Vibration control. Tube equipment. What's the best way to do it ?

Is it vibrating like a Lanz Bulldog?

I would not bother with vibration isolation unless I knew it was a problem.  I run tubes that are notoriously microphonic--Western Electric 310a and 310b tubes.  I have not had any obvious problems with feedback or other obvious effects of microphonics.  I sat in on a session where a builder was choosing parts for a custom amp and a bunch of us listened to different tubes to be used in the build.  When we were done with making our choices, the builder noted that we had all chosen the most microphonic of the tubes under consideration.  Whether we chose them BECAUSE they were microphonic and we liked the effect, or despite the tubes being microphonic (by chance, or we liked other aspects of the sound), I don't know.  I don't bother with vibration control besides putting the gear on decent shelves; for me that is Symposium Ultra shelves.  

larryi, I don't perceive or hear anything wrong, so I suppose it's alright.

That's interesting regarding choosing most microphonic tubes, you probably chose them despite that.

If you are trying to eliminate/reduce incoming vibrations Maple and spikes aren't the best way to do it. Sorbothane  pucks are much more effective for that purpose. FWIW I've never bought into products which supposedly allow component vibrations to pass thru and reduce problematic vibrations. IMHO it would be too late as the vibrations would have caused their 'damage' before they started the 'drain'. 

Theories abound and this is an old, much discussed, issue, so do your own in- depth research and chose you own poison. :-)

Right. I am just interested in how people approach it. Listening is the key, anyway, as always.

You've done the opposite of isolation.  You have anchored it to the floor, which was the dominant theory--apparently before engineers became audiophiles. 

None of my equipemnt sets on anchors.  Springs are the way to isolate.  Sorbothane or similar are soft couplers, not isolators.  

Townshend and others make engineered solutions.  it is important to match the spring constant to the mass so that your natural frequency (sqrt k/m) is well away from excitation frequencies.  That said, you can for much less money play with a set of nobosound springs. they come with 7 springs each and you can take some out and use them with 7, 6, or 3 to get different spring constants.  they are inexpensive and a fun thing to try.  available on amazon and elsewhere. silver or black.

Jerry

You need to decouple. In my experience, Townshend products are the best/most cost effective.

+1 Springs. I was spiked now I'm bouncy. So much better. 

I use any number of solutions depending on voicing I'm looking for. Mostly I use diy sandboxes made from Baltic Birch plywood, various sized up to 20" height for mass loading of my direct drive turntable, various top plates including various depth aluminum plates with vibration sinks attached via structural glue, wood top plates made from Maple or Baltic Birch. and then a variety of footers including soft/sorbothane type materials, ceramic and stainless steel ball bearings, the Nobsound, Stillpoints, finally I diy custom stands from which I hang equipment via high test fish line. All this sits on a 2" thick fireplace hearth made from concrete on suspended floor supported with jack stands.

sns, what is the difference between Maple and Baltic Birch ? Different sound signature ? I've never used anything but Maple.

I would put a set of Nordost SortKones under the amp. You could borrow from a dealer if you have a relationship, or buy some used and resell if you aren't happy with the result

I am a believer in draining away resonances from the components- and any component, not just tube amps, speakers included, as opposed to attempting to "absorb" it, or convert the resonances into heat. This is the approach Live Vibe takes.

The way to do this properly is to remove the wood, and have the component rest on the cones, which contact the floor. The wood is preventing your cones from doing their job, which is to drain the resonances from the component. The cones effectiveness would improve if you added their coupling discs, but it would improve even more if you had one of their platforms, which come with the cones and coupling discs.

Proof is in the pudding, I have them and they work. I can’t say if they are better than the vibration converted into heat approaches, as I haven’t compared them to HRS, Artensania, or Symposium, but they absolutely clean up the sound, improve clarity and reduce smearing much better than my old Solid Tech reference rack did, which uses the spring isolation method.

As with anything you have to listen and see if you like the improvements. It is possible one’s music is too lean, too clean, and they already have too much separation between instruments, and they may prefer more smearing and muddier bass in their music- it's possible. 

We have different schools of thought here, as expected.

Remove the wood..just put the amp on the cones and leave it on the floor. This is the easiest thing to try. Nordost cones under the amp is not very difficult either.

With my previous SS amp I tried both brass cones and Boston Audio graphite vibration absorbing tune blocks under it. There was no wood, the amp was on the rack shelf. With brass cones it was clearly better.

On the other hand, I use Boston Audio tune blocks under tape deck and coned speakers, and in this case this set up sounds better than just cones.

I use Mapleshade boards and brass cones under everything...great stuff

@inna Maple is a harder wood, more dense, tighter grain than the Baltic Birch, resultant sound is less warm.

There is no single isolation solution, so many variables, combos of all sorts may get one to final voicing and/or max transparency/resolution. Forgot to mention I also use Isoacustics products in certain situations, pretty effective in the warmer realm of voicing. I'd also add no footer as in my hanging via fish line method is the most neutral or voiceless solution, my fav for dacs and cdplayers.

HRS. Although I found the positives varied greatly from component to component. 

sns, I see. It would be interesting to experiment with various woods. Ebony or Brazilian Rosewood isolation platforms anyone ?

@inna You often see speakers and turntables made of various woods, esthetics for speaker I imagine, people report differences with turntables. I'd think there would have to be a pretty wide variation between wood densities to hear a difference.

Maybe one day I'll try these Ansuz Darkz. It certainly seems ridiculous to put $3000 worth of footers under a $3000 component, but under a $30,000 CH Precision pre or amp or an Antipodes Oladra I could justify it. 

Ebony or Brazilian Rosewood isolation platforms anyone ?

I have read glowing reports of Shun Mook Mpingo dots, which is African ebony I believe, just on tops of speakers, and on walls. Haven’t tried it yet.

Here is Jeff from High Water Sound at a show over 10 years ago- see them on the top of the Hornings.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8RV21TwwWDY

I suppose this "tweak" falls beyond the concept of resonance control, and into the topic of acoustics though. 

Mpingo is African Blackwood, rosewood family tree, ebony is a totally different wood. Rosewoods are oily and ebony is not.

With turntables I certainly would imagine a difference. Density is just one element, there is much more to woods differences.

Mpingo is African Blackwood

I see that is the same stuff that clarinets and oboes are made from. Must have some "good vibrations" going on. 

Right. And Brazilian Rosewood is used for high level acoustic guitars.