Our friendly collaborator Tim wrote very nice article called “The Bavarian SDP MS”. This article is for anyone with the strong attacment to turntables, soft spot for Micro Seiki and having a hard time in making our better halves understanding the “real” value of the high-end audio gear…
When I went to my storage room I not only came across a vintage Studer R2R machine. I also discovered many tonearms, some vintage ones and a Kuzma Airline. Furthermore I found two VPI SDS steering controls and the double motors I had used with my earlier Micro Seiki tables with a lot of joy. Returning to my listening room the idea of either selling them all or building up a new line started occupying me. At the same moment I remembered an afternoon meeting with my wife and a good German friend being engaged in Audio matters too. My wife asked at that occasion what she should do with all the units in my listening room if I had an accident or lost my ears…My god I replied, this will never happen but just in case she needs contacting my friend and he will open up an eBaY shop. My wife replied very quickly “Isn’t it possible doing this right now?”
So I was warned. Nevertheless my listening room is a kind of refugium and I am pretty sure for some people it’s hard checking the difference between 5 or 6 turntable installations, it’s anyway too many…no? okay, so I thought too. My good experience with Micro Seiki tables since 20 years lead me to a Micro Seiki RX 5000 in pristine condition. This unit came without motor, perfect for my concept of building up a 2 motor installation thus nearly deleting the side vectors. I had seen MS systems enlarged by a double platter on top but not in a configuration with two SDS. Going for this you also need height equalizers for the armboards bringing the pods up in a matching position towards the decoupled top platter.
The decoupled platter solution brings some improvements.It isolates the record and cartridge during actual tracking totally from all bearing-born vibrations and rumble usually apparent in the spindle and from there transferred to the record.
The Special Decoupling Platter (SDP) is carrying an isolated spindle – embedded in PTFE/POM and totally decoupled from the bearing of table. Furthermore there is an increase of inertia by the added decoupled platter and the full-surface-dampening of the turntable’s platter.
The 1 1/2 inch thick acrylic platter rests on a special embedding of isolating gel which brings forth 100% dampening of the turntables platter and a superb adhesive contact between the decoupled platter and the turntable’s platter. The decoupled platter itself is a special design which features an unique gel “reservoir” and thus providing an additional semi-liquid dampening to the contact surface between the turntable’s platter and the decoupled platter.
So far the theory. In the end what I was aiming for was a “dead” turntable platter with no resonances and no ringing.
It took me a full weekend building up the installation. Helpful was the foggy wheather due to the nearby river. I needed to leverage the boards for the motors as I have done for the MS. Before one motor was rumbling, then immediately both VPIs calmed down. Thanks to the ingenious idea of my technical advisor we had cut the height equalizers at their rear side thus allowing the VPI belts running from the big pulleys without touching the pods.
Then the weather cleared and I went for the first listening sessions on the 4 arms with different carts like FR-7fz, Ortofon SPU, Zyx Universe, Neumann DST 62, all using their especially matching Step Up Transformer in front of the Kondo M7 MM. The result is really stunning. What a sound -free of noise and other artefacts. In the beginning you think something is missing, then you realize very quickly that you are enjoying a very natural, nearly lively sound picture. And you have dynamics but different than with a good idler (which I like very much too !!!). This may lead to the answer why not using only one table…which of course can be a solution too, but…