The hi-fi audio hobby is rife with opportunities to upgrade & tweak your system. Needless to say, some upgrades are easier to make than others and some upgrades have more profound impacts than others. The best upgrades are those that don’t cost an arm & leg, make a readily audible improvement and are easy to implement. Always on top of the upgrade game, Pro-Ject Audio Systems has released two new products that meet these criteria. Both are proudly manufactured in Europe and are comprised of pure steel for maximum mass & rigidity for your dollar. These won’t require a dramatic hit to your pocket book, are designed to last a lifetime and most importantly, they offer immediate improvements to your hi-fi listening experience.
Tristand Speaker Stands
In order for bookshelf speakers to perform their very best, isolation is paramount. Contrary to the term “bookshelf speakers,” a bookshelf is not an ideal environment for placement of speakers. You can pretty much count on some detraction from sound quality if you’re not using dedicated stands. First off, most speakers need some distance from the rear & side walls for proper stereo imaging. Second, in an environment such as a bookshelf, the speakers’ own vibration can hinder their sound quality. Mainly it detracts from the clarity that speakers are capable of delivering, and all sorts of detail can get lost in that muddiness. Furthermore, at higher volumes and depending on the location of your audio components, that vibration can also affect the performance of turntables and other electronics. Thus it’s important to isolate speaker vibration to the speaker cabinet itself and to prevent external vibration from getting back to the speakers. Made of high-mass steel and including spike feet for the bottom and top platforms, Tristand will leave you no doubt that your speakers are doing their job at their very best.
Wall Mount it 5/4 Audio Rack
Isolation is important for all audio components, not just speakers. It’s just as important to shield your CD Player, power amplifier, line preamp and phono preamp from the negative impacts of vibration & resonance. We know this is particularly true of turntables. Yes, a tonearm & cartridge may mis-track if poorly isolated, but the problem goes deeper than just record skipping. The phono cartridge is a highly-sensitive transducer that deals specifically in vibration- namely the stylus vibrates in response to the vertical & lateral contours of the record groove. If vibration and resonance find their way back to the record player (or if the turntable itself is of poor quality and resonates internally), the phono cartridge is sure to pick it up. Whether it interferes with playback (causes skipping) or not, the sound will be colored unfavorably. Here again, clarity, resolution & detail will suffer meaning you’re missing out on some of the musical information your audio system is trying to convey! Poor isolation can impact other components in a similar way, perhaps just to a lesser degree. Most folks just target turntable isolation, unknowing of the fact that the rest of their equipment can benefit from the same sort of attention. In the new Wall Mount it 5/4, Pro-Ject Audio Systems takes the liberty of offering one high-quality, wall-mountable steel shelf with 4 platforms for your various audio components. Each shelf rests on spikes to minimize surface contact, and the intelligent frame design sends vibration and resonance back into the ‘mechanical ground’- in this case, the wall.
Pro-Ject are Audio Isolation Experts
Pro-Ject Audio Systems have been doing the research & development for decades. Unlike elsewhere in the market, you won’t find record players made of plastic shells with hollow spaces that act as resonance caverns… Pro-Ject uses solid plinth designs comprised of high-quality MDF which actually absorbs resonance before it can reach the record platter, tonearm & phono cartridge stylus. Consequently Pro-Ject turntables become increasingly ‘transparent’ as you climb up the line, passing along loads of micro-detail that make a sound stage more immersive and convincing. It doesn’t stop with turntable design, though. Pro-Ject puts the ball in your court with a whole selection of products offered specifically to isolate your audio components from performance-prohibiting vibration. View our isolation category here at Pro-Ject USA see just how we can help you get the best sound from your system. In addition to the new Tristands & Wall Mount it 5/4, we’ve got various isolation platforms, wall shelves, record platter upgrades, sub-platter upgrades, record clamps & pucks, record mats, isolation pods among a whole lot more- all in the spirit of putting you in control of your sound.