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The return of "Bubble Man"

Yes kids and kiddies, fasten your seat belts for yet another episode of "Bubble Man"
When we last saw our hero he was attempting to wrap the sofa in ‘Bubble Wrap', hoping for yet another layer of inner detail from his trusty stereo. He also discovered a full "Bubble Wrap" body cast provided no sonic benefit to himself, but others in the house felt it better isolated "Bubble Man" from the family.
Turns out "Bubble Man" got carried away, no not to the padded room but with his experiments. After a very complex procedure of lifting the house and placing ‘super industrial mega-wrap' under the footings, hoping to isolate global vibration from the listening room "Bubble Man" realized perfect imaging. Yes, it's all true, but the question remains in the eyes of the neighbors. "Was all this really necessary, and when will he re-build the house?" You see, given all the stress put on his house, the walls fell down, leaving "Bubble Man" sitting in front of speakers with no house around him. Perfect isolation from that nasty global vibration problem and no side wall reflection leaves "Bubble Man" in perfect harmony with his system. Sound stage is immense, imaging and detail enhanced and bass bloat gone! Yes until the next rain storm "Bubble Man" is happy. Stay tuned for the next installment of "Bubble Man and the Popped Bubble" or "A Bubble Bath Gone Bad".

In all seriousness, I wanted to update those of you who were interested in the "Bubble Wrap" experiments and what I have discovered. I have tried a hand full of products and a few flawed DIY projects. I am now using "Air-Cap" manufactured by ‘Sealed-Air' the founders of "Bubble Wrap" brand air wrap. The "Air-Cap" is used for long shipping times and storage. It has an additional layer of nylon used to better hold the air. It comes in standard and anti-static, I chose the anti-static. I had to buy170 feet of 12" wrap in that I could not locate anything other than a bulk supplier, and I had to go with 5/8" bubble rather than the 1". I would need to buy 1000' before I had the option of the 1" bubble. I'm using 12" wide x 15" long sheets between the MDF and Neuance shelves (both 15"x17") so the wrap is not visible, only a space between the two shelves. I've now had it under my 85 lbs amps for three weeks with no sign of air loss. With the standard "Bubble Wrap" I could only get six days before I needed to replace it. The sonic aspects have not changed, and everyone I've talked to who is using Neuance and MDF has experienced the same level of improvement. It sounds as if other shelf products in place of the Neuance has limited success. If anyone is interested in getting some "Air-Cap" I can send you to the supplier, or better yet, sell you some of mine. I think it may take some time to personally use the remaining 160'. If we can eventually get enough of us, we could buy the 1" (a bit better detail) and split it up between us. It's not real expensive, just excessive.
128x128jadem6
7 responses Add your response
jetter
3,033 posts
 
Dear Mr. Bubble Man,
Sometimes even an outside of the dotted lines thinker such as yourself cannot see the solution that even a lowly devoted follower as myself finds obvious. The road to audio nirvana lies not in the thickness of the nylon. You must purchase a syringe and carefully remove the "stock" air from within each bubble and replace with 100% pure oxygen.
rcprince
3,070 posts
 
Actually, Jetter, use helium--it'll promote a lighter presentation, and will also further isolate from vibrations by lifting the shelf off the rack and into mid-air. Plus you can amuse your friends with your funny voice if you inhale any of it.

All kidding aside, it certainly makes sense to isolate with air, if you can, so long as the material holding the air doesn't resonate too badly itself; I don't think the plastic/nylon should really be a problem in this case. JD, for years I used to work on legal matters for Sealed Air (till they hired one of our senior associates as general counsel and took everything in-house). What's the thread where you first talked about the bubble wrap?
jadem6's avatar
jadem6 OP
1,074 posts
 
Rcprince, the first thread was one I started "Free Tweak That Works". It was followed by a thread started by Esoxhntr "Bubble Wrap Revisited"
cdc
1,773 posts
 
Why not stack 2) 5/8" bubble wraps to get 1 1/4" thick "double bubble"? Bubbliscious!
ozfly
887 posts
 
Jade, very nicely written first paragraph -- very funny.

BTW, have you tried this with a lower cost platform than the Neuance shelf -- would something like granite tiles or another wooden shelf do as well if the bubble wrap is the main isolation factor? Thanks.
avguygeorge
2,300 posts
 
Funny stuff JD--BTW the author himself resembles "Babble Man"--jus'kiddin.I have no shame;picking on my friends.
jadem6's avatar
jadem6 OP
1,074 posts
 
Hi Ozfly, I though I'd answer here rather than with my email to you:

I would certainly promote trying as many shelf materials as people can think of and sharing there experiences. The "Bubble Wrap" isolates the material from the rack and allows the shelf it's self to impose only it's own signature to the signal. Stone may prove to be very effective in this situation. The knock on stone and other large mass products was it's absorption of low frequency vibration and the smear it causes when it randomly releases those vibrations. The Neuance is built to absorb and disperse vibration rather than store. In the case of "Bubble Wrap" and stone the storage is minimal vs the rack and floor without the isolation, therefor the sound of the stone alone will transfer. I think that might be a good thing. I'd try stone, glass and tile for starters. I know some success has been had with Corian, it's MDF with MDF that has not worked for people.

Avguygeorge:
It's not nice to pick on guys with large amounts of Cellulose fat. My condition is hard enough without your
ridicule :-)
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