Synposium Acoustics - Impressed!


Decided to give their lowest-end platform (Segue) a try under a Rega P3 to see if it could lower the noise floor a bit.  Amazing night and day difference that far exceeded my expectations.  Not only did it damped vibrations really well, it even eradicated what I presumed was a poor-grounding hum that was notable when moving the cart towards the record at higher volumes during cueing.  Arguably this was less than an optimal product match as I see I should have gone for the Segue ISO for use under analog turntables.  Nonetheless the results are stellar.  I now have a Foundation rack on order and look forward to resonance-free support under all my gear.

Questions - anyone else seeing similar results?  Anyone using the Svelte Shelf under speakers?
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Showing 2 responses by larryi

I use Symposium Ultra platforms under a couple of different components and the Svelte shelves under my speakers.  Like any vibration damping products, it is a matter of "tuning" so that more damping is not necessarily an improvement--it is possible to achieve a too dry and analytical sound with some components.  I heard a demonstration conducted by a Symposium representative at a local shop where different Symposium platforms were placed under a CD player.  The sound improved with the cheaper platforms, but, their most expensive platform turned out to be too much.

My speakers sit on the Svelte shelf without any kind of footers on the speaker so that almost the entire bottom of the speaker cabinet is in contact with the shelf.  This maximizes the vibration damping of the cabinet (vibration is transferred to the shelf which has a foam core that dissipates the energy as heat).  Because my speakers sit on carpet over a suspended wood floor, this arrangement reduces the amount of vibration transferred to the floor (which would otherwise sort of act like a sounding board).  Again, as a matter of tuning, this works positively for me, but, in another setup, this might be too much damping.  
For maximum damping, the shelf should contact the bottom of the speaker.  If you need more height, or to angle the speaker a bit upward, then footers should be placed under the shelf (i.e., between the shelf and the floor).  I wanted a slight tilt back angle, so I fashioned a wooden wedge to tilt the shelf slightly.  This is a bit of a hassle because the svelte shelf has no provision for attaching feet; you will have to figure this out for yourself.