⊚ WORLD PREMIERE ⊚

⌈ VinylSpot.pl is a Krakow-based company, founded by WOJCIECH PADJAS, journalist of RMF.fm Classic radio, where he hosts his own program Muzyka spod igły. VS.pl offers accessories used to improve LP playback as well as used LPs; Within its activity there is also the „Klub muzyki spod igły”. The ALL YOU NEED turntable platform is its latest product. ⌋

NE OF THE MOST DESTRUCTIVE distortion that can occur when playing music carriers is jitter. This applies to both vinyl records and optical digital discs (!). Taking into account the dimensions of the grooves of the LP record and the vibrations recorded in them, and the scale of vibrations which the stylus "reading" the groove, and we have to remember that the stylus is actually a measuring device, is exposed, it seems almost an unbelievable that it is able to read anything from a record at all. And yet it does.

An isolation of the turntable from the ground on the one hand, and the motor on the other, began to matter when in 1948 a fine-groove long-playing disc, called Long Play (LP), a Columbia Records patent, was introduced. Much smaller dimensions of the grooves, and hence the increased requirements for precision in reading them (speed measurement), caused manufacturers to become interested in vibration reduction methods. The most common solution was to place the base on rubber pads - as was the case with the THORENS TD124 turntable, and nowadays with VERTERE turntables, as well as using similar elements to insulate the motor. Increasing the weight of the plate and base also helped.

▌ SUSPENDED TURNTABLE

A CHANGE IN THINKING OF THE TURNTABLE as a system came with the ACOUSTIC RESEARCH XA in 1961. The model sold in hundreds of thousands units and the Museum of Modern Art bought one for its permanent industrial design exhibition. Fifty years later, in October 2011, the American magazine "The Absolute Sound" recognized it as the most important design among the The Ten Most Significant Turntables of All Time.

As in his article A Classic Turntable’s Forgotten Roots: the AR XA resembles Ivan Berger, the main techniques used in it have been adapted by many other manufacturers and - let us add - they are still used today, for example in the Scottish Linn LP12 turntable (see HERE, accessed: 30/08/2021), and in Poland adapted by TEWO AUDIO for use in the SPRING anti-vibration platform (HF №170 ⸜ June 1, 2018, see HERE).

EDGAR VILLCHUR, the designer of the AR XA, was not the inventor of decoupled turntables - as this type of design is commonly called - because he used an older design in it. But he was the first to refine it and he turned it into a working product that was marketable and easy to set up. Let us remind you that this idea belongs to the Stromberg-Carlson company, a producer of telephony devices, which presented its decoupled turntable as early as 1958.

In short, the solution was to mechanically separate the two elements. A motor was mounted on the lower one, and a tonearm and a platter on the upper one. These elements were separated by springs which, when properly positioned, significantly reduced vibrations "seen" by the stylus. Thus, a new type of turntable has been added to mass-loaded ones, in which vibrations are damped in massive structural elements - decoupled or suspended turntables. You can probably say that they were turntables with an integrated anti-vibration platform.

▌ ALL YOU NEED

The All You Need anti-vibration platform, which we are testing, is just such a platform - a decoupled one. It is intended for light and not too heavy turntables and it was designed specifically with turntables in mind. Wojtek Padjas, its originator and creator, says that he wanted to propose a product for "normal" people, that is - presumably - those who do not spend a fortune on audio, but still want to enjoy it. Among those who have a turntable, the vast majority of them own inexpensive, light, non-suspended turntables with a weight from 5 to 20 kg.

| A few simple words…

WOJCIECH PADJAS
Owner, originator

MARKETING TEXTBOOKS ARE FULL OF GREAT, ready-made answers to this question - from the "brush an Angel's wing" version to "years of work, hundreds of experiences, tons of material thrown away, dozens of drawings and calculations".

However, let's put the textbooks aside - let me tell you how it really was. A small, inconvenient place in which I had to listen to music during the pandemic, equipped with decent system, required a turntable other than a weighing 20 kilos, not very mobile one. And yet my weekly "stylus" (he’s talking about his audition in RMF Classic - ed.) had to take place, so listening to music was a professional duty. Here and there I was able to loan some turntables, but being used to quality offered by my beloved, Krakow set – somehow I had little pleasure from listening to music there, in the countryside, and the weakest link was the turntable.

Each of them were quite good, and they should have sounded well, which they did, because the broadcasts week after week sounded quite nice, but listening to the music on the radio was cooler than directly from a system. There were more emotions when I listened to the radio than from a system at home, apart from the information conveyed by the music itself, there was nothing else there. Not that I suffered from poor quality, but the lack of emotions originating from vinyl records bothered me more and more.

So I started to read and discuss and think about it trying to figure out what the problem was. Since, as I quickly learned, a turntable, as a mechanical device, is especially sensitive to extremely low frequency interference, eliminating them in the turntable could be helpful. Moreover, doing so could "make" music. So I should try to do something about, I thought.

The first conversations with various engineers were not optimistic - from "it is impossible to eliminate such low frequencies" through "why, it's nonsense, since loudspeakers’ frequency range starts from 20 Hz", to understanding "OK. - what you’re asking from is important, it’s important what you want to achieve, but we can only dampen low frequencies of tram tracks or the production hall ”. It turned out that the 6-kilo turntable does not fit into any of the vibration isolation categories (I already knew it was called that).

⸜ WOJTEK PADJAS (RMF Classic) and BARTEK CHOJNACKI (AGH) visiting HIGH FIDELITY, listening to the ALL YOU NEED platform

And so, from one person to another, from one phone call bothering people to another, from a slightly mocking smile of a Close Person (you are talking about Hertz again), I finally came across Mrs Alicja - a nice, competent person claiming she was there to help - and she did. She compiled some calculations, went to a secret warehouse in a certain part of Europe and found the right material. I was a bit surprised by the price (expensive), the structure (a bit like a dish sponge) and the color (pink). But even cut with a knife and placed under a breadboard it did bring music.

If I had to add a punchline to it, it would be like that: I really knew little about it, I approached it a bit like a reportage - there was a curious new topic that I was interested in, I wanted to know where it would lead me, what people would I meet, would they be willing to share some of their valuable knowledge, would I be able to create a report from these scraps, edit it and put it together? I think I managed to achieve it :) WP

DECOUPLING a NON-DECOUPLED Do you remember what we just said, namely that effective vibration damping can be achieved either by a large turntable weight or by decoupling it, right? The turntables for "normal people" are devoid of such damping, so the stylus measures not only what is written in the record's groove, but also vibrations from the entire audible range - and more. You can put such a turntable on an anti-vibration platform and it should offer a significant improvement in sound quality. However, as Wojtek said, the most important in turntable mechanics are the frequencies that these platforms do not suppress, i.e. in the 10-12 (maybe 15) Hz range. And next:

It is difficult to find information about the frequencies that are damped by these devices - adds Wojtek Padjas. And this information is of fundamental importance in the case of turntables. Here, the absorption of specific and described frequencies is of key importance, because it is a mechanical device whose operation is based on the fact that the tonearm, cartridge and disc groove vibrate. In all turntables’ manuals, the term "effective mass" is used, that is, selecting a tonearm, head-shell and cartridge in such a way that the natural frequency of this system is between 8 and 15 Hz.

The absorption of extremely low frequencies taking place in the turntable arm is one of the important factors affecting the sound. Expensive and cheap solutions are used for this purpose - starting with oil damping and independently suspended arms and specially selected lubricants, then through plates made of specific, damping materials, "sandwich" systems of extremely heavy turntable platters, to soft gramophone mats - made of cork, leather or rubber. Anyway, at the end, the weight of the turntable is decisive. One weighing over 30 kg does not vibrate, and a decoupled motor, placed on a separate base, is also a way to deal with its vibrations (in this case, both acoustic and electromagnetic).

The problem is that the weight of the lightweight - between 6 and 9 kg - non-decoupled designs is not able to adequately dampen low-frequency vibrations. And these are particularly difficult to dampen in a listening room. Bartłomiej Chojnacki, sound engineer, PhD student at the Department of Vibroacoustics of the AGH - University of Science and Technology in Krakow, adds that these are mainly the resonances of loudspeakers cabinets, floor and furniture vibrations, as well as what gets into our apartment from the street. Moreover, these frequencies are considered harmful to human health, hence more and more solutions in industry for roads and railways are applied to reduce infra-sounds.

| ALL YOU NEED - MEASUREMENTS

Text and charts: BARTŁOMIEJ CHOJNACKI

IN ORDER TO CHECK the objective quality of the presented platform, the vibrations on the turntable were measured. The test was performed by Bartłomiej Chojnacki, a vibro-acoustician, also known for the acoustic design of listening rooms. Using the so-called pulse method an acceleration of vibrations on the turntable's key elements were measured before and after placing a device on the anti-vibration platform. The graphs below show how much vibration reduction was provided by the platform, especially in the key range for a turntable, namely between 8 and 20 Hz. BCH

SOUNDWAY.eu

⸜ ASSUMPTIONS As it reads in the material sent by Wojtek Padjas, the challenge he undertook while designing this anti-vibration platform for turntables was to eliminate vibrations, starting from the extremely low ones: due to material’s characteristics whatever effectively dampens vibration at 8 Hz, will still be effective for all ranges above this frequency - including, of course, the acoustic frequencies generated by, for example, a turntable motor ”.

The problem was that the absorption of such low frequencies with such a low mass as a mid-range turntable is rarely even studied. Absorption of low frequencies is very important for companies dealing with vibration isolation at the level of damping of railway and tram tracks, production halls, and recently also floors in apartments. Damping from 10 Hz up, with a load weight of 6-10 kg, turned out to be very difficult to obtain.

It is worth adding at this point that there are companies that have dealt with this issue, although - this is also important - there are very few of them. One of them is the American company GINKO AUDIO with products called Cloud. I tested them over a dozen years ago and I found them to be an excellent, inexpensive proposition (more HERE | PL |). Measurements showed that Mini-Cloud "balls" reduce vibrations in the critical range of 5-500 Hz by 95%. Other companies also offer turntable platforms, sometimes great ones, sometimes mediocre, but none of them publish any measurements that would confirm their effectiveness in the sensitive range of 8-12 Hz.

The problem is, of course, a selection of lossy material. In the case of VinylSpot.pl it is a 5 cm polyurethane layer which should be bent by approximately 25% to achieve the proper effect. Therefore, the platforms are selected according to the weight of the turntable with an accuracy of two kilograms. The complete system consists of two boards separated by elastic material and placed on four feet.

The obvious problem with this solution is its susceptibility to pressure - in the case of turntables, where the center of gravity is not placed exactly in the center, it means the platform is tilted/deflected to one side. The VinylSpot.pl company solved it in a quite "garage" way, but it really works. A platform user receives additional damping discs, made of the same material, which are added where the weight of the turntable is greatest. The level of the lower platform can be achieved by adjusting the feet.

⸜ OPTIONS According to Wojtek, the platform in question will also be available in a version weighted with Mu-metal with powerful ferromagnetic properties and a special ADR material, patented in Poland. These will be responsible for electromagnetic isolation of the turntable and devices in the system. The inventor of ADR is PhD Stanisław Wosiński. His company, ADR System, deals with the development and production of electromagnetic field shielding products, using a shielding method that is unique in the world, obtained thanks to the high dielectric loss of a material, and their products do not require grounding.

As we read in the technical materials, the use of Mu-metal and ADR materials allows elimination of the electromagnetic field in the tested platform in the range from 0.02 Hz to 10 kHz. Most of the energy is absorbed and some is reflected. This allows you to place a turntable anywhere, even in a rack above an amplifier or other devices emitting such a field (streamers, wireless devices, routers, switching power supplies). However, it must be clearly stated that the used materials protect the platform only from below. The version delivered for the test did not feature them, it was the "basic" model.

Let me add that the offer also includes a more expensive platform, a luxury version. It is made not of MDF boards, but natural Badi wood with a very dense, grain-free structure, waxed and oiled. The result of such a selection of materials is to be, as we read in the company materials, "high acoustic absorption".

▌ SOUND

⸤ HOW WE LISTENED The All You Need anti-vibration platform was placed on the Finite Elemente Master Reference Pagode Edition MkII anti-vibration rack costing a hundred times more than the reviewed item. The basic question then was whether I was killing any chances of the reviewed product to prove its worth. However, if we look at the parameters given by both manufacturers, we will see that their most effective operating range does not coincide - for the platform it is around 10 Hz, and for the rack the range is from 20 to 950 Hz.

In any case, the platform stood on its own feet, on the top of the carbon fibre shelf. I tested it with the relatively inexpensive PRO-JECT DEBUT PRO turntable, costing less than PLN 3,500. It was such a graceful element of the test as it sounds great, and besides, it was exactly the type of design the tested platform was developed for - with a light and non-decoupled base. I extended the test with other elements that I tried and listened to with this pair, for example the Acoustic Revive RST-30 turntable mat.

Records used for the test | a selection

⸜ AL DI MEOLA, JOHN MCLAUGHLIN, PACO DELUCIA, Friday Night in San Francisco, Philips/Impex Records IMP 6031-45, 2 x 180 g, 45 RPM LP (1981/2020).
⸜ BRENDAN PERRY, Ark, Cooking Vinyl/Vinyl 180 VIN180LP040, 2 x 180 g (2011).
⸜ CANNONBALL ADDERLEY, Somethin’ Else, Blue Note/Analogue Productions AP-81595, „The Blue Note Reissues | 45 RPM Special Edition #2468”, 2 x 180 g, 45 RPM LP (1958/2008).
⸜ FRANK SINATRA, The Voice, Columbia/Classic Records CL 743, Quiex SV-P, „50th Anniversary”, 180 g LP (1955/2005).
⸜ JULIAN LAGE, Squint, Blue Note 602435521527, 180 g colour LP (2021).
⸜ KRAFTWERK, Tour De France. Soundtracks, EMI Records 591 708 1, 2 x 180 g LP (2003)
⸜ MICHIKO OGAWA Oh Lady Be Good/Smile, ULTRA ART RECORD UA-1004, 180 G, 78 RPM MAXI-SP (2020).
⸜ THE MONTGOMERY BROTHERS, Groove Yard, Riverside/Analogue Productions AJAZ 9362, „Top 100 Fantasy | 45 Series”, 2 x 180 g, 45 RPM LP (1961/?).

ONE OF THE THINGS that can be said about the tested platform right away, without listening to the details for a long time, is that it changes the sound significantly. There is no question of - "a little", "maybe", "but", "in some respects", but simply - significant. We sit down, cue in a record, any one, it really doesn't matter what kind of music or pressing it is, and we immediately hear the change.

Wojtek Padjas's platform does not even change the sound itself - though that is what it is all about - but something deeper, as if it could influence something fundamental that the sound is built upon. So we do not actually have an impression of a some sort of correction being carried out in front of our eyes/ears, but rather what we get is a completely new presentation, in which the change in question has happened somewhere earlier, thanks to which we receive a completely new performance.

Ultimately, however, it is about changes and corrections and I have to present them as such. And the fundamental change that the All You Need platform brings to the sound is bringing order to its structure. My point is that although the elements we usually talk about do change, such as timbre, dynamics, etc. - which I will come back to in a moment - they are, in my opinion, secondary changes. The order in question causes a better flow of music, it also flows in a denser, more freely way.

The Pro-Ject turntable acquired some sophistication with the tested platform, and its sound was smoother. The double bass from the THE MONTGOMERY BROTHERS Groove Yard without it was a bit stronger in its mid-range, which made it seem bigger. After decoupling the turntable, this "protuberance" - as it turned out - disappeared, and its place was taken by a much more tonally balanced image of this instrument - its attack had a less "square" cut and more natural softness, hence the sustain and the elements that make it rich were heard more clearly.

The change was transformative, that is, from a very good reproduction - the Pro-Ject turntable is excellent - it transformed into almost refined one, which does not happen at this price level. It seems to me that the scale of changes brought about by the platform was greater than if we changed the turntable or cartridge to a higher model. What turned out even better with two albums in which the bass creates the "presented world", and is not just an addition to what is happening in the band above - with BRENDAN PERRY’s Ark and KRAFTWERK’s Tour De France. Soundtracks.

In both cases we deal with a very low, electronically generated bass of constant intensity, which is much more difficult to control than the sound of natural instruments, which has an impulse character varying in time. The tested platform resulted also in a much deeper image in terms of tonality, also in the low range. The bass was softer with it, and at the same time better defined. As paradoxical as it may seem, it is not - I get something like this every time the resolution of the sound increases.

And that's what All You Need does, otherwise I can't explain it. The sound with it is richer with sounds that build a more nuanced, truer, and thus emotionally deeper presentation. That is why listening to the FRANK SINATRA’s The Voice, released in 1955, which collected the artist's recordings from the 1940s was so pleasant. Originally recorded on 16" transcription discs and then re-recorded on a tape from which the aforementioned album (first it was released on two 10” discs) was prepared, sounds incredibly good.

The platform gave these recordings the depth they need, opened them up, but also blocked the slight brightening of the upper midrange, which the Pro-Ject itself didn’t do, because it could not cope - even several times more expensive turntables could not do that. The platform did not change the basic features of this design, and yet Sinatra sounded more natural, more credible with it. It was as if I was one step closer to the source of the signal. Once heard, it stayed with me until the end of the test, and it turned out to be particularly strong with the unusual, 78 RPM record Oh Lady Be Good/Smile pressed in current times.

| Our recordings

⸜ MICHIKO OGAWA Oh Lady Be Good/Smile

Ultra Art Record UA-1004
180 g, 78 RPM maxi-SP

IF I DIDN'T HEAR IT WITH my own ears, I would not believe it - the 78 RPM version sounds more like an analog master tape than a classic LP record. The point is that although its sound is still characterized by a specific softness and natural "flow" of the analog, the warming up, so clearly audible on the regular 33 1/3 version, disappeared, hence the instruments seemed to be placed closer to me, were more resolving, more dynamic and better differentiated in terms of their bodies and timbre.

The effect was similar to the comparison between the LP and its Test Press version, as well as the comparison of the "regular" CD with its source, i.e. the Master CD-R. And these are not small differences. With the '78' the sound opens up, the treble is more clear and better defined. On a classic album, the reverb blurred the contours of the instruments a bit, which sounded in a very "analogue" way - it's a great recording - but the "seventy-eight" sounded just more real, in a less "made" way. Even if they did an excellent "job" on a regular album.


This comparison was simply merciless for the classic pressing. The changes went in a similar direction as when switching from the 33 1/3 album to 45 RPM, but they were multiplied by two or even three times. Incredible progress! The only drawback of 78 RPM records is that they must be perfectly flat. At such a high rotational speed, each deformation begins to be "read" by the cartridge as a low-frequency sound. Therefore, it would be best if such pressings were done using 200g vinyl, which guarantees the best mechanical stability over time.

Taking this into account, it is not difficult for me to admit that the MICHIKO OGAWA’s Oh Lady Be Good/Smile record in the 78 RPM version is a reference release. You can find more about the Ultra Art Record label HERE.

Sound quality: REFERENCE

ALL YOU NEED makes you feel as if there are more sounds. Which makes sense because there are more and more of them - resolution means more information. Importantly, the platform tempers the upper midrange at the same time. I already mentioned it with Sinatra, but it also turned out beautifully with two guitar recordings, completely different ones, and yet causing similar problems for audio systems - the Friday Night in San Francisco by AL DI MEOLA, JOHN MCLAUGHLIN, PACO DELUCIA and Squint by JULIAN LAGE.

Both records carry a lot of information from the midrange, especially in its upper part. The acoustic concert from San Francisco is presented with a very long reverb, largely responsible for the atmosphere of the recording. With the All You Need platform, the instruments had a lower center of gravity, but the aura in question did not disappear, they were still shown quite far away from me, they were also not weighted down. And that's good - the musicians play them in a specific way, emphasizing the attack, shortening the decay - they play them in a percussive way, a bit like a piano.

It was similar with Lage's album. This musician records his electric guitar in a specific way, that is with a lot of treble. This is emphasized by the rather dry sound of the large Sound Emporium studio, where the material for the Squint album was recorded. The tested platform not only showed HOW the musicians play, but also brought me closer to them without bringing them closer to me. Me „moving towards them” was based on the fact that I heard better, heard more, which made the image of the instruments clearer. And because on the timbre axis the center of gravity shifted downwards, it was not a brightening, but me "diving" into the sound.

▌ SUMMARY

PLATFORM PREPARED by Wojtek Padjas will be one of the best upgrades that you can apply to your turntable. Replacing the one you have with a higher model - sure, you can always do that. Replacing the cartridge with a better one - of course, that’s also a way to go. Replacing the interconnects with more expensive ones - undoubtedly a move in the right direction. None of these changes, however, will bring about such a comprehensive sound improvement as the All You Need platform.

It is not made as well as the products of large, recognized companies, it carries the element of "garage-make" from which - metaphorically - it originates. It is problematic when it comes to balancing - for me adding additional foams piece(s) is a half-measure, not a solution to the problem. And yet - it is one of the best sound-enhancing products for budget and medium-budget turntables that I have heard for a long time.

▌ DESIGN

The All You Need ANTI-VIBRATION PLATFORM is designed for non-suspended turntables weighing from 5 to 20 kg. It has a form of two boards connected at the four corners with a lossy element; the whole rests on four cone-shaped rubber feet. The tops are made of MDF boards with a vinyl veneer with a characteristic texture resembling brushed aluminum.

Lossy element trimmed to form circular spacers - there are two such spacers for each corner, one on top of the other. They have an unusual pink-orange color. Two badges are affixed to the front - with the name of the platform and the name of the company; the latter in the tested copy reads: "10 Hertz by VinylSpot.pl", and the name was actually dropped by Wojtek Padjas because it was too long. All production copies will have the abbreviated name VinylSpot.pl. Nota bene, the badges are made of a material used in industry since at least the 1950s in the way they were made back then, which makes them look very intriguing.

The platform is made nicely, but the precision is far from that of large-scale products - the veneer is not perfectly positioned on the edges. However, it seems more important to me that the upper board is slightly moved in horizontal plane in relation to the lower one. I am talking about a few millimeters, and yet it does not look very good. It shouldn't have any significant effect on the mechanical properties, but aesthetics say it needs to be fine-tuned.

Taking all this into account, it should be said that the build quality of the platform should be improved - it's a serious, great product that should look as good as it sounds. The copy that we received for the test is only an announcement that still needs to be realized. ■