Rotarius, I could round up specific or anecdotal material to answer your question but I wouldn't be doing you any favors. I recommend you visit as many sites as you can to garner the information you desire. I can tell you that Symposium and HRS both address - to a lesser or greater extent - their engineering and manufacturing philosophies. Both describe or define basic acoustic law, i.e., basic physics. Most mfr's will tell you what energy dissipation issues their products will address, but rarely do they tell you "how," other than in the most basic language. Obviously, you can google a lot of information regarding airborne or structure-borne vibration. But the best technical/copy writer will not be able to impart to you the true value of any isolation device as well as practical experience will. Systems can be similar but sonically dissimilar so that drawing an mutual conclusion is, essentially, foolhardy.
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Islandear, I totally agree with what you are saying, you cannot quantify the sonic changes with these products. However, you can very easily quantify if X product can indeed damp or dissipate vibration. You may not like the sonic result of a properly damped component. However, if a manufacturer tells you his product kills unwanted vibration, I want to know how. Where is the proof that a brass cone can "drain" vibration? That would certainly be very interesting to me. |
Rotarius, most manufacturers do provide data on their websites - though generally not in quantifiable terms. Some Agoner's systems are so sensitive that even slipping a piece of paper under an oem footer will produce a detectable difference - if the listener has sensitive ears. There are also the suggestibility and predisposition factors. So, even if measured data was presented online it would provide very little information that could be directly applied to one's own system. That's why A/Bing in your own system is the ultimate test. Having said that, anyone interested in learning about isolation, damping or draining of unwanted energy can visit the websites at Symposium, Silent Running, Townsend, MIB, Halcyonics...whatever...to help determine which approach might be the most effective - or pertinent - in improving the sonics of your chain. Be advised that there are many imitators in the marketplace who will attempt to play off a successful device by altering the structure or resource material in an attempt to circumvent a protected design (or to spend as little $ as possible in the mfr'ing process!). Further, I doubt that many DIY isolation devices - if any at all - will be as efficacious as those whose manufacturers have been trumpeted here on Agon. Despite claims to the contrary, you will get what you pay for with these tweaks - but you have to hear them in your system (employed in the fashion for which they were designed) before you can draw any serious conclusion. |
Gosthouse, the real trick is to determine how much your isolator has to compress for a particular weight it carries and you have to prevent horizontal front-to-back or side-to-side movement. An enclosed air bladder may provide real amd measurable vibration control. All I can say to everyone on here is make sure the seller supplies you with measured data to substantiate the claims as it can be done easily and without a lot of expense. |
I've been an isolation freak for about 15 years. Started with solid oak planking and then maple cutting boards before Peter Bizlewicz got one of his early proto's into my system. Since then, I've had the chance to listen to most of the usual suspects in my system. I remain an ardent employer of Symposium - I have Ultras under my components and my speakers; Roller Blocks under my AA and my BAT amp. Now I'm waiting for Symposium to bring their new Series 3 to market. This will be akin to another component upgrade but I have heard the prototypes under Wavac and Jadis amplifiers - not to mention an Audiomodded 777, and the results are extraordinary. These are expensive products and, unfortunately, there are few US dealers - most of whom neither know the products, much less how to effectively demo them - so your best best is to travel to RMAF or CES to hear for yourself. All of my cdps - Meridian 506.24, 508.24 and 588, and my AA Cap Mk II - have greatly benefited from isolation and damping. |
I use finite elemente ceraballs. I used BDR, DH cones and some other staff. You can't even compare the ceraballs with the others.... They are so much better and brought a very significant improvment to my system. The difference is bigger then replacing cables. Especially clarity, ambience and stage is a jaw dropping improvment. I use rack from the same manufacturer , Pagode Signature. But it didn't brought as much goodie as the feet. I highly recommend them to try. |
If you read my post that is how i isolate the transport part of my CD player. I took a cigar box and filled it full of sifted sand. I then cut the lid so it sits on top of the sand but is a 1/4 inch from the edges of the box and placed my dual mono outboard power supply on it. I then placed a VPI magic brick on top of the power supply. I use this for my second system since I just purchased a Sony/Modwright player. Haven't had a chance to size up this player yet but will come up with something. Total cost of isolation = 80.00 dollars. |
As a complete tweak freak, I have tried most everything I know of. Today I use titanium cones on Aurios pros. These sit on Neuance shelf that is suspended on bubble wrap that then sits on an aluminum shelf. This then sits on a series of Mana racks. The racks sit on sandstone slabs decoupled from the floor with Aurios pres, tungsten balls and Black Diamond Racing "Those Things" (Carbon fiber squares) If you are interested in the philosophy behind this you can read it in my virtual system isolation post. Isolation pilosophy If you think I'm crazy... your right! jd |
I use German Acoustic tonecones. I put three in a pyramid configuration on the bottom and on top 1 on each corner of the CD player with the spike up.I then tighten each cone until the spike is going into the componenet shelf above the one it is sitting on and I use a level bubble to make sure it's dead nut level. I've done this with most of my components and it works like a charm. |