The lack of understanding amongst turntable manufacturers of “mass-spring-damper” theory is one of my greatest disappointments regarding the current turntable field, and is simply another indicator of the lack of true technical expertise at most of these firms.  As a lover of pure physics and its proper application, I am distressed over the false claims and ridiculous theories put forth by other manufacturers about using multiple levels and stacked materials to eliminate resonance and to “decouple” the turntable.  There is room for debate concerning the many aspects of product design as they apply to turntables.  These do not include whether isolation is good or not, and whether multiple layers various materials cut into particular shapes, such as cones, can “reflect vibration” or result in less feedback: they can’t and they don’t.  The superiority of a well suspended turntable is clearly evident in taking quick, easy measurements, and when listening to real instruments in a concert hall, then listening to a properly suspended turntable with its suspension disabled, then enabled.  The result unequivocally favors the suspended configuration, unless the turntable has a flawed suspension, an unbalanced platter, or a platter with excessive runout.  Unfortunately, many of these defects do exist on some very expensive turntables.  However, it is wrong to conclude that suspensions are not important.  The correct conclusion would be that these are terribly flawed products.  With the correctly designed Basis fluid-damped suspension systems, all of the advantages stand out clearly: lower grain, greater detail presented in a natural manner, truer instrumental tonality, and an increase in musicality and effortlessness.  This is no surprise: measurements show that the difference between the 2000 Series turntable with its fluid damped suspension and any competitor’s similarly sized unsuspended turntable is greater than 50 decibels, a huge margin. With the 2000 Series turntable you hear more of the record, not the turntable and stand.    

The bottom line: great isolation is always desirable.  Unfortunately, great isolation is all too uncommon.

The original Basis Debut suspension system is still the best in the business.  No other turntable boasts the isolation, at all audio frequencies, displayed by the Debut.  The 2000 Series is nearly as effective through the audio band, taking a back seat to the Debut only at subsonic frequencies.  In comparison, systems using rubber bands display unfavorable hysteresis effects, and suffer a “shorting out” of the isolation path at audio frequencies due to the manner in which they use silicone fluid, which results in an undesirable coupling of the isolated platform and the unisolated support.  A simple stethoscope will confirm the superiority of the Debut suspension to others, and measurements show the advantage even more clearly.  We have now updated the damping configuration, and rebalanced the ratios of damping and spring rates in all of the Basis Audio Signature Series fluid-damped suspensions.  We also have implemented an additional procedure to further pre-stress the springs and calibrate the suspension for greater balance.  These suspension improvements comprise our Superdamp Isolation System, now incorporated on all suspended models.