Speaker isolation - marble, granite or slate?

[pwiles1968]

In case it's of interest, check out Audioserenity Isolation feet, £7.95 for 4 on ebay (180409729847).

Sometimes TTs can sound better on wooden platforms....can you get your hands on an off-cut of MDF or even Maple to try.

Good luck

Cno

I have sorbothane feet under the board, in reality the TT is not good enough for me to pick out the sound differences between stands,I had it on wood before and the granite had better vibration damping, did it by feel, put on a Bassy track and touched the board, wood I could feel vibrations coming through rack granite not, I have changed the stand since, but as TT is more nostalgia for occasional use not worth messing, speakers however are.

And I agree with above comment, room acoustics are important but not what wea are talking about put it in a different thread.

 

[CnoEvil]

In case it's of interest, check out Audioserenity Isolation feet, £7.95 for 4 on ebay (180409729847). Sometimes TTs can sound better on wooden platforms....can you get your hands on an off-cut of MDF or even Maple to try. Good luck Cno

I have sorbothane feet under the board, in reality the TT is not good enough for me to pick out the sound differences between stands,I had it on wood before and the granite had better vibration damping, did it by feel, put on a Bassy track and touched the board, wood I could feel vibrations coming through rack granite not, I have changed the stand since, but as TT is more nostalgia for occasional use not worth messing, speakers however are. And I agree with above comment, room acoustics are important but not what wea are talking about put it in a different thread.

The reason for the suggestion was from the thinking, back when TTs were the primary source.
In case it's of interest let me paraphrase from my 1987 hifi mag:

There was a time when people just plonked their TT on a heavy sideboard, this makes it prone to acoustic and structure-born feedback. Now by and large, it is understood that it should be sited on a light, rigid table such as that made by the Sound Organization.

Ironically, wall shelves do not work as well as light tables, probably because, in the case of suspended decks, the wall moves in the axis in which the suspention is least compliant (the floor moves in the direction with which it can cope).

We have discovered that MDF (rather than chipboard) sounds much better on the light table. The sound was less forward and peaky on vocals, bass lines were tighter and more articulate, and general rhythemic push and dynamics were also much improved.

Not all MDF sounded the same so trial and error was needed, and the one that sounded best was then sealed and painted. (It was about 7mm thick).

My TT (a Linn Sondek - now gone) sounded better on a light table made of metal, with a thin wooden MDF top, resting on spikes integrated into the top... I had the Sound Org one mentioned.

Maybe some of this helps.....there was a lot more talk about this back then, as everybody with a system had a TT.

Regards

Cno

 

[RobGardner]

I have got my speakers with spikes resting on Asda granite blocks then under the blocks at each corner is a Sonic Design foam pad specially designed for the job of isolating loud speakers. The blocks cost about £10 each and the foam pads about double that for 8. The bass is now much more focused and controlled, in fact its pretty stunning and the speakers are now working close to optimum. I had to have something under the speakers as the floor is a suspended polished pine floorboard affair so needed cosmetic protection as much as isolation. I have a large slate slab under my hi-fi rack (Partington Minium) and under each corner I have used a 4" square of a composite rubber material I found lying in the road! This has also had a significant effect on the sound. I have also used a square of Hi-max ( a Corian type material) under my speakers resting on Nordost pulsar points which also sounded as good but were not quite as stable as the SD pads.

 

[pwiles1968]

I have got my speakers with spikes resting on Asda granite blocks then under the blocks at each corner is a Sonic Design foam pad specially designed for the job of isolating loud speakers.

Just Looked at the SD website out of curiosity, according to the installation instructions the pads go between the cabinet and the stand I would interpret this as between the granite block and speaker In your case. Have you tried it that way round?