all the various vibration damping devices sold to audiophiles. My experience with it was in my work where we were using a pool of mercury as a level reference reflector, and we were troubled by ripples on the mercury surface. The Halcyonics cleared up the ripples. No other kind of vibration control came close.

The Halcyonics Mod-1 appears to have a resonant freq of around 0.5 Hz. Am I missing something?

Lewm, Halcyonic is not a US company, it is German. The initial price several years ago was $7800 for the Model One. See: http://www.6moons.com/industryfeatures/he2005/4.html although I do remember a price in the $6500 range.

The US importer hoped to get a lower price to increase sales, but that never proved possible. This is why I am so unhappy that this outstanding device is so beyond being an option of most audiophiles.

Ummm... If it's a US-based product, the weak dollar has nothing to do with its cost in the US, except insofar as the makers may feel free to ask a lot of dollars for their products, since foreign buyers will not be terribly deterred, and except where the suppliers of parts for construction are not US-based. The latter may indeed be a factor in cost, so I guess you have a point. But the exchange rates would not be the main cause for a price of $8000 vs an audio market friendly price, like say $2500.

There is a California company that is distributor for the scientific community. Laufer Teknic does the audio aspects worldwide.

I suspect that the weak dollar is chiefly responsible for this product not taking off in the US. I have no idea how it is doing in other countries.

Laufer Teknic,is located on Whitehall Street, N.Y,N.Y
Very nice people

Are Halcyonics located in Germany or elsewhere outside the US? (I don't think so.) If not, why did they choose a German distributor for the whole world? That very fact will add a lot of cost for US customers, I would think. Surely most of their real business is done with US-based science and industry, I would guess. I guess I'm guessing wrong.

Lewm, I cannot tell you. All I can suggest is to call Laufer Teknic.

How much?

Elberoth2, The Silencer is the same mechanism as the Micros, but is not self-leveling. I was their effort to hold down the cost. The Silencer reminds me of the Model 1. I am told leveling is easy.

Contacted Halcyonics today and got this interesting info:

"Thank you for your inquiry about the Halcyonics Micro 40 series. (...) Laufer Teknik is the worldwide distributor of the Halcyonics line of products to the high-end audio/video industries. Halcyonics now has a version of its active isolation platform designed for the high-end audio industry called the "Silencer" which is based upon the same exact platform as the Micro series but in a size and with characteristcs well suited to audiophiles. You might see some introductions to it on Halcyonics web site:

http://www.halcyonics-audio.com

as well as my own:

http://www.lauferteknik.com

(...)"

Looks way cooler than the standard Micro 40.

One of the best finals ever! Great to see a fantastic rivalry again. I hope Nadal goes more world wide now.

too bad Clarke doesn't come to the 'Gon......he would have eaten this up.

:)

Agreed, and I don't usually watch tennis, although I once went to Wimbledon when I lived in London.

I was rootin' for Fedderer...oh well.

Elberoth2, I honestly don't know. I have used the reference Mana for years, and it is a convenient height.

Tvad, when did I say the Halcyonic designers experienced "divine intervention?"

When did I say I wanted people to follow "my so-clled well trodden path?"

What does my "aesthetic" mean? Is using tried and true "professional sound and film studios" the only aesthetic that people should consider. What happened to science?

Bill, go back under the rock.

It makes the Doppler radar preamplifer more effective.

See shakti stones, teleportation tweak, liquid ceramic cables, clever clocks, brilliant pebbles in the poster's history.

This is classic Lost in Space.

Where's Will?

Danger.

Tbg - what is the purpose of placing Halcyonics platform on top of a Mana rack ? Does it sound better that way ?

As I said you are wrong about the lack of total scientific knowledge and it mere proper application. It is typical of engineers. The notion that you could have a nonresonant isolation base is innovation with so many other following the well trodden path as you would have all do, such as having a Rives room, aborbers, etc. Been there; done that; and got the Tshirt.

Tvad, I'm sorry, but I must disagree. They were innovative rather than choosing the well trodden path. You have got to give them credit for thinking outside of the box as you seem inclined to do.

I will respond no further as I know all of this is pointless and I have made others aware of my experiences.

No conundrum for me. The science that I knew as an undergraduate has changed a great deal in 50 years. Hopefully, we will continue to learn more, such as why quartz can have such a positive effect in some places and such a bad effect elsewhere. Also, Halcyonics, as I said twice before, ignored the conventional ideas of isolation and sought active correction with no resonant frequency. They hardly reflect your position for utilizing established engineering principles. They went where no man had gone before.

Tvad, I know how you feel, and you should know that I do not feel "established engineering principles" are adequate. The Halcyonic people did try something new and it works. It is not just a rehash of the old spring ideas. I don't respect your holding to inadequate engineering dogma. If something works, there must be a reason even if engineering dogma suggests it doesn't. Suggesting that it is belief in magic or is unscientific is just rhetoric and should hardly be convincing to anyone.

But again, we have been through this before and it has nothing to do with this thread, so I beg you to just let it drop.

Tvad, as we know from previous exchanges, I proceed by trying things and you persist with a theory of what works. I respect your process even though I have no confidence in it, as I have tried it in the past and found it lacking. I merely ask that you not dismiss my writing about my experiences in audio as wrong. I doubt if you will ever find much of interest in my postings, but others do. It is for them that I post, as well as my excitement with what has happened.

I would very much like to have Winston Ma's room, but cannot afford it. I have had to make do with the room I have and others can tell you how it sounds. I am certainly happy with it.

Tbg, very interesting. Thank you for sharing this great information. I will try to get more information, but this is a very serious product.

Yea right.

Bouncy, bouncy.......ahhhhhh,ohhhh that does it. ;)
Your are killing me Tvad.
Tbg....you must be pissed......right???????

Nor I you, but at least now you don't think I am blithely ignoring room interactions. I think also that you grossly underestimate the Halcyonics for whatever reason.

Tvad, you are correct in seeing no diffusers (professional or otherwise), tube traps, defectors, Room Lens, Helmhost resonators, or absorbing foam for a LEDE room. They have all come and gone as did digital equalization. One pair of the Hallographs remain behind me. The other fought with my H-Cat Wave Timing Control and is now in the closet. I have also used the Shun Muck Mpingo disks, Combac and Marigold wall treatments, and the quite effective Acoustic Revive QR-8s which though tiny nevertheless have mighty impact. You are also right that these all cost far less than the Halcyonics. I have heard Rive designed rooms and frankly would have none here even were they not so costly.

But your real argument is that I have failed to focus on what has the biggest effect. I would say that the Halcyonics is far more important than any of the above in their impact on my sound. I should again note that my rave is about the impact of the third Halcyonics that I recently got. I thought highly of the contributions of the first and second also, but this one is just breathtaking. My room may be quite good not by design but by luck. It was designed to be a game room.

Nowhere near the magnitude of the Halcyonic even using the best treatments I have found, the Acoustic Revive QR-8s. But I agree that room treatments, if not overdone, which is all too common, can improve your imaging. I also don't know about doing so cheaply either.

Jazdoc, I fully expect you would hear a great improvement. I had my Shindo Labs on an Acapella Silencio base with the special feet I bought for the Shindo. The base was on a Mana Reference rack. It was already well isolated, I thought. I am on a second floor, however.

If the Galibier Stelvio on top the Halcyonics will fit or allow you to reach to put on a record, I suspect your existing rack would work.

I demoed the Halcyonics today merely turning it off and listening and then turning it on. The guy's jaw dropped. Once before I had a friend up and we listened for two hours before I noticed that the Halcyonic under the cd player was off. He cursed me as the improvement moved the sound, he said, from good to the best he had heard from digital.

Tbg,

Thanks for the report. I have been considering the Halcyonics. I have a 140# turntable (Galibier Stelvio) sitting on an Equarack with a Grand Prix Platform. The Equarack made a huge improvement in the sound of my system. How much impact would you anticipate with the Halcyonics? Would I have to use a separate stand for the turntable?

Thanks in advance for your input.

Wonnjun, I inadvertently got my turntable vibrating back and forth yesterday and the Halcyonics sought to dampen the movement. I have notices that women's voices, at least in my system, excite its correction more than men's, which makes your new information striking.

The Micro series can display the four of the vertical sensors or the four horizontal sensors. At the Rocky Mountain Audio Fest which in between two Interstate routes, they were quite active. When I move about on my suspended floor, they are quite active also.

I've talked to the folks at Halcyonics, and they say that the upper limit of operating frequency is ~ 200Hz, which makes sense, because active vibration control relies on a feedback mechanism, where time delay is inevitable between vibration sensing and compensatory actuation.

What this means is that if we attenuate/eliminate vibrations under 200Hz in our audio components, great sonic improvements can be expected.

Regards,
David.