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Vibration isolation an issue in a concrete basement

Do I need vibration isolation if the room is seriously stable?  If so what would I try? My listening environment is a nicely finished basement that is 22 X 26 X 8. Concrete floors and 3 of the walls are concrete. There is a mix if gypsum ceiling and suspension ceiling with heavy acoustic tiles. Insulated 2x4 wall construction with gypsum board and thick carpet on the floor. Speakers are spiked thru the carpet. My stereo cab is a very heavy wooden media unit. You can jump up and down on the floor and pound on the walls and no vibration seems to be generated. At least none that that anyone can hear so far.  In my last house the floors were weak and caused problems. Isolation was key. It feels weird not to have any now.  Should I be looking elsewhere for areas to tweak In this house? I have not explored much in the way of  room acoustic treatment yet but I have stuff on order. I'm in love with the sound but always looking for improvements. You all know that addiction I'm sure. Advice is appreciated. 
vinylfan62
dentdog's avatar
dentdog
500 posts
 
Vinylfan62,

Having my system in the basement has presented benefits and challenges. One benefit being the background noise level, or absence of such. While the concrete floor has been covered with hardwood nailed to 3/4" plywood and the walls with sheetrock the reflective nature on the room was still an issue. I will say that Robert's Sistrum Platforms cleared up quite a bit of noise, settled down things if you will.

As Robert mentioned the AC power is a critical factor in good sound. Many ways to skin this cat and after quite a bit of research I have employed isolation transformers. I was able to find a Balanced Power Technologies BPT 3.5 Sig+ for my front end and the result was dramatically evident. I had run six dedicated lines a few years ago and the BPT unit is on one of these. Recently though, I came across an Equi Tech wall unit with enough power to run my amps, ran all the dedicated lines through this. Actually plugged the BPT unit into it as well so the BPT unit has balanced power input as well as output. Dramatic difference. 

I suggest you look into isolation transformers, Torus being probably the best out there at this time regarding component like transformers. . As for wall units, Equi Tech has long term experience. I will say the combo, for me, has been a dramatic improvement in sound quality. Look up "balanced power" in this forum, plenty of info.
ptss
1,964 posts
 
@dentdog. Nice to hear your experience. Would you say how you used BPT unit? Digital? Your experience should educate many of the doubters here.. if they’re hearing/ listening. :)
dentdog's avatar
dentdog
500 posts
 
The BPT unit has two outlets specifically for digital, I only have CD running through this. No other digital. The BPT unit being plugged into it's own dedicated line coming from the EquiTech unit gives two layers of balanced power to the front end. I will say there has been a significant improvement with the NAD M5 CD sound quality. 
Hard to tell if improvement overall is from running the BPT unit in line with the ET unit or the implementation of the ET unit on the amps. The ET unit weighs around 300 lbs but if I move it goes with me. That should tell you something. Since putting the BPT unit in a few years ago made such a dramatic difference the focus in my system has been noise reduction and room treatment. I can't really say others will reap similar benefits. The effect of this is probably increased due to having very high efficiency speakers. Hope this helps someone. The technical advice gained on this site from other posters is largely responsible for the improvements. Thanks to all.







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