Isolation stands: snakeoil?

My SOTA Cosmos table has a pretty good suspended set up for isolating it from the stand/environment.  But when I was able to buy an active vibration canceling table (a Herzan, pinched off of Ebay for peanuts), I was rather astonished at the improvement in sound quality once placed upon that table.  Every aspect of the music got cleaner, sharper, and less colored - - it just sounded much truer to live music with that one change.

I'm guessing that SOTA's are less prone to issues than most tables, so I'm also guessing that the platform supporting just about any table is going to matter, maybe even a lot.

Cool measurements!  I only reported the sound quality improvements with a Herzan under my turntable, but your measures imply the "why".

Yes, they are expensive, but I cannot imagine a more dramatic proof of the influence that the surface your turntable sits upon has.  Eliminating vibration is a great thing, just so long as you do it evenly (i.e. don't let some specific frequency ranges through).

And I got my two Herzans for a grand total of $800 + shipping from a Silicon Valley liquidation house, so keep your eyes open!

kavakat1

It was several years ago now, and the firm was a random "capital asset disposition" firm in Silicon Valley, whose name I do not recall.  What I do recall was that I trolled Ebay for months in search of active vibration isolation tables, and then I stumbled on these that were somehow improperly classified or mis-named, and they had no bids on them.  So, I snapped them up for almost nothing.  That is the path that worked for me.