Description
The Trinity
Solidair Audio can now offer a new and fabulous upgrade for many Michell turntables. We have developed The Trinity, a set of three high end isolation feet for the tonearm. These are essentially very tiny versions of our Dark Star 50 feet. They are identical in proportion, but miniaturized to fit under the Michell turntable tone arm boards. They are a direct replacement for the three black plastic spacers found between the arm board and the chassis. They provide an excellent level of isolation, preventing unwanted vibration from interfering with the stylus.
The change in sound quality The Trinity gives is immediately obvious. If you are familiar with our ground breaking Pylons, the improvements are of a similar order to these. The detail revealed is remarkable. The separation in voices is particularly noticeable, harmonies are distinct and placed. The sound stage becomes very focused, you can almost see where the instruments are. The increase in the width of the sound stage is also impressive, these feet unleash the full potential of your tonearm setup. “..the instrument separation and clarity is astounding.”
The feet are made from African Blackwood, known for it’s fabulous acoustic properties as well as being “the most expensive wood in the world”. The centre portion is a woven carbon fibre tube and a web of high performance carbon based thread. The bolts are stainless steel and with a high build quality, they are made to last. They also compliment our other performance upgrades to give a sound quality only found in seriously expensive turntables, yet the beautiful looks of the Michell turntables are virtually unchanged.
They are easy to fit and the turntable requires no permanent changes. The height of the feet is now the same as the spacers under the Rega arm boards. You are unlikely to need to change the tonearm settings for Rega compatible tonearms. You will need to lower the tonearm if you have an SME setup, but this should not be a difficult job. The packaging that The Trinity comes in can be used to store the standard parts that have been taken off. The standard earth strap will need to be unscrewed from the arm board as it is too close to the spacers. The Trinity feet are are a little larger in diameter than the standard spacers and the earth wire securing screw is just a bit too close for comfortable fitment.
If you have the Rega fitment arm board with 1/2″ (12.7mm) spacers it should be more or less a straight swap. The standard earth strap will need to be removed and replaced with the one supplied. The top end has a bullet connector which inserts into one of the 4mm arm board holes.
Please note that if you have an SME arm board, the spacers may be 12.7 or 10mm so please check and select accordingly. The screws supplied will be shorter than the Rega fitment. The standard earth strap can be used with a nut we supply to screw the top end onto one of the M3 mounting screws. If you would rather have the 10mm height trinity for your SME add a note at checkout or email miles@solidairaudio.com.
The spacers for Michell T2 are shorter (10mm) than the Rega (12.7mm – 1/2″) which may suit other setups also. (see the Note below)
If you can put up with me for ten minutes, there is a video on The Trinity (Rega) instillation here: https://youtu.be/78gFznt1uO0
Important Note: The length of the screws is very important. The Rega arm board is 7/8″ (22mm) thick, the SME one is 1/2″ (13mm) so need different screws. If you have a different arm board from these two, select “other” and please measure it’s thickness and add that in the notes section, so we can provide the correct length of screws. It is necessary that the screws do not go more than 4mm into the tops of the Trinity feet – a gauge is supplied to check this.
Please note :
All our wood is obtained through sustainable Cites certified suppliers.
The Trinity price is for three Dark Star feet, three fixing bolts in black or silver and a new earth strap (Rega)/securing nut (SME).
Michael Metcalf (verified owner) –
The solid air video is a little confusing as it says raises the arm less one mm .On my sme armboard it was approximately 11 mm .so after a few hours lowering the sme v reacheaving 92 degrees sra and dialing everything else in I was ready to listen. After a few records my reaction was this is not possible, the upgrade was that massive. For the price it’s made my turntable sound like a one costing a king’s ransom. Miles you are a superstar.
Andrew Reay (verified owner) –
I have finally managed to get some time to sit and listen. Initially you don’t seem to notice what the Trinity are doing, but it quickly becomes apparent that the sound is more together and you can hear the different lines/instruments in a song much more clearly. I noticed this about half way through the opening track I played – Gimme Shelter on the Let it Bleed LP, one of my favourite Stones albums. The guitars come through more clearly and individually allowing you to follow each line. Similarly, back ground vocals come more to the fore and the song as whole just gels even better.
Across the other tracks on the album you can hear further into the mix and are able to pick out details that have always existed but been ‘hidden’ by the feedback from the Gyro into the tonearm. The Trinity clearly stops this interference, allowing the sound to come through much more cleanly resulting in the revealing of a significant amount of micro detail not heard before.
Even with a deck as revealing as the Gyro, it’s impressive how much more performance not only this product, but in conjunction with the performance pack and pylons can wring out of it.
Miles, they are an excellent addition to any Gyro and I hope you sell many of them. Thank you again for helping us audio lovers get a step closer to the Audio Nirvana we all search for.
Neville Octon (verified owner) –
It took 10 minutes to fit the Trinity to my SME arm board and another hour to reset my SME IV tone arm. The problem I encountered was that the Trinity were 2-3mm shorter than the original spacers under my arm board. However, once all set up again I started to play some favourite LP’s and at first I noticed how much quieter things seamed, It may sound strange but I had to turn up the volume a tad to hear the quieter pieces of music and then I noticed the detail. Instrument’s sounded better with more detail and clarity to them, you can pick out each instrument and vocals with ease, and in between the tracks its very dark and quiet. Its like the music is more three dimensional with greater presence and solidity. I’ve had my Gyrodec SE for 20 years and my SME IV for 10 years and I’m onto my 3rd Ortofon Cadenza Black cartridge using the IV and I thought I new the Cadenza black very well but in all honesty, its like I’ve had a cartridge upgrade because it sounds so much better. I thought the Dark Star suspension was a revelation for the Gyrodec SE but these things are amazing. Once again I’d like to thank Miles for his dedication to the cause and for bringing us these little marvels and to say to anyone with a Michell gyrodec or Orbe, you really need to get a set of the Trinity arm board suspension as they are really rather special.