Svelte Shelf

Introduction

Although Svelte Shelf's most noticeable feature is its attractive, slim design (hence the name "Svelte," meaning slim or slender), the fact is, it's not just a shelf, but a sophisticated, anti-resonant platform for the support of high quality audio and video components.

Placed under CD Players, DVD players, amps, preamps, speakers and more, Symposium's Svelte Shelf will improve the performance of your system without changing its inherent tonal character.

Prior to its introduction, equivalent performance required much greater thickness and mass. The Svelte Shelf's design is simple, but effective. Now, even the most vertically-space-challenged rack or stand can benefit from Symposium vibration control.

The Svelte Shelf works well on most surfaces; it can be placed flat on an existing shelf or floor, or substituted for an existing shelf by ordering an exact size replacement.

Science and the Shelf

The Svelte Shelf is a tool for lessening the haze and imprecision which afflicts most "untreated" components. These artifacts are caused by vibration, and their severity can vary greatly from from component to component as well as from installation to installation. The Svelte works by draining vibration out of the component, while at the same time providing a less resonant surface for it to rest upon. Its design is a special modification of time-tested "sandwich" diaphragm technology used to advance the state of the art in loudspeaker performance.

"Just a word to thank you. I just received the Sveltes for the Nagra amps. They look great. But again I was not prepared for the sonic surprise. God what a change in sound. I never expected these to bring such an enormous improvement. Wow. Everything just bloomed. The timbres are way more natural, and the bass and midbass are now clearly defined. You must have poured some magical powder or something into those shelves."
M. B., Quebec

Well, thanks very much for the very nice words- but it's not really magic!

Our products achieve their goals by reducing noise in the component, and the Svelte Shelf does this by obeying laws of physics. The Svelte Shelf's very rigid top and bottom layers vibrate more uniformly than less rigid materials, thus transferring more energy to the center section, where it can be dissipated as heat. And because the top is vibrating more uniformly, without "breakup" found in woods and other less rigid materials, there's less "blurring" of imaging and transient information.

Used correctly, the Svelte Shelf will improve the performance and accuracy of your audio or video system, with:

• Superior transient preservation
• More focus, with more precise imaging
• A quieter background with a lower noise floor
• Improved picture quality with video devices
• Better bass, with less distortion and "boom"
• Improved high frequency air, detail, and dynamics
• Better soundstage.

No colorations, please

Because of its constrained-layer design, the Svelte is non-resonant, so it will not add any colorations or other "flavorings" to the original material- pleasant, unpleasant, or otherwise. You'll hear more of the original performance, with all of its nuance, tonal color, and dynamics intact. Like most Symposium products, a Svelte is not used to "sweeten" or "soften" sound- but rather as a tool for the realization of a higher level of accurate sound reproduction.

Svelte Shelves will not "warm over" or "soften" sonic information, but rather increase resolution and detail, including important time domain information, without adding harshness, artificial bass, or "hi-fi" colorations.

The Precision Couplers

Individual Svelte Shelves are usually supplied with 3 Precision Couplers. Made from solid 7075 aircraft alloy aluminum, their purpose is to enhance the performance you may realize with the Svelte Shelf.

Why the couplers?

A major part of our design philosophy is the importance of energy drainage from the component. We have found that, in the majority of cases, good energy drainage is more advantageous than pure isolation per se (please see the Technology section), and this is why we don't call our platforms isolation platforms, but rather "energy absorption platforms." In order to drain (or "damp") the component adequately, it is necessary that there be a good conductive path between the component's chassis and the shelf- which is the reason for the couplers. Use these to contact the bare metal chassis of your component and bypass any rubber or soft feet which may be there. Soft rubber feet are meant more to protect furniture, and, in practice, they tend to "blur" and distort the performance of most components. This is why we prefer to supply couplers with every individual Svelte Shelf (Svelte Speaker Sets are a different story; please see Sveltes With Loudspeakers below). While it isn't necessary to use them in all cases (for instance, if your component already has built-in metal feet or has a flat bottom), we encourage their use if you don't have an alternate "footer" device, such as Symposium Rollerblocks, cones, or other hard footer devices, etc.
For more information on Couplers, click here

The Svelte PLUS

The Svelte Plus is a new, special edition of the Svelte Shelf. It features a double-thickness center foam damping section for double the damping power and isolation at the expense of another one half inch of thickness. Especially recommended for turntables and other front end devices, the Svelte Plus is also an excellent solution under very large loudspeakers as an alternative to the Ultra Platform or Super Plus Platform. Thickness of the Svelte PLUS is 1.125¨ or about 2.9 cm.

Using Sveltes With Loudspeakers

Deployed under loudspeakers, the Svelte really shines. The most dramatic improvement is a lessening of "haze" and congestion, especially in the bass regions. This includes greater overall clarity and "cleaner" bass performance, with faster attack and release of transients. The Svelte achieves this by draining away and dissipating extraneous cabinet vibration, and in most cases, its success in this arena is independent of the speaker's weight, size, or construction. Further, the Svelte is effective across a broad spectrum of loudspeaker types and pricetags, from small bookshelf speakers to multi-thousand dollar floorstanding towers.

Benefits with Existing Speaker Stands

If you already have speaker stands, the Svelte can significantly improve the musicality of your speaker/stand combination when placed between the speaker bottom and the top of the stand. Speakers with short floor stands or dedicated stands will benefit from the Svelte's superior energy dissipation capabilities.

Placement

The Svelte may be used flat on a floor with most carpets, wood floors, concrete, or tile surfaces - even on surfaces which are not perfectly flat, such as on Mexican tile, or floors with slight to moderate surface height variations. Also, Sveltes can be used on top of speakers, in order to dissipate energy from the cabinet, when it's not possible to place the Svelte beneath the speaker. When doing this, make sure the top is inverted so that the "Symposium" logo is facing the cabinet, and also make sure that the Svelte does not protrude beyond the front edge of the speaker cabinet.

"I ordered a set of Svelte Platforms for my speakers after my last email to you and they arrived last Friday. All I can say is that they ought to be compulsory! The sound is more articulate and natural. Smoothness and neutrality are a hard combination to achieve but the platforms do both. I recall Sam Tellig's comments in stereophile about the rollerblocks and I would say that the same applies to the sveltes when placed under speakers."
J. D., Australia

Interactions with critical loudspeaker placement

At only 5/8 inch (1.5 cm) thick, Sveltes cause only a minimal change in tweeter height if the original setup did not use spikes or cones, and virtually no change at all when most spikes are removed and the Svelte is inserted instead of spikes or cones. And, when installed as recommended, a Svelte can actually improve low frequency loudspeaker response smoothness by improving woofer-room coupling.

"I love my Sveltes under the horn speakers… I use them on carpet with a Hornshoppe 'The Horn'… they are 30h by 6w by 8d approx, made of plywood, can't weigh more than 12 Lbs each. They sound great now!"
R. W., New Jersey

I've heard of using cones and spikes - but how can a shelf improve a speaker?

A good way to envisage what's going on with Svelte Speaker Sets beneath floorstanding speakers would be to imagine the circulating mechanical energy in a speaker analogous to the water in a swimming pool, with the idea being to drain this "water" out of the pool as quickly as possible. Spikes provide three or four drainage holes in the bottom of the pool, but a Svelte Shelf is like opening up the entire bottom, which can dump the water out much faster. Much more energy can escape from your speaker's cabinet, and faster. But it doesn't end there. Spikes can provide a path for mechanical energy, but can not dissipate it. The Svelte's design- that is, its top and bottom layers in concert with a high thermal coefficient foam center section- dissipates mechanical energy as heat, eliminating much of it in a harmless form. The results are most evident in the bass regions, where there is less "haze" and "mud." Once this low frequency noise is lessened, the rest of the frequency ranges also benefit - resulting in cleaner, more dynamic mids and highs as well, with less "glare" and harshness.

Can I use them with my existing speaker stands or bases?

Absolutely! Sveltes are very beneficial when placed between the speaker and any type of speaker stand, and will amplify the benefit of any speaker stand by providing superior damping not only to the loudspeaker but also to the speaker stand itself. They even work with small computer speakers on desks!

What size should I get for my speaker?

We've found that it's best to have a Svelte that extends an inch or two beyond the perimeter "footprint" of your speaker, and these work best, but even Sveltes that are smaller than the footprint of the speaker will provide sonic benefit.

What sizes are available?

Svelte Shelves are available in stock sizes of 8x10, 10x12, 10x14, 12x14, 12x22, 18.25x14, 19x14, 19x18, 19x21, or in any custom size required.

Deploying the Svelte under loudspeakers - the how and why

The speaker should be placed flat down onto the Svelte, WITHOUT spikes. While spikes are a useful and effective device, their function, when compared to a full Svelte Shelf, is somewhat limited. This is because the spike is an energy conduit between the speaker's cabinet and its support structure (in most cases, a floor). Excess mechanical energy which exists in the loudspeaker cabinet intermodulates with the action of the loudspeaker diaphragms - and this is true of dynamic or electrostatic speakers. As the cabinet shakes, it also moves the actual diaphragm through its support frame- subtlely blurring and muddying sound quality.

The less extraneous mechanical energy in the speaker's cabinet, the better - all you want to be moving is the speaker's diaphragm - and the speaker frames and their supports should be absolutely solid and unmoving. Unfortunately, this is a virtual impossibility. Even with state of the art loudspeakers with extremely heavy resin-cast cabinets weighing hundreds of pounds, some energy will still be present, and this energy exerts a negative influence upon the speaker's movement. And while it's nearly impossible to completely eliminate this by-product of real speaker drivers in a physical world, it is possible to lessen the amount of energy. Spikes provide a good conduit out of the cabinet - but are rather small conductors. Various manufacturers have approached the problem by combining different metals or even carbon fiber or other materials in an effort to improve performance - but the problem is that, when all is said and done, they're still constrained by the basic spike itself, which is a limited pathway. The full Svelte, placed flat beneath the speaker, acts as a large "heat sink" that achieves the 3 D's of vibration control: Damps, Drains, and Dissipates. Its stainless steel top reduces spurious resonances in the speaker cabinet itself, and the large contact area available can now transfer more energy out of the cabinet, where much of it can be dissipated as heat by the Svelte Shelf.

Want to read more about the technical aspects of the Svelte Shelf? Please click here.