Description
Solidair Audio Pylons – Spring suspension upgrade for Gyrodec and Orbe
These Solidair Audio Pylons are a Michell Gyrodec and Orbe spring suspension upgrade. They are designed to replace the springs used to suspend the turntable in the spectacular Michell Gyrodec and Orbe Machines. They are the go to upgrade for these machines, renowned the world over, they give a significant sound quality improvement.
The standard springs are there to isolate the platter from it’s surroundings, they do this but have a few drawbacks. The spring bounce can be a bit annoying, though you get used to it. The main problem is resonance of the undampened springs, which muddies the sound a little in the higher registers. This tends to blur different instruments and vocals into each other.
The Solidair Audio Pylons replace the springs with a less microphonic material and introduce a little high frequency damping. The top and bottom washers are hand turned from African Blackwood, which has excellent acoustic properties. The strings are braided waxed cotton which is very neutral and non-mircophinic.
What you should expect to hear is a more natural sound with significantly improved separation of instruments and vocals. You should hear fine detail that had been previously unnoticed and distinctly hear each different instrument and vocalist.
They are easy fit and don’t change the look of turntable, as they fit inside the aluminium tubes that hide the standard springs. They simply screw onto the standard Michell adjuster posts (not included in the pack as you will already have them). They replace the springs with the different washers on each end. There is no need to take the posts off and risk loosing the ball bearings inside them.
We have a real time video, no great acting sadly, but informative. Please note the Pylons fitted in the video were the first version and look slightly different from the final product as the strings are white.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qr4mJ3_7ejM
The Michell Gyrodec and Orbe spring suspension upgrade Pylons can also be used in conjunction with our Performance Packs for even better results. The Michell turntables have excellent quality bearings, so you can use a heavy puck, like our “Bass Driver” or the Puresound gunmetal platter and not have to make any adjustments.
If you have an early Gyrodec, please look at the images at the bottom of the page.
Some lovely reviews from our customers:
“…the pylons are”something else” beautiful, organic, well made and boy do they do the job. The platter now has a much more solid, positive feel, with no bouncing and the quietness between tracks on a record is scary. Excellent product all round.” RQ
“I love the new pylons for the Gyrodec, they are a big improvement over the original springs. Easy to fit and well made, they stop the deck from bouncing around all over the place when you change a record and they look great too. The sound seems a lot clearer, especially through the mid range, allowing more detail through than before. Vocals seem more real with added texture, the sound as a whole is a step up with the pylons fitted. They certainly work as claimed and I would happily recommend them to any owner of a Gyrodec. Many thanks for introducing yet another way of improving a great deck still further. Well worth the money.” AR
“I Installed the Pylons on My Gyrodec SE and took this opportunity to level The platter, It’s Very easy (“Jeu d’enfant”). The nuts are easy to screw/unscrew. I noticed that the movements of the Gyrodec (Up/Down and Left/Right) are more limited than before, The Gyrodec seems now like a rigid platter. My Gyrodec has now 2 upgrades (Pylons and Isolation feet), and They work in perfect complementarity. The feet give more silent, Tight bass, powerful drums, and they are easy to follow. The Pylons take care of voices, Brass, Guitars whatever Folk, Spanish or electric, everything has a better definition and air around, It is also easy to listen to the choirs at the back of the sound image. The general Dynamic of the music goes up two steps more (impressive Radio K.A.O.S (Roger Waters), Or Eric Clapton Unplugged at the BBC.) The addition of Both upgrades, make my Gyrodec SE more attractive, I should say more Addictive…And it remains at the first place among my sources.” PB
“Easiest upgrade ever. Currently picking my jaw up off the floor. The improvement is ludicrous! Pennies now being saved for leg upgrade!
Thanks for this, I’ll be telling Gyro/Orbe owning friends!” SA
“They are brilliant- almost like I’d installed the springs wrong!” LW
“I installed the Pylons yesterday. And what a change it was! I have been trying out riaa amplifiers lately, quite expensive ones, in the £2500-£3500 range. But whichever I auditioned I never quite found what I was after. But I found it with the pylons, for a tenth of the price! It really tidied up the upper bass from a soft, undefined mass. It made the background quiet and transparent. It was suddenly so easy to pick the different elements in the music, with a much more detailed top, vocals were right in front of me and I was suddenly a part of the music, instead of just observing it from the outside. And not having the player bouncing whenever I touch it is a welcomed bonus.
This is such a great upgrade, that I am quite shocked. Also shocked that Michell is not delivering their players with these instead of the springs. It is simply a new record player – and a much, much better one – with your pylons.” AR
Notes:
All our wood is obtained through sustainable Cites certified suppliers.
The waxed cotton string is very strong, each cord will take over 6Kg. One string will take the full weight of the platter. The 18 strings will take around 125Kg, about 20 stones in weight or about 10 complete turntables. You do not need to worry about the strings failing, they won’t, we guarantee it.
Please note the later model Michell suspension on the left which most models have. (Three parts = Normal Solidair Audio Pylons) The post diameter is about 9.8mm. The post contains a ball bearing.
If you have an early model with suspension that looks the suspension on the right, please let us know as there is a slight difference. (Four parts = early model Solidair Audio Pylons) The post diameter is about 9.4mm. No ball bearing.
melnikovi (verified owner) –
Gives exactly what is promised. A proof that better mechanics always results in better sound. More tight, defined. I have been struggling lot with the jingling aluminium of Michell and the jingling it is gone. Good inventive to rediscover the whole collection.
M. Canale-Parola (verified owner) –
Well, I am astounded. Massive upgrade to sound and security that I never knew was possible. Everything has snapped into even more focus and the clarity of the integration between bass, mid and treble through my spkrs is truly impressive. I was straight on to emailing other friends & owners to try them out. These really are a no brainier. They look absoloutly great and go with my Orbe and as a bonus I can get back to hand cueing. The first day of installing I was still playing LPs at 3am. Thanks to Solidairaudio for these. Loving the sounds through my Cyrus Sig set-up, passive pre, OL Enterprise with Ortofone Cadenza Black. Getting my old Gyro out soon to try these String Pylons on it. Regards and all the best. Mike.
Michael Canale-Parola (verified owner) –
Well, these are a true revelation as suspension system for my Orbe instead of the springs.
Some die-hards that I know don’t believe that these string supports are safe.
Well, I trained in canvas sail making back in the navy in the 60s and I know how tough waxed string can be. One will never pull it apart and it’ll cut through flesh if tried. It is also looped 3 times which will lighten the load on each strand yet multiply the carrying weight allowed per unit.
As a natural fibre it’ll dampen any resonance in the sub platter and because it has no ‘bounce’ it feels a whole lot more secure than springs. Less affected by airborne lower register waves.
If the string was pulled the like a bow or guitar string then I would expect some unwanted lower register resonances to be present. But there are not.
I always admired the SME suspension when it first came out but could never work out how to get enough elastic in such a small space to be supportive enough. Now I know ha ha.
Hopefully my Orbe friends will take notice and try them out as well. I’ll be buying another set for my Michell Gyro that’s stored away since I bought the Orbe some years ago and I’m expecting the same clarification in my system once installed.
I’m using an OL Enterprise arm, Ortofone Cadenza Black. Cyrus phono & 2 x X power amps all with Pxr’s. My pre amp is a Music First passive and all cables are Chord Shawline. My speakers are AAD Silver 5s by Phil Jones. Turntable is wall mounted with 2 Acrylic bases. The lower one is 45mm thick and the one directly under the t/t is 20mm so I have great isolation.
So what I’m hearing from these replacement supports is actually quite astounding. Sound stage is well defined and solid enough to hear when people move away from the mike, the top end has much the same dynamic changes as the mid range with good integration and the bass bloom has finally been tamed a bit further. Good news for my ADD’s which can get a bit unruly at times in that I’m no longer considering selling them for Focal Sopra No 1’s.
Fab product, wish you well with them.
Regards
Mike.
Michael Metcalf (verified owner) –
These pylons have been a truly stunning upgrade for my orbe se .
Thank you Miles
Regards Michael
K Smith –
I purchased both the Solidair Pylons and the Ukishima Gyro Ebony Performance Pack. Both were easy to fit and the performance takes the Gyro SE up to the next level of performance for, what I consider to be, a relatively small investment. Excellent products, excellent performance improvement and Miles is a super chap to do business with.
Adrian Sutton (verified owner) –
Bought the pylons for my Gyro SE along with the aluminium Ukishima performance pack having read the other reviews. I’m a details freak and these simple mods have lifted a veil I didn’t know was there. Discovering loads of new nuances on albums I’ve been playing for years.
Great products and excellent service from Miles.
Thanks.
Kohji MATSUBAYASHI (verified owner) –
Truly value for money.
My 1995 GyroDec (so-called Mk. III) had gradually equipped many upgrade parts since I bought it in 2002 – spring turret upgrade, GyroPower QC (for Papst AC motor) then DC motor, bronze knife edge for SME 3009R, and some more. They all brought enough improvement in sound. But the most recent installation of this Solidair Audio Pylons upgrade gave me another level of superb sound playback. As many other reviewers alreDy mentioned, it surely brings better response and transiency, as well as tighter and more solid/defined soundstage. Many of my favourite albums are reborn with a new life. Again, truly value for money indeed. Highly recomended for all Gyro/Orbe users.
Cleon Tsimbos –
Last month I ordered a set of Solid Air Audio Pylons for my Michell turntable. Packing and postage was excellent and the pylons were delivered in Greece in perfect condition. I would like to thank Miles very much for his support and instructive help.
My set up is Michell Orbe/SME IV/VDH cartridge and after fitting the Solid Air audio pylons the improvement in sound was noticeable. Compared to the original Michell spring suspensions, the Solid Air audio pylons resulted in a more relaxed and articulate sound as well as better soundstage. These Solid Air Michell upgrades are highly recomended.
Brian Rivas –
Thank you very much for the Pylons.
Well, you certainly don’t need a pair of golden ears to appreciate immediately what a remarkable upgrade these are. I gave up Pinewood Music about eight years ago after a quarter of a century dealing at the very high end, and I felt that nothing could really surprise me any more. How wrong I was.
My system has changed considerably from those days into something more humble, but to my ears every bit as musical and immediate. I used to have a Continuuum Criterion with Cobra tonearm (and what a nightmare that could be at times), but now use a Gyrodec SE with Orbe platter and HR power supply which I took in part-ex many years ago and to which I have fitted my old SME V with a Grado Ref Sonata. Speakers are Klipsch Forte 3. Took a chance there, but one that has worked out very well; I love the uncoloured you-are-there performance they deliver. To me, a system also has to have the ability to startle when called upon, and these do.
I had a good sound with the Gyrodec as it was, but the Pylons have added something well beyond my expectation. They lower the noise floor and bring a much greater presence to the music in terms of the mid-range, detail, bass extension and definition, plus greatly improved dynamics. The presentation is more coherent without a trace of smear or overhang and without a doubt brings you closer to the music: everything is cleaner, clearer, and more focused. A lot of after-market add-ons often end up sounding more like hi-fi than music, but this is where the Pylons score: they enhance the emotional intent of the music as well as ticking all the hi-fi boxes.
You’ve done a remarkable job here. The Pylons are beautifully made and presented, are a most cost-effective upgrade, and to my ears should be virtually compulsory for Gyrodec owners.
Tony Green –
The first thing to say, is that the service from SolidaIr audio was first class, I ordered the pylons on Thursday afternoon and they arrived on the Saturday morning. In terms of the pylons themselves, they took about 20 minutes to fit and adjust. In fact, I think it took me longer to get the belt back 0n! Once setup and running however, I was really impressed with the way the sound of any record I played improved; base was tighter and all the instruments seemed to have snapped more into focus, with greater separation between the various elements. Overall, if I’m being honest, I didn’t think that they would make as much difference as they did and they are a really worthwhile upgrade, now for the Performance Pack!