Isolation Feet - A question for Andrew Everard??

[Davo2008]

Hi!

Andrew, I know you have more of a background in the HiFi world so probably have a bit more experience with these. I can see where they might be useful with delicate turntables and the like, but the question - is there a place for isolation feet in Home Cinema, or is it sales mumbo jumbo??! Is it possible to change the audio characteristcs of your surround sound, simply by putting foam feet on your player/receiver??! Or is it a case of "there's one born every minute..."?!

 

[Andrew Everard]

It's entirely dependent on where your equipment is placed, what kind of support it's on, the design of the feet and so on. There's more to it than just 'foam feet', and of course how much effect such additional isolation will have will also depend on how much effort has gone into such isolation within the product, and how susceptible the internal components are to interference caused by vibration.

Simple answer? Cut some squash balls in half and place them under your kit, to find out for yourself whether you think it helps.

 

[Davo2008]

That's a brilliant idea! I have some at home so I'll try that over the weekend at report back! Thanks!

 

[Andrew Everard]

It's arguable that there may be greater benefits in an AV system, given that levels generally tend to be higher, there's usually more bass - courtesy of that sub thundering away - and the optics required to read a DVD or Blu-ray disc are even more demanding than those used in CD players, as the 'pits' and 'lands' on the discs are so much smaller to cram all the data in.

 

[Davo2008]

So if I had a regular cabinet with Oppo BDP-83 and Onkyo 876, (and 2 squash balls), would one benefit more than the other? Both I think, have fairly good isolation already, but you're correct about the volumes. I sometimes have movies incredibly loud - the benefit of living in the country!

 

[Andrew Everard]

I suspect that if anything's going to benefit, it would be the Blu-ray player

 

[Davo2008]

This is very interesting. Have you personally experienced a change in audio characteristics due to the addition of isolation feet? I'm quite surprised that there isn't more information about it as it seems like a very inexpensive way to get a potentially significant upgrade?! It's certainly worth cutting a couple of squash balls in half! I'll definitely let you know how it goes!

 

[Andrew Everard]

It's not something I've tried with those specific components.

 

[Ronald Archiebald]

Andrew Everard:It's not something I've tried with those specific components.

Have you tried these with your own components at home?

 

[Davo2008]

Good question, Ronald! These things are available for a few quid! I can certainly get the gist of the science behind it and it sounds reasonable that vibration would have an effect on the sound, although whether there would ever be enough is another question. But it's one of the cheaper placebos available in the home cinema market anyway!

 

[Ronald Archiebald]

Davo2008,

I have tried the small oak cone feet from Russ Andrews on both my hi-fi and av equipment, and to me, the differences were marginal - at best.

In my opinion, a good quality hi-fi or av equipment rack should be sufficient to derive the best performance from your equipment.

Ronald

 

[Davo2008]

Ah, but I have a distressed pine AV unit, not a high-tec AV rack, so the thought of spending a tenner is far more appealing than the thought of buying a rack that would almost certainly get me evicted from home by my wife!

 

[Ronald Archiebald]

Davo2008:Ah, but I have a distressed pine AV unit, not a high-tec AV rack, so the thought of spending a tenner is far more appealing than the thought of buying a rack that would almost certainly get me evicted from home by my wife!

Yes, I agree

 

[Andrew Everard]

Ronald Archiebald:Have you tried these with your own components at home?

Not with my current components, no. Did try some Audioquest sorbothane feet many years back, which worked rather well with the CD player I was using at the time, but I really can't recall which player it was.

 

[Anonymous]

I'm not convinced by isolation feet on kit in general (although my amp has a nice 10kg steel plate on the bottom for stability ...) - but I did notice a BIG difference when I put sorbop feet on the bottom of my centre speaker which is "sat" on a shelf/firepace - noticeably better

just in case you hadn't considered the centre speaker

 

[Anonymous]

If have a trouble detect difference by ear - try to put on AV rack a glass with water. At least you will see quite clear what is going on, maybe a simple walking around a room will give a bigger problems with vibration than sound.

 

[Anonymous]

agreed - but other than for devices that use optical media

does that vibration actually affect the output sound ? you could probably jiggle an amp in the air whillst on (not recommended) and still get no difference on its outputs

 

[Andrew Everard]

Depends how the circuitboards are mounted: vibrational energy can have a noticeable effect on sound, which is why some designers opt for compliant mounting, while others go for the damping factor of sheer mass.