TW Raven Acustic AC Owners

Dear Elinor,

Congratulations on your new turntable. It's an excellent choice and everybody seems to be more than happy with it.

I would suggest to look into Minus-K, SRA and HRS. I know that High Water Sound has used SRA and Minus-K at audio shows with great results. SRA has some sort of collaboration with TW-Acoustic, so I would feel confident that their products will perform well together. HRS platforms are ordered for a specific weight-range, which can be changed should you need to use the platform for another equipment. Minus-K offers state-of-the-art vibration control at an affordable price. Based on what I've read from their website, it seems to be one of the most efficient ways to approach vibration control.

Extra planning is needed if going with the all mount shelf alternative. Most cantilevering shelf-mounted structures under such heavy load will likely suffer from material fatigue over time. That means that all connections and all materials should be checked once in a while for wear and/or structural failure.

In a room built with with studs and sheet-rock, one has to take into a count that airborne energy becomes structural energy when playing at mid to high DBs. It's a well known fact in the US construction field that a sheet-rock wall needs sound insulation in order to prevent sound from traveling from one room into the other. The sound insulation between sheets won't prevent the wall from vibrating, but will prevent the sound from that vibration to go into an adjacent room. This type of construction is quite sensitive to changes in sound pressure, which will turn into vibrations. Therefore, in this particular case a wall-mounted shelf may do more harm than good.

Every type of wall structure will provide a different performance. If you have a concrete or masonry wall, then it's quite possible that a well conceived and executed wall shelf isolates well from mechanical vibrations in the room. But again, planning and execution are key for this to work successfully.

I've been using an HRS platform for about two years now and it works extremely well in my room. The other choice I seriously consider because it has superior technology, is the Minus-K BM-8 platform.

Regards,

iSanchez

Alectiong,

This is a link to a Raven AC3 on a Minus-K platform and it looks like an BM-8 or 6, but it is larger. You may want to ask Minus-K which model this is. The image is at the bottom of the page.

http://www.audiofederation.com/hifiing/2006/RMAF2006/report/1500/part2/index.htm

Regards,

iSanchez

Halcro,

I do happen to have architectural, structural and acoustic qualifications because of my profession. I wasn't commenting on your specific case, but on cantilevering shelves in general.

Cantilevering shelves made out of wood or mdf will tend to bow over time under such heavy load, hence my use of the term "material fatigue". An engineer can calculate the load of the equipment and design the structure to successfully support that equipment. If material fatigue didn't occur in structures, then there will be no need to inspect buildings and bridges for wear and/or structural failures. Screws attaching a vibrating structure will tend the get loose over time as well, which is why it is recommended to check them from time to time.

I don't know the construction details of your shelf structure, so I can't comment on your specific case. If you used an engineer or an architect for the job, I'm sure it is well-executed.

I agree that a well-executed wall-mounted shelf will work properly, but a not-so-well-executed one will do more harm than good.

Regards,

iSanchez

Halcro,

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fatigue_(material)

Enjoy it,

Halcro,

You stopped at the first terminology you didn't understand! You only read the first sentence! Please keep reading the article, it's very informative.

+++++ what you speak.........any 'not so well executed' wall shelf (and can you please describe what you mean by this as I can't even imagine?)++++

Well, it's very simple: a 'not so well executed wall shelf' means a shelf mounted on a wall that has not been designed and constructed taking into account static and/or dynamic loads. In fact, it is actually a good idea to talk to a civil or structural engineer and ask him or her to do the calculations for you since we're dealing with probably 150 lbs cantilevering off of a wall. It's a very simple job and they probably won't charge for it.

Halcro, this is not a discussion about my 'wall shelf' can beat your 'floor mounted stand'. A fellow audiophile asked a question and we are simply providing our opinion about it. It is ok for somebody reading this post not to agree with me or not to agree with you. It's called 'freedom of speech'.