Positive Feedback Online - June/July 2002
Doctor Platus' Phenomenal Prototype Platform
by Dave Glackin
Saul Sokolsky of The Audio Enthusiast in Palos Verdes,
California called to tell me that he had just heard an audio
device like no other he had ever heard, and that I had to
hear it but he couldn't tell me what it was. My first thought
was, "Oh no, not another audio device. How many things
does the audiophile world need, and what are we still without?
How many more truly significant improvements can be made,
and how many 'improvements' have already been relegated to
the dustbin of history?" But Saul inveigled me to get
myself forthwith to his home-cum-dealership, noting that I
wouldn't be sorry. And he was right. But I'm getting ahead
of myself.
Dr. David Platus is President of Minus K Technology in Inglewood,
California (www.minusk.com). He manufactures leading-edge
vibration isolation platforms that are intended to all but
eliminate building and ground vibration in situations involving
very sensitive analytical techniques. Typical applications
include measurements made on the subatomic level. Atomic force
microscopes (AFMs) reportedly achieve their lowest noise level
ever when isolated with the Minus K platforms. The world's
leading AFM maker has reportedly built a Minus K platform
into one of its instruments. The Institute for Human Brain
Research in Sweden is reportedly using Minus K products in
their highly sensitive low-voltage fluorescent die imaging,
which measures neural activity in the brains of animals. A
company that wants to suspend and isolate a 10,000-lb. granite
slab has reportedly come to Minus K for help. More recently,
Minus K was asked to isolate a 70-ton item.
The application that most impresses me is that the Jet Propulsion
Lab here in Pasadena is using three of David's platforms to
isolate its 4300 lb. Space Interferometry Mission (SIM) test
structure. This spacecraft is intended to use optical interferometry
to measure the distances between objects in deep space with
unprecedented precision. The technique uses spaced optical
elements, the relative position and orientation of which must
be known with nanometer precision. The Minus K device was
the only isolator that met the specifications for the test
structure. Also in the space biz, David's platforms are being
used at Ball Aerospace & Technologies to isolate the Cryogenic
Telescope Assembly (CTA) in thermal vacuum tests. The CTA
is the eyes of NASA's Space Infrared Telescope Facility, a
mission I almost wound up working on in 1978 when it was first
being planned.
For many years now, people have been telling David that he
should develop a platform for audio applications. Your humble
reporter is the first member of the audiophile press to have
heard what one of David's platforms can do, and IMHO, the
results of our two listening sessions warrant the development
of a platform specifically designed for audio applications,
so read on.
Upon entering Saul's home for the first listening session,
I met Dr. David Platus, and was somewhat startled to meet
his doppelganger, his twin brother Daniel. David proved to
be a very engaging, serious, and obviously capable individual.
He unveiled a modified version of his "Small Biscuit"
isolation platform, which is 16.2" X 16.2", with
a height of 8.5" and a weight of 60 lbs. The natural
frequency of this unit is adjustable down to 0.5Hz or less,
which is quite impressive. When adjusted to 0.5Hz, vibrations
both vertical and horizontal at 5Hz are attenuated by a factor
of approximately 100. Ballast weights needed to be placed
on the top because the turntable we used in this audition
was lighter than the minimum intended load. This is neither
an active nor an air flotation device. Its isolation is achieved
purely by mechanical means, using a principle called "negative
stiffness" (hence the company name Minus K, see the web
site for details). David and his brother ministered to the
unit for a bit, until it would "float" properly
with the intended load. In this initial audition, the Small
Biscuit was used only under the turntable. For this session,
the vertical frequency was set at < 0.5Hz, and the horizontal
frequency was 1Hz. The standard Small Biscuit was modified
to have stiffness in the yaw direction (rotation about the
vertical axis), since yaw movements are undesirable in a turntable.
(Incidentally, this was a manually adjustable unit. On the
Minus K web site, you'll also see servo-system-controlled
units.)
The associated equipment used in this
session consisted of an Immedia RPM 2 turntable with
a Clearaudio linear tracking arm, a Transfiguration
Spirit cartridge, a Herron tube preamp, tube monoblock
amps by Bill Chater, and the Nestorovic Reference Epsilon
loudspeakers, the ones that make liberal use of concrete
inside the cabinets. The turntable and electronics were
on a Merrill stand. For those of you who don't know
him, Bill Chater is widely recognized for electronics
designs that have appeared for years in the pages of
Audio Amateur, and he is also a violinmaker par excellence.
The listening room at The Audio Enthusiast is large,
comfortable, and well suited to testing audio components,
with a wide range of equipment to choose from.In the interest of saving time, we listened to the unit floating, and then listened to it locked down, still in place under the turntable. The right way to perform such an audition is, of course, with the unit floating, and then with the unit removed entirely. The results of this session were so startling that that is exactly what we did in the second session, some weeks later.
The second session was done with a larger and heavier BM-1 Biscuit, with a top plate dimension of 24" X 22.5", and a height of 8.5". The vertical frequency was approximately 0.5 Hz, while the horizontal frequency was slightly higher.
This unit was also modified to have stiffness in yaw. Associated
equipment in the second session was an Amazon Model 1 turntable
with a Morch DP-6 tonearm, a Koetsu Urushi cartridge, a Hovland
preamp, Nestorovic Alpha-1 monoblock amps (upgraded to NA-1s),
and Nestorovic Type 5 loudspeakers. The turntable and electronics
were on the same Merrill stand. For these auditions, we used
the "Take Five" cut, 33 rpm version, on the Classic
Records reissue of Dave Brubeck's Time Out, the Sheffield
direct-to-disc recording of Harry James' The King James Version,
the Chesky Records reissue of Rimsky-Korsakov's Scheherazade,
and the Alligator reissue of Sonny Boy Williamson's Keep it
to Ourselves (only because I did not have the Acoustic Sounds
reissue handy). While the differences heard with the platform
floating and locked down in the first session were startling,
the differences heard in the second session, with the platform
in place and then removed, were even more startling.
With the Minus K platforms in place and floating,
there was a purity, transparency, and sense of harmonic
rightness that was mesmerizing. Instruments sounded much
more like real instruments and voices sounded like they
were in a real acoustic space with real air around them.
The ability to see into the soundstage was greatly increased.
The improvements in the bass were perhaps the most captivating
of all. This is the biggest improvement in turntable isolation
that I have ever heard. Speaking of bass response, I am
extremely familiar with the Classic Records reissue of Time
Out, having heard it on many systems. The acoustic bass
on "Take Five" has always sounded plummy to some
degree, sometimes more, sometimes less, but never as fleshed
out as I thought it should be. That's not to mention the
drums, which have always sounded muddled. With the Minus
K platform in place, I felt like I was finally hearing the
acoustic bass line and the drums on this record as they
were meant to be heard. For the first time in my experience,
the acoustic bass sounded like a bass, and the drums were
fully fleshed out, with phenomenal detail. This unmistakable
improvement grabbed our collective attention like nothing
else in these sessions. Saul Sokolsky, who is also very
familiar with this record, concurred that he had never heard
it sound nearly this good.
Time will tell, but my impression is that this product,
when adapted to our marketplace, may become the best vibration
isolation product out there, bar none. It has tremendous
potential for use under turntables, tube electronics, CD
transports, and many other kinds of equipment. Remember,
you heard it here first. The next step is to insert a platform
into my reference system for extended tests, with a larger
top plate to accommodate my VPI TNT. When this unit is past
the prototype stage, a shootout with a Vibraplane might
be entertaining (if not back-straining).
David has substantial work to do to convert the prototype
to a consumer unit. First, 8.5" is too high for audio
applications. Second, it could benefit from more intuitive
controls. Third, it needs to be modified to handle the wide
range of component weights that will be encountered. Finally,
there is cost. As you might imagine, these babies ain't
cheap, but the standard, manually adjusted units are not
horribly expensive by high end audio standards. Dr. Platus
is making significant progress, and has stated that a relatively
low-cost Biscuit will be on the market by around September
2002. If he succeeds in meeting that goal, I plan to be
the one to bring you the news first.
Contact:
Dr. David Platus, President
Minus K Technology
TEL: 310. 348. 9656
e-mail: minuskdp@aol.com
web address: www.minusk.com