Vibration Control


Why do solid state audio electronics with no moving parts need or benefit from vibration control? 
 

It makes perfect sense that turntables, CD transports, R2R tape decks, loudspeakers & tubed electronics (w/ potentially micro phonic tubes) might all benefit from various methods of vibration control or mitigation but I don’t see why anything else would. Any thoughts??

jonwolfpell

Isn’t this as simple as "the piezoelectric effect works in both directions"? If you pump enough wattage through a dummy load (large resisters), they will play music at a very low volume. That effect is small, but multiply it by all the components in your chain. I believe this may be important in a high end system, but it’s the last thing on my list to dive deeply into because it’s complicated and requires a lot of trial and error and a good system. And microphonics are another reason I avoid tubes. I just bought my first Shatki Air Stone and liked it enough to buy another. Some of it’s effect may be mechanical since it’s heavy like a small stone and has a rubber coupling mat on the bottom. There’s enough reviewers agreeing on the importance of vibration control and tuning that it seems worth a little trial and error. The Cable Company has served me well recently and they have a wide variety of products.

I loved the AI quote, here’s another one from Claude 3.5, aren’t all conductors crystals a sort of crystal? Also think about the clock crystals in your digital gear.

DM- is the piezoelectric effect different from magnetic induced emf?
Yes, the piezoelectric effect is different from magnetically induced EMF (electromotive force). Let me briefly explain each:
  1. Piezoelectric effect:
  • Occurs in certain materials, typically crystals or ceramics
  • Mechanical stress or pressure produces an electric charge
  • Works in reverse too - applying an electric field causes mechanical deformation
  • Does not involve magnetic fields
  1. Magnetically induced EMF:
  • Based on Faraday’s law of electromagnetic induction
  • Changing magnetic field induces a voltage in a conductor
  • Commonly used in electrical generators and transformers
  • Involves magnetic fields and their interaction with conductors

The key difference is that piezoelectric effect converts mechanical energy directly to electrical energy (or vice versa) without involving magnetism, while magnetically induced EMF involves changing magnetic fields to generate electricity.

"In General solid state circuits are not effected by acoustic vibration."  You have been misinformed

I saw a demo at AXPONA years ago with a company selling antivibration products and platforms. They had an A/B switch of some kind hooked up that let you do comparisons. This was not a demo of turntables. I was shocked that I did actually hear a difference. Was the difference better? I wasn't sure and this was listening to headphones. I do know these products do make a difference in solid state products but to what degree I don't know. I would imagine it would be entirely system dependent. It would be entirely up to the individuals to decide if it was worth the money, but it does impact sound!

I am a believer in resonance control thru the use of mechanical grounding. I do this in my own products offered for cello and bass and as product adviser for the predecessor and the now retitled Live Vibe Audio.

A few yrs ago after reconfiguring my Altmann DAC assembling a 12 chip DAC tower on a separate board it required a even larger 12 volt battery around 40 pounds. I used this set up for a few months. I am forever experimenting and decided to place the battery on a LiveVibe platform that was just alone in a corner.

I placed the heavyweight battery on the brass coupling discs and then the battery on top of this assembly. The battery is a totally passive device though one with a chemical reaction.

There was an improvement in sound of my system with the sleepy battery at slumber on top of the platform.

 

TomD