Twenty-five years ago, even before starting Mapleshade Studio, I jumped into my first high end design project: upgrading the legendary Maplenoll Turntable for air-bearing pioneer Bob Dilger. In 2007, with my love of collecting LPs and transforming turntables undiminished, I’ve come full circle.
My new Phonophile product family consists of upgrades that dramatically improve the sound of LPs. In addition to our acclaimed and often-imitated maple platform suspension and brass coupling system, I’ve designed five radically-new products I guarantee will yield great results. Two of them, our all-new approach to mounting records and mounting cartridges, are the direct outgrowth of Mapleshade’s 20 years of cutting edge vibration control R&D. Our steam-based record cleaning system is audibly more effective (and affordable!) than widely-touted megabuck machines. The last, our high-tech static draining record brush, comes right out of the R&D for our very successful Ionoclast static neutalizer.
*Our Nanomount Systems are not orderable through our website. For more specific product info on our Nanomount system please click here.
The Soundsmith SMMC-3 phono cartridge is the most enjoyable cartridge I have ever used. The high and low end extensions are not only better than I have experienced but, have a far more natural and realistic sound. With everything I play I am hearing things anew, this is what vinyl is all about. – Tom
I bought the Soundsmith SMMC-2 cartridge. I am using it on my Thorens 160 with a 250 Rega tonearm, with an uprade to that too. Wow, that was the first time I heard vinyl that good. It has a wide soundstage and a lot of detail you don't get from a CD. If you want the real stuff, go analog and tube. Great stuff, thanks Pierre for your help. – Kevin
Do not wait another minute (after) reading this comment. You should be enjoying your LPs on your old faithful turntable. If your not enjoying the music and your tired of trying one more tweak with minimal results and a maximum outlay of cash, then you owe it to yourself this last endulgence. I am speaking of Mapleshade's Record Coupling System and Nanomount System. It's all about vibration. These guys at Mapleshade are not messing around here, this is a serious upgrade. You must direct the vibrational energy away from the platter and LP surface you must also DRAIN the energy efficiently away from the cartidge and tone arm. Imagine the beautiful fountains in Italy with all the beautiful sculpture inherent in their design. Now what would happen if suddenly the fountain drains plugged up and the pumps went into overdrive. So much for beauty and design in the sculpture, totally awash in water and spray. Its what happens to your music, it becomes totally awash in unwanted vibration and the energy being generated at the stylus groove interface becomes muddled. This system works so beautifully you will not believe your ears. Thank you so much Mapleshade, rebels of the audio world, for such a great and effective audio product! – Michael
Pierre and Eldon have yet another winner. I thought my 2K machine was doing a great job at record cleaning; especially since I was using a two-stage process. NOT! Records with rolled off highs I dismissed as either "wear", bad engineering or middle-aged high frequency loss. The Deep-Cleaning System restores these highs with jaw dropping, OMG clarity. My Scoutmaster Sig.(with Mapleshade feet!) will be getting more play time. Although my 6K digital front end (more Mshade feet) sounds pretty good, ANALOG RULES!!!
I also use the Nuance tracking force scale. I was using another brand that cost more. Resetting my cartridge with the Nuance was an audibly significant improvement.
A Soundsmith cartridge is on my wish list! – Mark in Chicagoland
I have a record collection dating back to the 1950s and have used a VPI vacuum cleaner on all my records for the past 25 years. The records sounded better after each VPI wash.
I recently aquired your Phonophile Deep Cleaning System and was astounded at the improvement after steaming my allegedly clean discs. The sound was more dimensional, instruments were more lifelike. That subliminal artificial edge on violins was gone.
Wow, what have I missed all these years.
90% of my collection could be called mint; very few were bought used. Since I had read many articles about the initial mold compound that's transferred to LPs and is almost a permanent artifact, I omitted the use of the Scuzzbuster as a pre-cleaner. I decided to experiment. I took the previously steamed records and used the Scuzzbuster Pre-Cleaner and went through the process of steam cleaning all over (the whole nine yards).
Result: I could not believe my ears. I thought I was listening to master tapes (I have owned hundreds of master tapes previously). The piano had the impact of a real instrument with all the attendant reverb and dimensionality.
Fifty-five year old monaural LPs of the famous Budapest Quartet had the impact of live intruments with stunning string tone. Finally, after half a century, I could recognize the famed Stradivarius sound.
Am I dreaming?? If I am, don't wake me. — Sydney
Do not wait another minute (after) reading this comment. You should be enjoying your LPs on your old faithful turntable. If your not enjoying the music and your tired of trying one more tweak with minimal results and a maximum outlay of cash, then you owe it to yourself this last endulgence. I am speaking of Mapleshade's Record Coupling System and Nanomount System. It's all about vibration. These guys at Mapleshade are not messing around here, this is a serious upgrade. You must direct the vibrational energy away from the platter and LP surface you must also DRAIN the energy efficiently away from the cartidge and tone arm. Imagine the beautiful fountains in Italy with all the beautiful sculpture inherent in their design. Now what would happen if suddenly the fountain drains plugged up and the pumps went into overdrive. So much for beauty and design in the sculpture, totally awash in water and spray. Its what happens to your music, it becomes totally awash in unwanted vibration and the energy being generated at the stylus groove interface becomes muddled. This system works so beautifully you will not believe your ears. Thank you so much Mapleshade, rebels of the audio world, for such a great and effective audio product! – Michael
Just got the new Nanomounts package from Mapleshade installed on my tonearm. The $95 package includes a set of 4 very thin plastic washers with very tiny brass "footers" for placing on the screws that mount the tonearm to the table to better isolate the tonearm from the table.
Also included is a larger plastic washer with brass footers custom sized for your specific tonearm/cartridge set-up. (In my case the VPI Super Scoutmaster with JMW-9 signature tonearm and Shelter 9000 cartridge.) This larger washer is placed between the tonearm and the cartridge to better isolate the cartridge.
I must confess the washers look incredible flimsy and super-tweeky to no end. But Mapleshades powercords and cables look similarly flimsy and not so impressive to me but have yielded remarkable improvements for my system in the past.
In my case there are three wood screws that mount the VPI tonearm to the table. Removing them was a fairly simple affair. I first tried just the Nanomount washers here to check the improvements. Without a doubt the dynamics improved and the sound became much clearer, especially the highs. Cymbals were remarkably sharp and realistic. Piano tone improved quite nicely. I did not change my VTA, VTF, etc. as advised by Pierre of Mapleshade.
So far so very good. Next I tried the larger nanomount on the cartridge/tonearm mount. Pierre includes brass mounting screws sized specifically for your choice of cartridge and even some crazy glue in case the nanomount brass footers need to re-positioned for better contact with the tonearm. Of course mine needed to be re-positioned. It is rather tedious for my 41 year old fingers and eyes due to the thin washer and the very tiny brass footers but with time and patience all was well.
Most importantly Pierre urges the user not to tighten the brass mounting screws too tightly but just enough to snug in order to not to offset the gains of the Nanomount system at the tonearm.
Finally getting the Nanomount washer in place between my cartridge and tonearm and readjusting my cartridge for proper alignment I was ready to listen at last. Again no change in VTA but I did of course reset my VTF and azimuth.
Holy COW! And Holy Hog! as we say down south. I have never heard my system sound so stunning. At last I could hear pure music, real instruments, real voices in my room. So clear, so pure. Grade-A organic fresh from the farm. Easily the most bang for my buck I've ever spent on my system. Well worth the modest cost and the time to install.
The larger Nanomount really puts a shine to the music. I will avoid going into all the cliches because the Nanomount system is well beyond the usual Hi-Fi snake oil improvement. No exaggeration needed. No hype necessary.
As a fairly new convert to the joys (and pains) of vinyl I can heartily recommend this upgrade if you really want to get the best out of your vinyl. Whether you have a entry level or especially if you own a higher end system the improvements here are definite and substantial. No slight lifting of the veil. No slightly tighter bass. But a real and substantial improvement. The music just flows effortlessly as it was meant to be heard. Real dramatic dynamics but also real silence. Background is eerily quiet letting the music come to life at last.
Try it out yourself. With the 30-day guarantee you have very little to lose and a lot of beautiful music to gain. – David
