The Description
The Seismic Sink is an offshoot of the pneumatic suspension built into Austrailian designer Max Townshend's $4,800 Rock Reference Turntable.
The Seismic Sink is composed of a 1/8" thicksteel top plate. It is dampend with a sheet of EAR Isodamp which is a visacelastic constrained-layer material sandwitched between the top plate and the isolator section.
Using a constrained damping assembly adds some mass while both partially attentuating the metal top plate's resonance and those vibrations originating above the isolators-ie. from the component and acoustic coupling.The upper plinth is decoupled from and floats above the base which is made from steel and MDF.
The base houses the decuopling air bladder. There is a filling valve on the rear for adding air with the hand pump or or subtracting air as need.
The Seismic Sink measures 17" X 14" X 2", weighs 21 lbs, will support equipment weighing up to 35 lbs and has a verticle Resonant frequency of 1 hz.
The Installation
Since BDR Cones work best when coupling Audio equipment to the Seismic Sink I simply removed the Granite Energy Sink that I was using and replaced it with the Seismic Sink and coupled my Counterpoint Hybrid Tube Preamp to it with the #3 BDR Cones.
At first the Siesmic Sink had too little air in it and it sounded worse than with the Granite Sink, but after a few pumps of air I began do hear why this type of pneumatic device worked so well on a $4,800 Turntable.
After properly adjusting the air pressure and the weight of the Preamp I did some serious listening.
Listening Impressions
The first thing I noticed was that the Attack Transients had become very clear and focused with a heightnening of their detailing which had also taken on a silky smoothness.
When using the properly pumped Seismic Sink the Attack Ambients took on a liveliness the likes of which I have never heard before in recorded Music as they blossomed and bloomed freely for the first time in my Audio system.
The biggest change by far though was in the Decay Envelopes! I've heard many people say that Recorded Music can't sound as good as Live Music, well now I have positive proof that they are dead wrong!
The Decay Envelopes in the Music since installing the Seismic Sink now linger naturally exactly the way they would in a Live Performance! When I first heard this I sat there with my jaw in my lap as I played CD after CD and it was the same on every recording!
The Attack Ambients and Decay Envelopes had been freed of the consrtaints that they had been operating under which were Resonance induced and the installation of the Seismic Sink now gave the Music the feeling of being as alive as they were in the venue where they were originally recorded!
DIY Applications
The reason that I put this post here in the DIY section is that a DIY version of the Seismic Sink can easily and cheaply be made since the air bladder is a simple rubber innertube.
In fact I'm considering turning the 18" X 12" Granite slab I was using under the Preamp and a 12" innertube into a simplified version of the Seismic Sink to use under my Tube Power Amp since a Seismic Sink large enough to support the Conrad-Johnson Power Amp would cost $565.
~Maxx~
