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Theoretically (I'm talking about widely accepted knowledge taught at most technical universities) the sound of audio gear should not be significantly impacted by the type of surface it sits on. Even without knowing of the measurements taken at the Fachhochschule Dortmund, the Finite Elemente system proves this to be utter nonsense. The changes it introduces to the sound were big, even very big and markedly different to just about any other platform and anti-vibration system I reviewed in this issue of High Fidelity.

 
 
 
At the same time it was the only such system whose subjective reception at first wasn't clearly positive and as such far less enthusiastic. This teaches humility towards expectations and the state of our personal knowledge. For the first time in a long time—since the review of the Acoustic Revive RST-38 platform actually—I was able to delve deeper into what I think I know about audio.

 
 
I faced the same situation as I had with Mr. Ishiguro’s platform. Back then my first tests hadn't been uniformly good either. Some were downright negative. The sound with his RST-38 under my speakers or amplifiers had seemed sharper and less rich and not just to me. It was exactly the opposite of what I'd been after. It's been two years now. My system and understanding of the sound have matured. I think I know why I was so hopelessly wrong then. What I took for dryness was the effect of minimized euphonic coloration caused by vibration. It was a lowering of the mechanical noise floor. This in turn allowed me to point out weaknesses and identify areas that needed improvement. Among other things that's why all my power cords are now top Acrolink 7N-PC9300. I'm incidentally most curious about its successor, the 7N-PC9500 which is soon coming. The Acrolink cords have moved my sound a few levels up and remedied what at first seemed to be a problem with the platforms but turned out to be a problem with my wiring and what my other components were placed on. These power cords made for a big step forward in my system, not just polishing up the sound but affecting the kind of change which opens the door for other smaller improvements which are impossible to achieve/identify without this first crucial step towards high-end performance.

 
The Pagode Edition with CeraBase Compact feet and 1000Hz resonator now took me on the next step though in very similar style. I said 'next' as I already had in my system the large RST-38H platforms beneath my Harbeth M40.1 stands. It turned out that the euphony I thought I’d dealt with once and for all—and without throwing out the tangibility, fullness and richness of the sound I like so much—was still present. I was of course well aware of a slight preference my speakers bestow on the <100Hz band but I did not think it combined with blurred attacks and a boosted lower midrange. It was not a simple emphasis of that range but rather a texture that made it thick. This distortion had its roots in the superimposition or intermodulation of signal and mechanical noise. And that's something more difficult to correct than the usual dips and peaks in the frequency domain.