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Do equipment stands have an impact on electronics?

Mechanical grounding or isolation from vibration has been a hot topic as of late.  Many know from experience that footers, stands and other vibration technologies impact things that vibrate a lot like speakers, subs or even listening rooms (my recent experience with an "Energy room").  The question is does it have merit when it comes to electronics and if so why?  Are there plausible explanations for their effect on electronics or suggested measurement paradigms to document such an effect?
agear
thastum's avatar
thastum
45 posts
 
It matters very much and the higher the level the more it matters.
I have put all electronics on a heavy brick wall (1200kg/m2) and only the speakers are on the groundfloor. The floor is made of 5,5m3 concreet and is floating on 300mm polystyren. By taking the equipment away from the floor the level jumped up at once. After that i experimentet a lot with shelves, haveing diffrent, kinds of quartzsand and led build in the shelves, using birchplywood at lot. I did again help. The idear was that the sand i vibrating and through friktion is turned to heat and away from the equipment.I have also good expirience with ebony both under and also direct on the equipment, inspired by Shunk Moon.
Then all dampingacessories started and after many kond of difrent manufacturs i ended in the Stillpoint line, Universal => Ultra SS=> Ultra 5 where i stand now, the are very good. Even the powerdistributor gains from standing on a Ultra 5. They to reacts very much in relation to what you put under them.
Next step will probaly be the Ultra 6.  Dampingvibration in equipment is a abselute must but also your windows give a lot eve n if you have the special ones with heavy argongass and 4 and 6 mm thick glass.
Nice lisining
audiotomb's avatar
audiotomb
1,112 posts
 
I am a firm advocate for isolation

it has made a large difference in my system

when you get it truly right individual sounds are isolated, transparency enhanced, low level details  and imaging articulated and with no changes in tonality

the electronics are not being stressed by resonance

this occurs in both tube and solid state equipment

where you hear this is in detail and separation of instruments, with no smear and decay in time. There is a strong sense of silence between notes, natural decay and sharp attacks

One way you can hear this nicely is on a full swipe of a pianists hand across the keys or fast articulated playing with distict quick gaps between notes. The notes will sound out distinctly without overlap.

it real is like a veil removed in a time sense
things jump out ar you by their lack of resonace and enhanced separation 

I have found two major products that have taken isolation to a great level in my system.

Silent Running Audio racks and isobases and Daedalus DIDs - Daedalus Isolation Devices footers.  

Silent Running Audio is serious isolation.  I have their Craz rack and a number of their isobase platforms.  Kevin Tellekamp works on contracts dealing with precise control of  resonance with the US nuclear submarines and with other groups including demanding micro level medical applications.  

The Craz rack contains an indo-skeletion of titanium, custom material shelves and is a major investment, but it will make a huge difference and will be the last rack you ever buy. It is a work of art - very substantial..

you can also buy SRA isobases  that go on any rack shelf or on the floor commonly with monoblocks. SRA custom makes each shelf to your specific equipment.  My turntable base was designed around my Gavia Galibier and is a thing of beauty. Everything comes wood crated.

the bases come in three grade levels

http://www.silentrunningaudio.com/home.htm

http://www.silentrunningaudio.com/AudioIsolationReviews/sra_reviews.htm

another isolation device that is garnering great attention is Lou Hinkley at Daedalus DIDs - Daedalus Isolation Devices.  Lou who build's exceptionally crafted hardwood speakers has come up with isolation footers that work very effectively.

http://daedalusaudio.com/DiD.html

I have utilized these on my Billy Bags digital rack and they provide enhanced resolution, transparency and isolation with no changes in tonality.  Lou's comments -  Resonance control is crucial in the design of great speaker systems, and now we have applied that knowledge to isolation devices (footers) for components. These devices utilize dissimilar materials to dissipate resonance coupled with bearings to also isolate the electronic component from vibration. Precision made of highly polished billet Aluminum, solid Cherry and Brass with steel bearings.

   Lou has been effectively bringing these to audio shows and demonstrating their impact by adding them component by component to the system. Then removing as well.  The sonic benefits are very apparent.


oleschool's avatar
oleschool
722 posts
 
Starsound throughout here love it .

mikelavigne
2,200 posts
 

reading through this thread i did not see any mention of 'active isolation'.

passive isolation/decoupling can get the job done in most situations, which was where i was at. then I switched speaker systems to a 2 tower system which was -3db at 7hz and -6db at 3hz. and this bass tower was 6 feet from my turntable. it took me a couple of months to understand that the sudden occurrence of noticeable groove distortion on female vocals, cello's, and other previously wonderful passages was feedback from these massive 750 pound, 7 foot tall bass towers.

so I purchased 2 different Herzan TS active platforms. a TS-150 for my preamp and digital and a TS-140 for my Wave Kinetics NVS turntable. http://http//www.herzan.com/products/active-vibration-control/ts-series.html

since active isolation needs a grounded rack with zero compliance and some mass loading I also switched my rack system to the Adona GTX.

active devices are stiff and very fast. they use piezoelectric sensors and actuators, and sense resonance and compensate for it. and that happens in real time. they are designed primarily for using electron microscopes in laboratory conditions. which happens to be the same job we need done for our electronics. the feedback from music and background hash of reality needs to be eliminated from our reproduction chain so it does not overlay our music.

passive devices settle and overshoot since they are soft. an active device is stiff since they can stop and start. active is 500x stiffer than passive devices. they can attenuate noise down to .5hz. there is a graphical display on the side of the Herzan TS platforms that displays noise in horizontal lines that is being attenuated. if you clap your hands you will see the lines get squiggly and get sensed and compensated for. it's that sensitive. these active devices are built to also auto level. when you turn them on they first level the top platform. after that they just do their thing.

while not cheap to buy, when combined with a modestly priced grounded rack they are not much more costly than the more spendy racks used by many audiophiles and in the context of uber systems they are sensible products. and science and industry proves that they really work.

any system will get a boost with an active shelf since they objectively out-perform any passive device. period. OTOH some systems and specific situations actually 'need' active to solve specific problems like I had.

ive had both my Herzan's for 4 years now and they have been flawless. they bring a level of nuance and solidity to the music in the ultra dynamic system that must be heard to be believed. coherence on musical peaks at warp 9 is outstanding and allows the music to have an ease and authority not otherwise possible. they do require a good foundation ideally; I have 6 inches of concrete as my floor. a suspended wood floor might compromise an active device as it would be continually compensating for the sensed compliance and burn out.

agear OP
1,362 posts
 
Mike, is the impact of active isolation more prominent with your TT (in other words moving parts) versus the dac?
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