Anyone had negative experiences with isolation?

[admin_exported]

Hi,

I have floating wood floors which transmit bass rather well. I thought of reducing the vibration from the speakers to the components.

I bought some of the small sorbothane 'flatfeet' from ebay to put under my cd player, which resulted in a tad more emotion in my cd's.

Yesterday, some 50mm sorbothane feet arrived (also from ebay). I used these under a sainsbury granite chopping board to make an isolation platform. The result: more defined bass but a splashy treble. Also. the emotion that I gained has left.

I am now playing with:

50mm feet > chopping board > flatfeet > cd.

50mm feet > CD

50mm feet > CD > chopping board on top

Has anyone experienced a negative effect with isolation? What am I doing wrong?

PS I am using an old alphason hifi rack with spikes but think vibration from floor could be affecting components.

PPS For the firs time, the missus agreed with me and could hear the slight nuance in sound. yipee!!!!!

 

[Anonymous]

try putting £2 coins underneath the spikes of the rack ... read somewhere that this works ... if there is a difference, you can use a punch to make a dimple in the centre of the coins where the spikes will rest

 

[chebby]

Use a light, rigid, support for equipment so that there is nowhere for stored mechanical energy to hang around.

Quadraspire do this very well.

Pull your Tablette 8s well away from walls and corners (especially corners) and ensure neither speaker stand is spiked into the same floorboard as the system support/rack. Avoid placing equipment in between the two speakers.

Try placing the Partingtons atop a cement flag each (the garden centre should have plenty of choice).

 

[idc]

I dont think that you are doing anything wrong as the positives and negatives you say are there, could be the other way round for someone else.

The most extreme way of improving isolation is to screw large, short phillips headed screws into the floor and place the spikes ontop of them.

 

[chebby]

dim_span:try putting £2 coins underneath the spikes of the rack ... read somewhere that this works ... if there is a difference, you can use a punch to make a dimple in the centre of the coins where the spikes will rest

2p coins with a self adhesive felt disc attached on the floor side (and centre-punched onthe other side for the spike to positively locate) is a measure to protect nicely finished wooden floors from spikes. I never suggested it as an effective means of isolation.

idc:The most extreme way of improving isolation is to screw large, short phillips headed screws into the floor and place the spikes on top of
them.

That would be better than the coins. So long as the speakers/stands are not on top of the same board(s) the electronics are supported on.

 

[Anonymous]

dim_span:try putting £2 coins underneath the spikes of the rack ... read somewhere that this works ... if there is a difference, you can use a punch to make a dimple in the centre of the coins where the spikes will rest

Thanks for the suggestion. I already have these. No chance of spikes without them. Think of the floor, and my neck!

 

[Anonymous]

chebby:

dim_span:try putting £2 coins underneath the spikes of the rack ... read somewhere that this works ... if there is a difference, you can use a punch to make a dimple in the centre of the coins where the spikes will rest

2p coins with a self adhesive felt disc attached on the floor side (and centre-punched onthe other side for the spike to positively locate) is a measure to protect nicely finished wooden floors from spikes. I never suggested it as an effective means of isolation.

no probs ... but I distinctly remember reading something on a different forum using £2 coins and was about isolation and not about protecting the floor ... I have never needed to try as my floor is concrete

 

[Anonymous]

chebby:
Use a light, rigid, support for equipment so that there is nowhere for stored mechanical energy to hang around.

Quadraspire do this very well.

Pull your Tablette 8s well away from walls and corners (especially corners) and ensure neither speaker stand is spiked into the same floorboard as the system support/rack. Avoid placing equipment in between the two speakers.

Try placing the Partingtons atop a cement flag each (the garden centre should have plenty of choice).

The speakers are about 30cm from back wall and away from side walls. Unfortunately, tv is in between them.

I have been toying with the idea of flags below but have to find some the right size. Thiaman recommended granite on bottom, wood above with sorbothane sheet between. I like the sound of this idea but also heard it can affect the sound of the bass. and there is the problem of finding some the correct size. I have been keeping an eye out for abouut 4 months now.

Lighter platform? mmmmmmh, that could work. Thanks.

 

[chebby]

Yes dim_span, but your suggestion costs almost £16 more than mine .

 

[Anonymous]

Many thanks for the help. I have a feeling the 50mm pads are too big for the weight of the stuff on top. When the cd and board is placed on top, the sorbothane only compresses about 10%.

I'll try the suggestions over the next week and let you know the results.

 

[the record spot]

Isolation platforms - try two bits of MDF, put a bicycle inner tube (not too rigidly infated) in between and secure. See Barry Diament's suggestions (Google it) and take it from there. He's got some interesting ideas around isolation suggestions as well as being a top end mastering engineer. I'd listen to his proposals even if they're not to your preference. He knows what he's talking about, doesn't have a product to peddle and is as wary of snake oil as the rest of us.

 

[Anonymous]

leenorris78:Yesterday, some 50mm sorbothane feet arrived (also from ebay). I used these under a sainsbury granite chopping board to make an isolation platform. The result: more defined bass but a splashy treble. Also. the emotion that I gained has left.This is normal for Sorbothane. It reduces noise, resulting a cleaner and more vivid sound, but it tends to impair a system's rhythmic performance and emotional effect. It's when Sorbothane actually helps, as in your first experiment, that I'm surprised.

As for your question, finding the best way to deal with excessive vibration is always a matter of trial and error, so you're not doing anything wrong. However, my first line of attack would be to try to reduce the vibration reaching the rack in the first place. This can be achieved partly by keeping the rack as far from the speakers as possible and away from points where resonances that are felt through the floor or heard through the air are particularly pronounced. Putting your speaker stands on concrete slabs may also help, by damping the floorboards and providing some isolation from the floor. At least it's easily reversible.

PS idc's suggestion is probably a much better option than concrete slabs but I've never tried it or heard it.

 

[Anonymous]

You also can try some sand bags or metal plate on top of the CD player and polipods under it.
Speakers with spikes you can put on some biger slabs which sit on big polipods. Something like that speakers->spikes->slab->polipod->floor. That will not damage your floor and will be more stable then speakers directly on polipods.

 

[Anonymous]

I have been reading up on Barry's ideas and the design seems logical and great value for money. I will continue to experiment and give his design a go over the next week or two.

Its a shame I didn't read this earlier as I was in lakeside shopping centre, a place I could have bought some marbles and furniture cups. Ply can be cut at school and there is a bike shop round the corner. Dunno what the missus is gonna say. Maybe she'll call the men in white coats ;O)

 

[JoelSim]

leenorris78:
I have been reading up on Barry's ideas and the design seems logical and great value for money. I will continue to experiment and give his design a go over the next week or two.

Its a shame I didn't read this earlier as I was in lakeside shopping centre, a place I could have bought some marbles and furniture cups. Ply can be cut at school and there is a bike shop round the corner. Dunno what the missus is gonna say. Maybe she'll call the men in white coats ;O)

If she's anything like my missus, she'll just sigh heavily and go to bed thinking of Jake Gyllenhaal

 

[Anonymous]

Right, I have bought 2 x 12"inner tubes and placed one under the turntable and one under the cd player. So I have:

Glass shelf > Inner tube > granite plinth > CD player

Glass shelf > Inner tube > MDF > Turntable (my other half was a bit dubious about this as when I walk past my setup the turntable wobbles due to floorboards.

All I can say is the sound is better (to my ears) using this isolation platform than using the sorbothane. Listening to the cd, the bass is more detailed and a little stronger and there is more space around the instruments. The turntable is revealing bore detail with instruments more clear. I like it. The tubes stay.

I have bought some ball bearings and I am now on the lookout for some caster cups. i feel that if I wait a little I can find something better than the caster cups.

This tweak is recommended and will stay.