⊚ WORLD PREMIERE ⊚

⌈ ROGOZ AUDIO is a company specializing in anti-vibration tables, stands and platforms. It is one of those Polish companies that are known not only in Poland but also abroad. It ships its products almost all over the world. We are testing its latest product, the VOLTA/BBS anti-vibration platform. ⌋

OLTA/BBS IS THE LATEST anti-vibration platform from ROGOZ AUDIO. Its creator, Mr. Janusz Rogoż, used tried and true solutions and techniques from the top FINALE/BBS platform. Thanks to them, the company's products are easily recognisable and stand out from other solutions on the market.

I mentioned ‘techniques’ and ‘solutions’ for a reason, because they are the ‘backbone’ of this company's offering. The basis is the patented BALANCING BOARD SYSTEM, whose acronym BBS can be found in the names of many Rogoz Audio products. The second differentiator is the use of natural materials, boards and plywood in multi-layer decoupling systems. All of them can also be found in the tested platform..

▌ VOLTA/BBS

VOLTA/BBS IS A PRETTY LARGE anti-vibration platform measuring 590 x 540 mm at the base. It is a relatively lightweight design in which vibrations are converted to heat in two ways – in the platform material itself and in the BBS system.

The system consists of a threaded, height-adjustable spike made of high-fiber-content steel alloy, on top of which two elements are placed, each with an inner bearing. An intermediary (middle) element is made of carbon fiber and supports another element, a steel bearing inserted into the shelf. Point contact between the steel spike and the carbon intermediary element prevents movement of either element relative to its axis, but it allows pendular motion.

Meanwhile, the contact between the intermediary element and the bearing inserted into the shelf allows restricted rolling motion and sliding motion. Consequently, the advantages of spike point support (contact area has been minimized and kinetic energy turns into heat) have been combined with the effects of deadening vibrations owing to sliding friction and rolling resistance.

Interestingly, the Volta is the manufacturer’s first platform to carry the new BBS logo, which is really pretty.

Like I said, the platform is sizable, but mostly in the base, which is wider than the next two layers. I need to mention here that we are looking at a three-layer platform. The first is a two-part base, the next is an intermediate platform and on top is the platform on which we place the protected device. Decoupling is handled by the flat discs under the base - four for each part - and the six support points of the BSS system. The discs in question feature the ROGOZ AUDIO BW40MKII anti-vibration feet. The whole unit is 116 mm high and has a load capacity of up to 60 kg. The designer himself will talk about the details.

| A few simple words...

JANUSZ ROGOŻ
owner, designer

⸜ JANUSZ ROGOŻ in the Rogoz Audio listening room

THE DESIGN OF THE LATEST VOLTA/BBS PLATFORM utilizes, in part, the design concept of our reference Finale/BBS model. However, the Volta was intended to be more versatile in practical application. First and foremost, the idea was to reduce its height without sacrificing the similarities of its main design features (three independent levels and dual BBS layout). As a result, placing the new platform on random furniture (e.g., tables, bookcases, dressers) should involve less wasted space, especially vertical space (compared to Finale, the new platform is almost twice as low). Of course, the platform can also be placed directly on the floor.

In order to achieve an end result similar to the reference platform with a significant reduction in size, the maximum load capacity of the new model had to be reduced. The permissible weight of devices that can be placed on the VOLTA platform should not exceed 60 kg (compared to the 150 kg for FINALE). In practice, there aren't many home audio devices that weigh more than 60 kg, but you should keep this parameter in mind just in case.

⸜ Rogoz Audio listening room with very interesting B&W speakers

Reducing the thickness of the tops of the new platform to 30 mm, as compared to the FINALE model (where the thicknesses were 70 + 50 + 50 mm), required changes in their internal structure.

VOLTA consists of three levels – the lowest level is additionally divided into two separate parts (two tops of the same width and height, but with different depths). In the new platform both tops of the lowest level and the top (working) level are made in the ‘sandwich’ technique but with different proportions of layers. Although the top of the middle level of the VOLTA platform is also made in the ‘sandwich’ technique, this time it’s not made from three layers of MDF and HDF, but from two types of plywood.

The heterogeneous physical characteristics of the tops (different density of each layer) make their specific mass not constant in space, so that they are characterised by selective absorption and filtering of mechanical waves by polarisation, twisting of the polarisation direction, and scattering.

The use of a dual BBS layout allows for phase alignment of the resonant response. The middle and upper top move horizontally in all directions, and depending on which one receives the stroke first, it will accelerate in a different phase relative to the other. The phases of vibration will not coincide, resulting in smooth resonance rise slopes. Let me add that the visual design of the VOLTA platform refers to our oldest platform SMO40, which was created exactly 15 years ago and is still on offer.

⸜ Balancing Board System

Work on VOLTA began in late 2019, shortly after the introduction of the reference platforms FINALE and GRANDE FINALE into permanent sales. Designing was not easy at that time. In early 2020, the pandemic broke out and we had to respond to unpredictable changes in a previously stabilised market. Already in the spring, serious logistical problems began, related to exports (editor’s emphases). Shipments to the United States were halted.

Subsequently, in order to avoid complaints for failure to meet delivery deadlines, logistics companies cancelled economy air freight orders and began to offer only priority options, in which the cost of transporting one pallet was often several thousand zlotys higher than in the economy version. Within the European Union, major shipping companies suspended deliveries of goods to individuals.

Already in February 2020, transports to the so-called ‘red zone’ in northern Italy were suspended. Pallets we shipped to the region in February 2020 were diverted back to Poland two days before Poland was locked down. That, more or less, was the logistical complication until late last year. Right now – summer 2021 – all of these export destinations are open for now. On the other hand, the same logistical barriers have taken their toll on the availability and prices of raw materials and supplies. The market began to lack steel, wood and almost all wood-based materials, and their prices increased (including veneer, MDF and HDF, plywood, cardboard).

In the U.S. in 2020, lumber prices increased nearly 300% and they continue to rise. This is the result of the demand for lumber associated with the construction boom in the U.S. The shortage of this material in the USA resulted in direct export (to the USA) and indirect export (to China) from Polish sawmills, which is felt by the Polish market (a similar situation prevails in other EU countries). Of course, this fuels the huge increase in the price of wood and wood-based materials on the market. Backlogged orders from large wholesalers and shortages of this material are pushing lumber prices to very high levels. Due to this situation, in most companies, the time of production processes increases and the prices of semi-finished as well as finished are on the rise.

At the same time, the pandemic has increased the number of orders in the audio industry worldwide. Manufacturers should be happy about this, but paradoxically it is a very hard time for them. Why? Demand for the commodity is growing rapidly, while at the same time production (supply) is hamstrung by the global market situation for raw materials, semi-finished materials, parts and transportation, and is hampered by labor problems, as well.

Our company, thanks to diversification of supply sources, is able to maintain continuity of production, and for now we are coping with the situation. However, this entails a lot more effort compared to pre-pandemic times. It remains to be hoped – and wished – that the announced ‘third wave’ of the pandemic will not be as heavy with negative consequences for the economy as were the previous two. ♦

The TESTED PLATFORM looks very nice and is well-made. As we already know, its tops have a multi-layer structure and are covered with natural veneer. In the version shown, it is maple wood lacquered in high gloss, but it can also be other types. Dual 2 x 30 mm-thick tops and 30 mm-thick support feet are separated by a BBS system. The BBS system has kinematic and dynamic properties that allow the isolated masses to ‘float’ sideways with respect to the system axis, while maintaining local support. The system also provides the ability to level the tops.

▌ SOUND

⸤ OUR TESTING METHOD The Rogoz Audio Volta/BBS anti-vibration platform was tested in a ‘High Fidelity’ reference system. At the upper top of the table we seated a FINITE ELEMENTE MASTER REFERENCE PAGODE EDITION Mk II. The upper shelves are made of a honeycomb element with a layer of braided carbon on the outside. These shelves are supported in five places by ceramic balls.

I used the SACD AYON AUDIO CD-35 HF Edition SACD player for testing. The test consisted of listening to the player standing on the aforementioned Finite Elemente tabletop and on the Rogoz Audio platform. It was an A/B/A comparison, with known A's and B's, and the change was made after two minutes of each track (with the change consisting of physically moving the player – luckily I am in decent shape...).

The platform we tested is quite deep, so the two front and two rear circular pads under its lower tops did not stand entirely on top of the Finite table tops, but protruded slightly beyond their edges. However, the platform stood very firm and solid, so I figured it shouldn't affect the sound much.

Recordings used in the test | selection

⸜ JASKUŁKE SEXTET, Komeda Recomposed, Sea Label 378715009, CD (2018).
⸜ JEAN-MICHEL JARRE, Cities In Concert Houston Lyon, Sony Music, Disques Dreyfus, BMG 88843024722, CD (1987/2014).
⸜ LOUIS ARMSTRONG & DUKE ELLINGTON, The The Great Summit | The Complete Sessions | Deluxe Edition, Roulette Jazz/Blue Note 7243 5 24548 2 2/3, 2 x CD (2001).
⸜ PANTERA, Reinventing The Steel, EastWest Records America 62451-2, CD (2000).
⸜ PET SHOP BOYS, Hotspot, X2 Recordings/Sony Music labels SICX-148, CD (2020).

CONSIDERING HOW SOPHISTICATED and successful the Finite Elemente Master Reference Pagode Edition MkII table is, especially with the Carbonfibre shelves, one might wonder if the use of an additional anti-vibration platform would be noticed at all. I'm still ‘learning’ my new table, but one thing I know for sure already – you can hear more with it than before. So, I wasn't even particularly surprised that the sound of the CD-35 HF Edition was different when it was standing directly on the Finite Elemente ‘carbon’ shelf versus the Rogoz Audio platform.

I started with an album featuring two legends of music – LOUIS ARMSTRONG and DUKE ELLINGTON, entitled The Great Summit. As many as ten tracks were recorded in a single session that began at six in the afternoon at RCA Victor's Studio One; the material was recorded to a three-track tape recorder, from which a stereo ‘master’ tape was later ripped. After moving from the Finite shelf to the platform, you could hear the shifting of a particular point of focus of the listener – being myself, in this case. The shelf gives a fast, precise and high-resolution sound with excellent attack. The platform, on the other hand, offers a warmer and sweeter sound. The differences are not huge, which speaks well for the Polish platform.

| Our recordings

⸜ LOUIS ARMSTRONG & DUKE ELLINGTON
The The Great Summit : The Master Takes Deluxe Edition

Roulette Jazz/Blue Note 7243 5 24548 2 2/3
2 x COMPACT DISC

THE GREAT SUMMIT: THE MASTER TAKES is a double album released in 2001 by Blue Note. It features two discs with three albums – on one we get a remix of two 1961 titles, Together For The First Time and The Great Reunion, and on the other a recording of the same recording sessions with different takes, conversations during breaks, etc.

The album marks the first and last time two great musicians: pianist DUKE ELLINGTON and trumpeter and vocalist LOUIS ARMSTRONG came together. They were brought together by producer Bob Thiele, who was friends with Ellington and also had a very good relationship with Armstrong's manager, Jo Glaser. The division of roles was peculiar – the album consisted exclusively of Ellington's compositions, but they were played – alongside the leaders – by musicians belonging to the band Louis Armstrong & His All-Stars.

As I wrote, during the very first session (there were two in total) between 6 p.m. and 1:30 a.m., ten tracks were recorded that were included on the first CD. The following day, the session started earlier, at 2 in the afternoon. This time Ellington had to moisten his mouth with cotton wool soaked in a specific drug to give him relief – that's how hard he had played the previous evening.

The sound of this album is superb, as the music is fantastic and the musicians are in top form. We are dealing with a large room and a high dynamic range of the recording. The instruments are separated in the channels, but tastefully, without a void in the middle. The sound is a bit sweet (these were still vacuum tube devices), but also clear. Ray Hall, the director of the recording, is responsible for this excellent result. ♦

The plates of percussion placed by the producer of the original release and reproduced in the same way by Ron McMaster, who did the mixing of this material from the three-track tape, were somewhat closer to me when using the platform, as the reverbs, which were rather long with Finite, would now become shorter and warmer. This gave a more intimate and tangible sound. The same was true for Armstrong's trumpet, entering suddenly and quite strongly in the first track, and which had a creamy, smooth tone with the Volta.

This comes from, I think, the Polish platform smoothing out the attack a bit and rounding it out. But, remember, we are talking about a comparison with a complete, finished Finite Elemente system costing almost 100,000 PLN. And when you look at it this way, you can see that the Polish platform alters the sound, but in a good way, which with less advanced tables will be a step, or even two, towards fullness, tangibility and ‘presence’ of the musicians.

I think it's also fair to say that the platform in the test "tweaks" the midrange the most. While the upper range is sweet with it and the low range is nice, somewhat soft, pleasant, the midrange seems to flourish. That's why Ellington's piano on the aforementioned CD was so neat with it, so ‘present,’ but it's also why the recordings of JEAN-MICHEL JARRE's electronic music included on a CD from the Houston and Lyon concerts sounded in a pleasant, malleable way.

And malleability is an important category for this platform. It describes the sensation of three-dimensionality and smooth transitions between blocks of sound. Volta is unique in this regard in that it lays out events on a sizable stage, but in such a way that everything is connected to each other; there is no room for suddenly popping sounds – this is not a product that emphasises dynamics – but rather interaction, continuity.

PET SHOP BOYS is a typical release for this duo: compressed to the maximum, with a narrow panorama and almost monophonic main tracks. The Polish platform showed it in an extremely pleasant, even seductive way. It slightly closed off the upper midrange, adding weight to the sound; it also drew my attention to the rhythm, translating into a very cool ‘rocking’ sound – which is what this album is, after all.

Indeed, this is an audio product that ‘enhances’ the sound of lesser recorded discs. The ‘enhancement’ lies in drawing our attention to their intrinsic malleability and musicality, even if we are talking about a rather extreme case such as Reinventing the Steel by PANTERA. Released in 2000, the album was recorded using the still innovative at the time hard-disk RADAR system, one of the first non-linear (that is, non-tape) recorders on the market. It's not a particularly refined recording, but for this kind of music – really not bad.

Volta warmed it up and ‘arranged’ it. It was not as clear as before, as the brass was withdrawn, but on the other hand there was more going on here, as if the malleability combined with the smoothness brought out something underneath the sounds in the album. The producers of this album tried to make it sound like it was recorded on analog tape, and with Rogoz Audio's anti-vibration platform this was perfectly evident. It is in this direction that metal and black metal followers go when listening to their music from turntables – the Volta in this case was a sort of ‘analogue’ interface between the recording and the listener.

What about high-quality recordings? I already mentioned this with the Armstrong & Ellington duo – the platform ‘reconciles’ them internally, making the sound malleable and tangible. It came out very well with SŁAWEK JASKUŁKE's piano from the Komeda Recomposed album. I enjoyed a sound with great momentum, superb fluidity and density. The interior of the Witold Lutosławski studio of Polish Radio, where the recordings were made, was clear, despite being slightly tweaked with an additional effect. The brass was warm and the mid-bass strong and clear. In this recording all the musicians played together, which gave great communication between them – only the double bass was separated by a screen, and it sounded a bit harder than the other instruments.

▌ SUMMARY

VOLTA IS A PLATFORM with a fairly distinct ‘own’ sound. Meaning, it modifies the sound of records in ways that can be noticed and described. In short, it offers a world of great malleability, warm and dense. It doesn't aim at resolution, but rather ‘inwards’ the music. It doesn’t decompose the sound into prime factors, but rather reconciles them with each other.

The high top and low bottom are slightly withdrawn, but not enough to be problematic. Simply put, the midrange is the most important here. The vocals are nice, vivid and quite close to us, just like other instruments set by album producers in the room. The Rogoz Audio platform can act as a tonic to ‘smooth out’ the sound of your system and arrange it. And in already structured ones, it will add a sort of fill and saturation. And that's really something. ■

Technical specifications (acc. to the manufacturer)

Overall height: 116 mm
Overall width: 590 mm
Overall depth: 540 mm
Leg profile: sandwich MDF+MDF+HDF 30 mm thick
Top shelf: sandwich MDF+MDF+HDF 500 x 470 x 30 mm
Bottom shelf: sandwich plywood + plywood 500 x 470 x 30 mm
Maximum load: up to 60 kg