RGA
05-19-2005, 01:16 PM
Skylan Turntable Base
Well it’s been about 8 months now and time for a review of the Skylan turntable base. I first came to Skylan when I purchased my Audio Note AN K/Spe loudspeakers. My dealer, Soundhounds, was carrying several of the companies’ loudspeaker stands which at $200.00 were a veritable steal after seeing so many rather cheesy built stands for the same money. Noel, Skylan’s owner, “has a background in pressure vessel fabrication and steel manufacturing.” Interestingly, Noel has elected to avoid Steel constructed stands electing instead to use polymers and MDF blends. If you want the low-down I would e-mail Noel directly on his reasons, but I suspect he believes in the materials inert vibration deadening properties over just the rigidity of steel.
When I upgraded speakers to the AN J the K stands would no longer be acceptable due to the fact that the J’s require 15 inch stands and a physically larger top plate…so I traded the K stands (20inches) for the Audio Note stands (Sound Anchors). Still, Soundhounds does carry a number of amplifier and turntable bases and the turntable base I have is a triple deck MDF board threaded through. Indeed, it is kind of like having three turntable platters resting under my NAD.
The base is extremely well finished, three thick black boards with rounded corners so you won’t poke yourself – this was also a nice tough with their speaker stands to save your toes from annihilation if you’re not paying attention. For those klutzes out there this is a big deal.
Design:
As described I’m no engineer however Noel says that:
“I strongly believe in the Drain style of dealing with resonance, (having a very hard material directly under the component chassis and then on top of a damping system which is not soft). In this fashion the resonance is conducted down from the chassis through the hard material,(Ceramic,/Glass,/Steel) and controlled in the damping platform underneath. (IMO, the downside to using soft spongy stuff under a component is that the resonance gets trapped and cannot be efficiently conducted away and controlled in another source.) This may seem a bit contradictory to the way I have the Damping Block set up as I use a latex material in between the MDF boards, but I also have slim steel pins (set out in various places) conducting resonance from one layer down to the next, this allows for resonance to change it's frequency and get absorbed and damped. Actually the more layers you have, the much better the damping.”
This makes sense based off my auditions and the improvement over not having this base under the turntable which I outline as follows.
Sound:
I have to say that I’m new to turntables having grown up in the 1980s with compact disc and so a turntable base I figure is just a tweak. However knowing that the NAD is not the highest end unit available and also knowing that I can’t drill holes in my apartment walls – having the table suspended on a wall was not going to happen. Enter the Turntable base. What was just another tweak would yield a significant foundation for the table which seems to really control the base lines which in turns seems to reduce ringing and break-up in crescendos. People with more engineering savvy may have an explanation – perhaps it’s just obvious that less vibration makes the turntable track better without bouncing around in the grooves as much. Basically the foundation is better isolated. My one reservation at the outset was that of over-damping. My fear was that perhaps it would take some of the life away from the presentation. This fear was baseless (pardon the pun) and I feel that this base really solidifies the presentation.
Cranking a newly acquired Motley Crue “Dr. Feelgood” LP it was quite fun to belt this out and have a more stable sound especially at high listening levels. The sound is crystal clear top to bottom and it all sounds a little quicker less sludgy through the mid band. What has also dramatically improved, for whatever reason, is the final cut. Before, I would get more noise or distortion. Indeed, whether it’s “Time for Change” or Same ol’ Situation there is a new level of consistency from the first track to last that I was not getting previously – to me that is like getting a brand new and much better turntable. Add to that a treble that is less glaring and it’s tough not to accept the merits of using such a device. Of course I was not limited to Motley Crue! – Horns from my Dave Brubeck, David Sanborn, etc along with female vocals from Sarah McLachlan, Suzanne Vega, Sade, Madonna all are less vague sounding again especially at higher volume levels. Big scores from Ravel’s Bolero to the Raiders of the Lost Ark soundtrack are more relaxed sounding – again big without blurring the mid band or having those rather screechy sssshhh in the upper registers.
I would certainly check out Skylan because they typically provide excellent stands at very competitive prices given what I have seen out there for many times the price.
Accessorize?
Noel provides three Magic Mushrooms at an additional price (I know it is Canada, but no they are not those kinds of mushrooms) which are used as an upgrade to replace the feet on your turntable (Think tenderfeet). Noel says they “work as the hard material for resonance conduction from the chassis of the component to the Damping Block.” The NAD I run has feet that are too high for the mushrooms provided so I have elected to use them for my amplifier or CD player, but I have not tried it as yet(as I have tenderfeet for the CD player and the amp is new.. (Apparently the new Mushrooms are height adjustable and as usual anything you buy from Skylan can be custom built for your specific needs which of course is fantastic IMO.
Lastly, the turntable bases may also be used under amplifiers or other components. This review has concentrated on use for the turntable but I have seen similar Skylan bases used under mono-block and other amplifiers at Soundhounds so you may want to consider them for those purposes or any where vibration is a concern.
Apparently, Noel’s new TT stands can be mass-loaded with sand so they may very well be considerably better than the version I have reviewed here.
Price is estimated to be around $250.00US for the TT block stand and $50.00US for the set of three Magic Mushrooms.
http://www.skylanstands.com/platform.htm
Well it’s been about 8 months now and time for a review of the Skylan turntable base. I first came to Skylan when I purchased my Audio Note AN K/Spe loudspeakers. My dealer, Soundhounds, was carrying several of the companies’ loudspeaker stands which at $200.00 were a veritable steal after seeing so many rather cheesy built stands for the same money. Noel, Skylan’s owner, “has a background in pressure vessel fabrication and steel manufacturing.” Interestingly, Noel has elected to avoid Steel constructed stands electing instead to use polymers and MDF blends. If you want the low-down I would e-mail Noel directly on his reasons, but I suspect he believes in the materials inert vibration deadening properties over just the rigidity of steel.
When I upgraded speakers to the AN J the K stands would no longer be acceptable due to the fact that the J’s require 15 inch stands and a physically larger top plate…so I traded the K stands (20inches) for the Audio Note stands (Sound Anchors). Still, Soundhounds does carry a number of amplifier and turntable bases and the turntable base I have is a triple deck MDF board threaded through. Indeed, it is kind of like having three turntable platters resting under my NAD.
The base is extremely well finished, three thick black boards with rounded corners so you won’t poke yourself – this was also a nice tough with their speaker stands to save your toes from annihilation if you’re not paying attention. For those klutzes out there this is a big deal.
Design:
As described I’m no engineer however Noel says that:
“I strongly believe in the Drain style of dealing with resonance, (having a very hard material directly under the component chassis and then on top of a damping system which is not soft). In this fashion the resonance is conducted down from the chassis through the hard material,(Ceramic,/Glass,/Steel) and controlled in the damping platform underneath. (IMO, the downside to using soft spongy stuff under a component is that the resonance gets trapped and cannot be efficiently conducted away and controlled in another source.) This may seem a bit contradictory to the way I have the Damping Block set up as I use a latex material in between the MDF boards, but I also have slim steel pins (set out in various places) conducting resonance from one layer down to the next, this allows for resonance to change it's frequency and get absorbed and damped. Actually the more layers you have, the much better the damping.”
This makes sense based off my auditions and the improvement over not having this base under the turntable which I outline as follows.
Sound:
I have to say that I’m new to turntables having grown up in the 1980s with compact disc and so a turntable base I figure is just a tweak. However knowing that the NAD is not the highest end unit available and also knowing that I can’t drill holes in my apartment walls – having the table suspended on a wall was not going to happen. Enter the Turntable base. What was just another tweak would yield a significant foundation for the table which seems to really control the base lines which in turns seems to reduce ringing and break-up in crescendos. People with more engineering savvy may have an explanation – perhaps it’s just obvious that less vibration makes the turntable track better without bouncing around in the grooves as much. Basically the foundation is better isolated. My one reservation at the outset was that of over-damping. My fear was that perhaps it would take some of the life away from the presentation. This fear was baseless (pardon the pun) and I feel that this base really solidifies the presentation.
Cranking a newly acquired Motley Crue “Dr. Feelgood” LP it was quite fun to belt this out and have a more stable sound especially at high listening levels. The sound is crystal clear top to bottom and it all sounds a little quicker less sludgy through the mid band. What has also dramatically improved, for whatever reason, is the final cut. Before, I would get more noise or distortion. Indeed, whether it’s “Time for Change” or Same ol’ Situation there is a new level of consistency from the first track to last that I was not getting previously – to me that is like getting a brand new and much better turntable. Add to that a treble that is less glaring and it’s tough not to accept the merits of using such a device. Of course I was not limited to Motley Crue! – Horns from my Dave Brubeck, David Sanborn, etc along with female vocals from Sarah McLachlan, Suzanne Vega, Sade, Madonna all are less vague sounding again especially at higher volume levels. Big scores from Ravel’s Bolero to the Raiders of the Lost Ark soundtrack are more relaxed sounding – again big without blurring the mid band or having those rather screechy sssshhh in the upper registers.
I would certainly check out Skylan because they typically provide excellent stands at very competitive prices given what I have seen out there for many times the price.
Accessorize?
Noel provides three Magic Mushrooms at an additional price (I know it is Canada, but no they are not those kinds of mushrooms) which are used as an upgrade to replace the feet on your turntable (Think tenderfeet). Noel says they “work as the hard material for resonance conduction from the chassis of the component to the Damping Block.” The NAD I run has feet that are too high for the mushrooms provided so I have elected to use them for my amplifier or CD player, but I have not tried it as yet(as I have tenderfeet for the CD player and the amp is new.. (Apparently the new Mushrooms are height adjustable and as usual anything you buy from Skylan can be custom built for your specific needs which of course is fantastic IMO.
Lastly, the turntable bases may also be used under amplifiers or other components. This review has concentrated on use for the turntable but I have seen similar Skylan bases used under mono-block and other amplifiers at Soundhounds so you may want to consider them for those purposes or any where vibration is a concern.
Apparently, Noel’s new TT stands can be mass-loaded with sand so they may very well be considerably better than the version I have reviewed here.
Price is estimated to be around $250.00US for the TT block stand and $50.00US for the set of three Magic Mushrooms.
http://www.skylanstands.com/platform.htm