HRS – Harmonic Resolution Systems – News
[Got a number of posts to… uh… post. So please bear with us!]
Some of this you already know these Harmonic Resolution Systems tidbits – but just so that the blog has a record of all this…
The HRS R1 Isolation Base:
The new R1 Isolation Base at $1095 works in the same frame system as S1 ($1695) and M3X ($2495) Isolation Bases. The R1 and S1 come in 17×19 and 19×21 sizes only (and that would be inches on a side, everybody). We haven’t tried the S1 and R1 yet, but the idea is that the S1 is supposed to be just about nearly as darn good as the old M3.
The standard (for a few years now, I think it is) DPII Series Damping Plates now come in both black and silver finish – purely for cosmetic reasons. Even though most of us Yanks prefer black components – statistically – some of us do have silver finish components, whether we like it or not.
There are now new HRS DPX Series Damping Plates – with more than twice the mass of the DPII. The largest plates come in at a whopping 5.5 lbs. These were added to the product line because people were often found to be using multiple plates on a single component.
Well, we certainly do – and probably would also use multiple of these larger plates too. Why? Because components are often sensitive to WHERE the damping plate is placed, and using multiple plates offers one a lot of customizability. Careful though, one CAN over-dampen a component with the plates [unlike the Isolation Bases or Nimbus Couplers (feet)]. We haven’t tried these new DPX plates. When we use them we mostly use them on the (relatively) inexpensive components – mostly because we do not have an Isolation Base and the Nimbus Couplers for *everything* here. The DPX plates come in black and silver, just like the DPII.
Nimbus couplers are soft [rubbery] pads, and you use two, one on each side of a metal spacer, as feet to couple the component [and its vibrations] to a solid mass – usually an massive Isolation Platform which are about 60lbs on average. We used to poo poo the feet, but they do increase the performance of a Isolation Base by quite a bit – oh, say, 25%? (it varies from component to component. EMM Labs somewhat lower, Audio Note and Lamm somewhat higher, whatever – you get the point, right?)
You can now buy the triplet: 2 nimbi and a spacer, as a single unit, the Couplers being permanently bonded to the Nimbus Spacer using a very highgrade aerospace adhesive system. “The bonded assembly makes handling the units very easy for all applications.” They used to do something like this a long time ago, bonding 1 metal spacer to one soft coupler – which still allowed one to put it under a foot of a component if one desired (not recommended, especially, unless there is no alternative. It sounds better if they are placed under the metal of the component’s chassis; placing them under the component’s feet does improve the sound – just not as much). So, I guess the point that this paragraph was trying to make but doing a lousy job at – is that bonding them together is more convenient – but not nearly as flexible. So unless there is a sonic difference (none that I know of. Neli? Mike L.?) then in most cases you will still want to get the 3-piece feet as separates.
OK, think that is it for HRS!
Seriously, if you want your system to sound a lot better without even having to upgrade any components – this is it. We have found HRS to be a consistent and a predictable performer. Most other isolation products, although often quite popular, are sadly horrible sounding compared to using nothing at all [Is there such a thing as laughably bad. ? Nope, probably not.].
