Seismion Reactio 2 isolation device
Vibrations are good, if air could not be vibrated we wouldn’t have sound. But when they get into the electronics and mechanics of audio equipment they are bad, they distort the signals being reproduced and change the sound so that it fails to accurately reproduce the original recording. Vibration is created both by external factors like road traffic, loudspeakers and the components within electronic equipment. With a turntable the modulations or vibrations cut in a vinyl groove are measured/read by the stylus and converted into an electrical signal.
Vibrations are everywhere and they matter in many more spheres than our own, not least semiconductor inspection, nanotechnology and industrial metrology which require a high degree of vibration of isolation in order to function. This is where active vibration platforms originated, a field where there is sufficient funding to warrant building active isolation systems that work down to the lowest frequencies. The Seismio Reactio 2 comes from this world and can reduce vibration by 10dB at one Hertz.
Seismion makes a range of isolators including one that can support up to a tonne but the Reactio 2 was created for high end audio equipment weighing up to 65 kilos. The unit itself is quite solid at just under 15 kilos, a mass made harder to lift by the absence of feet under the case, it has thin rubber pads instead. On the back is a DC power inlet which connects to a12V in-lead switching power supply, all you see is a single multi function button on the front.
Inside the precisely machined case are piezoelectric sensors which detect vibration and an analogue control circuit that generates compensating forces to offset or counteract them. It not only counters vibration coming from beneath it but also takes into account any vibration generated by the base itself. Seismion make the point that there are two types of vibration that undermine the performance of a supported device; vibration isolation and vibration stabilisation. Vibration isolation is intended to minimise energy travelling through the ground/supporting structure and in audio circles includes that produced by loudspeakers.
Vibration stabilisation is a problem we rarely hear about and deals with energy created by the component itself – so called direct excitation. At its crudest this can be a knock to the platform or component itself but is more commonly caused by vibrations created when a cartridge traces vibrations in a groove. Another source is components within electronics, transformers are a well known example but even resistors, capacitors etc also produce unwanted vibrations that undermine performance. Minimising this form of vibration is achieved by the Reactio’s very stiff and and well damped top plate and, to a lesser extent, the skyhook-damper principle, something used in car suspension systems among other applications.
The single button has several functions, a short push turns it on which levels the top platform and activates the isolation system. A long press of the button can turn the isolation off and lock the top plate so that you can easily audition what it achieves for a given component. This is a boon to reviewers but not one I discovered until I had moved components off of it, removed the Reactio 2 with its absence of finger gap, and put the components back on the stand. Sometimes I need to have RTFM tattooed on my eyelids!
The LED on the button blinks either red or green when going through its motions, one of which is initialisation when powered up but not switched on and another is locking which is yellow while in process and blinking red when isolation and is turned off. The motors whir as it goes through the levelling and isolating process on every switch on, but this is done in 15 seconds so hardly an issue.
Sound quality
I tried the Reactio 2 with a number of components and got to listen to it both with and without and locked versus active. To do so required removing everything from one rack, removing the damped spring Townshend Podium that generally supports it and standing it on the floor old school style. With the Rega Naia turntable the effect of introducing the Reactio 2 was quite distinct, it brought an impressive calm to the sound and produced much tighter image focus thanks to more precise definition of the female vocal being played. In fact the depth and solidity of image that this base allows the Naia to extract from vinyl is spectacular, putting a vocal that often seems to sit in the band front and centre as you would expect (Norah Jones on Court and Spark with Herbie Hancock).
There was also a marked improvement in timing, which is already very much a strongpoint of this turntable. To some extent this is achieved by revealing what the drummer is doing with the cymbals which were not very clear or solid on the regular rack, in fact removing the Seismion and reverting to the rigid rack sucked the life out of the music in no uncertain fashion. I generally use a separate Seismic Platform for the turntable so am not used to its un-isolated sound, it makes it easier to understand why some may not appreciate its true capabilities.
The Reactio 2 reduces the noise floor in a way that I have not experienced with other isolating platforms, it allows tons of fine detail to be resolved by the turntable because it’s no longer having to cope with vibration from the floor and can dissipate any vibration created by the action of reading the modulations in the groove. It’s this combination of isolation capabilities that makes the Seismion base stand out. With a less great sounding record the Reactio 2 allows the sound of an acoustic guitar to project into the room, it opens up and has a solidity that is very realistic, as well as timing that is much clearer. With a piece of electronica (Djrum’s Under Tangled Silence) the pounding beats of the heavier tracks are more musical and the cascading synth sounds expand into the room in a relaxed yet precise fashion that is most engaging. This extra clarity combines to bring out the cosmic beauty of the more serene, piano led pieces that bookend this album.
With a Bricasti M11 Classic DAC the results are, perhaps surprisingly, very similar to those found with the turntable. Many assume that because there is no mechanical activity within a digital to analogue converter that they should be immune the effects of vibration but this and previous experience reveals that they are highly susceptible to what supports them. In this instance the benefits turned out to an opening up of the soundstage due to better projection of sound from the speakers alongside a clear uptick in coherence and timing. The Ancient Infinity Orchestra is a relatively large ensemble by jazz standards and the Reactio 2 allowed their sound to feel less dense and congested, thanks once more to a reduction in the noise floor. The combined effect is that you can play the same track at a higher volume and increase the joy it brings in the process.
I like the way that the Reactio 2 lets you hear all the quieter details, the harmonics on a piano for instance that make a solo piece that much more complete. Bugge Wesseltoft’s playing on It’s still snowing on my piano live is simply beautiful when given this much space and precise timing. A denser album by another Norwegian, Trond Kallevåg’s Minnesota, sounds more natural and realistic thanks to the way that the pedal steel, fiddle and guitar fill an expanded soundstage with such richness of tone and texture.
When going from locked to active isolation on the Reactio 2 the first thing that hits me is the extra immediacy that this base allows the DAC to deliver, it makes dynamics that much more lively and the music more engaging and vivacious. With a Tom Waits song it feels like the timing is tighter, the transients are faster and the recording is better than it previously seemed – a clear all round improvement if ever I heard one.
As I happened to have Network Acoustics Origin 12V power supply to hand I tried using it instead of the supplied SMPS would make any difference to the Reactio 2. It would seem that even isolating electronics are sensitive to noise on the power they receive because this also reduced the noise floor and allowed more fine detail to come through. Finally I went back to the Rega Naia, my favourite source, and did it the easy way by locking out the base. This allows for a much faster comparison which revealed an increase in perceived dynamic range (created by lower noise floor), and the increase in life and presence in the sound. Highs were obviously cleaner and timing clearer, which made dynamic contrast that much easier to appreciate.
Conclusion
The Seismion Reactio 2 is an expensive piece of kit for an isolation platform but it will allow pretty much anything you put on it to perform at a level that few alternatives can compete with. There is a lot to be said for buying the XL version and putting it under an entire rack of equipment, it costs a bit more but is good for up to 250 kg which is more than most systems amount to.
The standard Reactio 2 is a very impressive isolation device and one that shows just how important it is to provide isolation for both external and equipment derived vibration. Anyone who wants hear of what their system is capable of should give it a go.