This is a follow-up of a new shelf support idea. I was sitting in my music room the other day looking at a pile of bubble wrap that was protecting my latest toy (another story) when I got to thinking that bubble wrap might make a great support for the Neuance, allowing the shelf to act on the component alone. The vibrations from the rack would be isolated from the shelf by air! After trying a few sizes of bubbles I settled on the 1" diameter wrap. First off I used a MDF shelf supported by the up-turned rack points. Then a sheet of bubble wrap (bubble side up) that covered the entire shelf, next the Neuance. This provides an extremely even weight distribution, thus even pressure to the under side of the shelf. The equipment sits on the Neuance as it did in my review. I first tried the pre-amp, this was good so I went to the cd player. I listened for a day and decided to do the amps and power conditioner too.
The results are stunning. The depth of the sound stage is at least twice as deep. The bass is deeper and better defined, midrange and treble are not as noticeably altered in this regard. What is most noticeable across the entire frequency band is the clarity. Now I'm sure you've all read about the removal of layers of fog or haze from the presentation, this is quite different. I'm talking about the focus, like a camera. Everything appears clearer and much crisper. Now this is not subtle, it's stunning! The space between images is clear, the image itself is better defined, everything is simply easier to see. The bass is tight, I mean it's pin point now where it was a round note before. It's not like anything I've experienced before in audio, maybe like a different speaker with the exact same tonal qualities as before. All this but not artificial in any sense, no simply more palpable, more life like.
Yes, the tone has not changes what so ever. The system simply is better by a large amount. I wrote Ken Lyons of Neuance with my findings and he had stated that he has tried air suspension and he found it smeared the leading edge of the notes. He feels that any sideways motion will effect the signal, especially with the digital. I have experienced just the opposite. The pace is superb, the music is alive, exciting and extremely involving. More so than at any time in my past. I believe it's the bubbles and the size. My theory is the bubbles are large enough to produce separation. The bottom of the bubbles is fixed so the walls of a bubble when weighted are in tension in an outward direction 360 degrees. The bubble next to the first bubble is also in tension in the opposite direction. Given that my shelves are 15"x 17" that makes for approx. 250 bubbles working with opposing forces to each other. I'm thinking that the sideways motion is not possible, I know it takes a lot of sideways force to make the shelf move with my hands. I believe the smaller bubbles had much less side wall to work with and thus the lesser result with them.
I'm wondering if simple MDF shelves would experience similar results if set up in a similar fashion, or are the qualities of the Neuance enhanced by this form of isolation?
One concern, I have had this up for a week now. I see no signs of the bubbles deflating, but I'm thinking they might. This could make for a real pain if it happened too often, time will tell.
The results are stunning. The depth of the sound stage is at least twice as deep. The bass is deeper and better defined, midrange and treble are not as noticeably altered in this regard. What is most noticeable across the entire frequency band is the clarity. Now I'm sure you've all read about the removal of layers of fog or haze from the presentation, this is quite different. I'm talking about the focus, like a camera. Everything appears clearer and much crisper. Now this is not subtle, it's stunning! The space between images is clear, the image itself is better defined, everything is simply easier to see. The bass is tight, I mean it's pin point now where it was a round note before. It's not like anything I've experienced before in audio, maybe like a different speaker with the exact same tonal qualities as before. All this but not artificial in any sense, no simply more palpable, more life like.
Yes, the tone has not changes what so ever. The system simply is better by a large amount. I wrote Ken Lyons of Neuance with my findings and he had stated that he has tried air suspension and he found it smeared the leading edge of the notes. He feels that any sideways motion will effect the signal, especially with the digital. I have experienced just the opposite. The pace is superb, the music is alive, exciting and extremely involving. More so than at any time in my past. I believe it's the bubbles and the size. My theory is the bubbles are large enough to produce separation. The bottom of the bubbles is fixed so the walls of a bubble when weighted are in tension in an outward direction 360 degrees. The bubble next to the first bubble is also in tension in the opposite direction. Given that my shelves are 15"x 17" that makes for approx. 250 bubbles working with opposing forces to each other. I'm thinking that the sideways motion is not possible, I know it takes a lot of sideways force to make the shelf move with my hands. I believe the smaller bubbles had much less side wall to work with and thus the lesser result with them.
I'm wondering if simple MDF shelves would experience similar results if set up in a similar fashion, or are the qualities of the Neuance enhanced by this form of isolation?
One concern, I have had this up for a week now. I see no signs of the bubbles deflating, but I'm thinking they might. This could make for a real pain if it happened too often, time will tell.