The "Sapphire" Plinth

  The Sapphire plinth is made from solid glass of around 25mm thickness, and in the picture both elements are supported by silver-steel spikes on which rest silver-steel cups which are there to prevent the spikes from damaging the glass, and adding extra decoupling. The spikes are adjustable for height, and screwed into stainless steel blocks. Each set of four spikes stands on its own float-glass base.

  The cups and the bases of the spikes are separated from the elements above and the glass bases below by Sorbothane pads, and the two plates of glass on which the spikes stand are separated by Sorbothane pads too. This effectively decouples the two elements, so there can be no transmission of motor vibrations to the base of the tone-arm.

  Extras include a float-glass mat for the platter; extra-shallow spike sets to separate the glass bases, or for decoupling speaker enclosures from the surface on which they stand; Teco Pad to rest the whole assembly on; digital level; digital stylus pressure balance.

  The basic plinth consists of the bottom element only, and carries the motor unit and the tone-arm, and can be mounted in an enclosure, or as a free-standing unit. Spikes may be replaced by Sorbothane pads.

Options

  All-glass plinth designed (initially) for Garrard 301 and 401 transcription motor units.

  Subject to availability of materials, smoked glass opalescent glass, slate, marble, granite and other stone may be offered.

Pick and Mix

  The Sapphire plinth is designed to be available as a complete unit, including if desired/available, Garrard 301 or 401 motor unit; Hadcock Unipivot SE arm or a wide choice of other arms; the pickup of your choice; adjustable spikes; sound insulation; cabinet, double-glazed or triple-glazed with acoustic laminated glass OR such components as you need may be purchased a stage at a time.

  The lower plinth will accept the motor unit and the pickup arm. It looks good and it sounds good, but at a later stage you may wish to isolate the motor unit from the arm by adding the upper plinth. Then it sounds even better.

  The upper plinth is designed to carry only the motor unit, a spacer carries the arm to the level of the top plinth. The two plinths may be separated by a system of spikes and Sorbothane pads (recommended) or solely by pads of Sorbothane (not recommended for a permanent installation).

  The material chosen for the elements of the plinth affects the brightness of the sound. Glass produces a very bright and detailed sound, while the sound from slate (for instance) is slightly more rounded.

  The laminated structure of slate poses some interesting technical questions, which I hope to address soon - for indeterminate values of "soon"


Take me to the Slate Page.