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48 Test Active Damping System - Accurion Silencer
Silence is golden
Attentive readers will have noticed that we at LP Magazin walk a very careful line when it comes to the
subject of accessories – there’s too much risk of hitting the slippery slope to awakening a hoodoo.
However, when something really extraordinary comes along with effects that can be measured and
definitively proven using instruments, then we are happy to lay aside our timidity.
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The Silencer already has a long, long
history– but here in Germany, it has
largely been happening beyond closed
doors. This is no surprise. Even though
Accurion is based in the pretty town of
Göttingen, they have always had an
international outlook. They are
technological leaders in the area of active
damping. In addition, as you’ve probably
guessed we’d mention, the so-called
Halcyon technology was not actually
developed for hi-fi equipment. Silencers
are effectively a misuse of technology that
was originally intended to ensure a
perfectly stable base for high-precision
measuring instruments such as
microscopes and other vibration-sensitive
systems. Nonetheless, technological hijacking
of this kind has been boosting
sales since the introduction of the Teflon
frying pan. Actually, in the business of
making accessories, it seems like every
other product is said to be “derived from
space research”, which is one of my
ultimate no-no phrases when it comes to
hi-fi.
The team at Accurion, though, after their
undramatic and largely inconsequential
attempt a few years ago to break into the
American hi-fi market, have been
pleasantly laid back about their latest
move to revolutionise the hi-fi scene. I
don’t mean that in any mocking way
either; their Silencer really does
accomplish things that I’ve never heard
before.
To put things in the right perspective, I do
have to say that Accurion's apparatus
comes at a price, and it’s a high one. It
costs 12,000 euros to buy a single base.
This means that a Silencer is outside the
range of normal consumers, way out of my
financial league, and volumes are so small
that the German distributors, Thixar, were
not even able to simply leave a
demonstration model with the editorial
team at LP – curses, curses!
Nevertheless, for anyone in the happy
position of owning a system in the
appropriate price range, a Silencer really
does bring such dramatic benefits that it is
hard to believe them possible.
The important thing is that they are
analogue, and that is key not merely for
dogmatic reasons but for authentic
technical ones.
The Silencers’ built-in analogue control
loop exhibits a speed of response that is
way beyond what any processorcontrolled
closed loop system can
achieve. The signal from the highly
sensitive acceleration sensors on the base
is simply amplified and then – to put it
simply – it is sent to the active dampers
with the polarity reversed. They can then
make the corrections virtually in real time.
The whole thing functions in all three
spatial planes. The dampers themselves
work just like a speaker chassis. There are
permanent magnets and a coil which
moves in the magnetic field they produce
and which is connected to the base for the
turntable. Thanks to their clever placing,
eight dampers can handle all three
dimensions simultaneously. As supplied,
the Silencer is clamped in place, and with
its formidable weight of no less than 32
kilograms it makes a superb base for a
record player even when it is deactivated.
The floating bearings for the turntable
base can be set-up by means of four
eccentric screws on the sides. Four strong
steel springs then support the turntable,
which can weigh up to a maximum of 90
kg. By the way, it is not a good idea to set
up the Silencer on the floating base
without turning it on. Our measurements
show that this is much worse than simply
setting up on a solid base. Once the
eccentric screws have been used to adjust
the Silencer to a horizontal position, it can
then be configured via a button on the
front. Rows of LEDs keep the user
informed about the extent of the activity
from the four active vibration dampers.
It is nothing to worry about,
though, if nothing lights up but
the mains indicator. When set up
normally on a hi-fi rack with
music that is not too loud or
bass-heavy and there are no
clodhopping feet in the room,
it is normal for none of the lights
to show because the corrections
required are too subtle. They only
light up when the dampers are
working hard. We did, in one case,
intentionally set up some adverse
conditions in our lab. The Silencer
was set up on an ordinary side table
standing on a vibrating floor.
Equipment stand Test 49
Teammates
Turntables:
· VPI Classic 3
· Rega RP1
· The Funk Firm Vector III
· Rui Borges Uno
Phonopreamps:
· Trichord Dino MKII
· Quad 24P Phono
· MalValve Preamp Three Phono
· PS Audio GCPH modifiziert
Amplifiers:
· Malvalve Preamp Three Line
und Power Amp Three
· SAC Preamp + Igel
Loudspeakers:
· Sonics Allegria
· K+T Big Bang
Accessories:
· Racks von Tabula Rasa
und Copulare
· Netzkabel von HMS und PS Audio
· Phonokabel von Nordost
und Furutech
· NF-Kabel von van den Hul
The coil springs provide a
floating base - but it only forms a
perfectly level bed when the
active dampers, which work like a
speaker chassis, are switched on
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Accurion_LP611_S.48-51.indd 49 29.08.11 14:31

Schostakowitsch, Ravel – Klavierkonzerte, Bernstein
50 Test Equipment Stand Accurion Silencer
Listened to
Schostakowitsch, Ravel
Klavierkonzerte, Bernstein
Jennifer Warnes
Famous Blue Raincoat
20th Anniversary Edition
Gomez
Split the Difference
Deep Purple
Machine Head
Gustav Mahler
Die neun Symphonien, Georg Solti
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Waisenhausmesse, Claudio Abbado
Miles Davis
Milestones
The basic design of the Silencer,
with both vertical and horizontal
elements, can clearly be seen here
A free-standing speaker was then placed
just one metre away, so that the air it
pushed out was directed right at the 10-kg
turntable on top of the Silencer. It is hard
to imagine a worse set-up for a record
player other than putting it in a moving car
or a sailing boat. The fact that the turntable
cover was closed at least prevented the air
directly buffeting the tone arm and pickup.
A highly precise MLS signal at a
volume level of 95 dB (1 m) was then put
through the speaker. Hardly anyone would
listen to sound that loud at home for any
length of time. The signal from the pick-up
was then connected to the input of our
measuring system via a phono stage
(without a subsonic filter) but with the
turntable stationary. Et voilà, we had a
system for measuring rumble. There
follows a detailed summary of the results,
so we’ll only highlight that the Silencer
reduced vibrations by almost 10 dB on
average over a broad frequency range from
0.5 to 100 Hz and that impacts were
reduced by even more. Particularly around
the resonant frequency of the tone arm
system, the effect was plain to see. The big
advantage of the active system over
passive absorbers, which always have lowfrequency
resonances, is the uniform
response over the full frequency range. For
heavy record players with their own
damped base, the effect is not so
prominent, but it is still clear enough.
When listening, the effect of the Silencer
is initially subtle but it is massive when
you get really attuned to it.
There seems to be no change in tone to
begin with, but as the side spins further,
you get a feeling that something is not
there, which eventually leads more and
more to the certainty that what is missing
is what should never have been there in the
first place. All those “impurities” that
unnoticeably creep into the reproduction
and are perceived by listeners as part of
the music are gone. The musical
information (i.e. that which is actually on
the record) comes over much cleaner and
more precise, producing a much increased
sense of peace, in both acoustic and
emotional terms. You read that right:
Measurements
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Accurion_LP611_S.48-51.indd 50 vibration
29.08.11 14:31
Ve oc ty [IJm/s] Ve oc ty [IJm/s]
In the subsonic range you can clearly hear the
superiority of the Silencer in the music
The effect gets even bigger in the event of
impacts (from the room next door!)
The effect of the Silencer covers a range stretching
from the lower limit of the measuring equipment up
to about 100 Hz
100,00
10,00
1,00
0,10
0,01
Ve oc ty F oor [IJm/s] Ve oc ty Act ve
[IJm/s]
1 10 100 1000
A special measurement using an acceleration
sensor with loud music playing
100,00
10,00
1,00
0,10
Ve oc ty F oor [IJm/s] Ve oc ty Act ve
[IJm/s]
0,01 1 10 100 1000
Even when there is no music, the
Silencer eliminates normally
imperceptible interference from

After some long listening sessions, I am
now firmly of the opinion that a Silencer
can rid a reproduction of a certain
“nervousness”. It is certainly noticeable in
the enjoyment of the music and is hugely
the case in terms of listening quality over
prolonged periods. I also have the notion
that I have never felt such a potent feeling
of relaxation listening to music as I got
with the Accurion.
It is, of course, the lighter turntables that
can benefit the most from a Silencer and
the difference with heavyweight ones is
not as dramatic, but it is still audible. Even
heavy-calibre models like the VPI Classic
3 or the Rui Borges from the last edition
gain extra stability and precision in the
bass. The reduced level of extraneous
noise also increases the perceptible
dynamic range. In spite of the cleanness,
reproduction is more vivid, more direct.
Last but not least, the feeling of space also
improves, since quiet reverberation effects
no longer get lost but are cleanly
translated, meaning greater acuity and
clarity of dimensions.
For all this praise, though, there are still
some negatives to report – a Silencer is
merciless in making scratched or badly
cleaned records much more annoying than
usual and the same goes for when a tone
arm has not been adjusted as scrupulously
as it might be. If the equipment is right
though, you cannot hear any smoother
analogue reproduction without listening to
complete silence.
Thomas Schmidt
Accurion Silencer
· Price 12.000 Euro
· Distributor Thixar, Düsseldorf
· Phone 0211 36181657
· Internet www.thixar.de
· E-Mail info@thixar.de
· W x H x D 484 x 144 x 432 mm
· Weight ca. 32 kg
Below the line …
» Not many people will be able
to afford a Silencer so it is a
pity that right now it is the
brightest star in hi-fi heaven by
quite a distance.
Lindemann audiotechnik GmbH · Felix-Wankel-Straße · Krailling
Tel + - - - · Fax Tel + - - - · info@lindemann-audio.de
Equipment Stand Test 51
4 eccentric screws at
the side keep the
equipment safe during
transport
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Accurion_LP611_S.48-51.indd 51 29.08.11 14:31