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
Agear wrote,

"You have not missed anything since that point has been obfuscated and thus my attempt to refocus the thread. Seismic juju is a red herring as is discussion of speakers, etc. Does vibration of any form effect electrical performance in electronics and why? Sheldrake and his magic carpet ride of morphic resonance is not an acceptable answer. Someone can start another thread on mysticism and audio or religion and audio and what belief structures facilitate joy in audio. Are we trying to enter into the holy of holies through music, etc. That would be interesting but back to the subject at hand."

Something’s being obfuscated all right and someone’s apparently having trouble following the discussion or attempting to manhandle the discussion (and it’s not Dave). The whole side discussion about Morphic resonance was separate from any discussion about mechanical vibration, seismic vibration, equipment influence on electonics or vibration isolation or LIGO for that matter. And I think you probably know it. Guess what that makes you? Youuuu know... Pop quiz: (multiple choice) a botanist, b theoretical physicist, c genetic researcher, d troll.
agear OP
1,221 posts
11-03-2016 1:25am
Geoffkait: LIGO has the world’s greatest experts on vibration isolation.

"Invite them to this thread to educate us....or conduct a video interview."

Hahahaha. I hate to judge before all the facts are in but you are apparently immune from education. You know, when you post an OP with an "innocent question" then refuse to accept any answer, that makes you a _________ (fill in the blank). I suppose it would have helped if your 14 years in school and training had included some, just a little, basic physics. The concepts are not really that difficult. The LIGO isolation took 20 years to develop to the point the background noise could be reduced enough so that a gravity wave with amplitude of the diameter of a neutron could be differentiated from seismic noise, which has frequencies in the same range as the gravity waves. Hel-loo!

agear OP wrote,

Geoffkait: Actually that’s not true. But that’s what a troll would say. Maybe time to head to the library, eh? Of you’re looking for data you need look no further than the fact more than 10,000 audiophiles have purchased Vibraplane isolation. Oh, wait I almost forgot. You’re a skeptic that cannot be convinced of anything. You probably think it’s paranormal or group hypnosis. To be so skeptical about vibration isolation, you know, 20 years after the introduction of vitbration isolation to audiophiles doesn’t really reflect well on your progress in this hobby. You call yourself Ag Ear but can you even hear?

to which agear replied,

"That’s not proof of concept. Since you cannot generate a valid argument or data, maybe having just one of the 10,000 philes chime in on their experiences. We have heard your jingles one too many times."

I never said it was proof of concept. I said it was evidence that vibration isolation improves the sound. That's what your trollish OP is asking! right? Apparently you haven’t been paying *enough* attention to my jingles. Maybe you should change your moniker to Sn ear or Sn horn. ;-)

Geoff 

Your saying your springs do not rotate or twist on their vertical axis, more so when they are longer? Your saying your springs don't have a variable rate of rise and decay time in relation to the amount of force applied? If they do then they are in motion .Your saying your springs are immune to the  rotational forces of some wave types? The soft spongy materials are only iceing on the layered cake ..the spring being as stable as a layer cake. Anything resting on either of these two transient surfaces will be in motion. Tom Star Sound
Tom at Star Sound wrote,

"Geoff, Your saying your springs do not rotate or twist on their vertical axis, more so when they are longer?"

No, I’m not saying that. I’m saying that depending on the number of springs and the spring rate and load they can twist around the vertical. But since multiple springs are generally used the resistance to twist is increased according to the number of springs, so for 3 or 4 springs the resistance to twist is great. My original Nimbus sub Hertz iso decide was relatively free to move in the twist direction as well as the two other rotational directions since it employed a single spring. Recall I just got through saying isolation is proportional to the ease of motion in a direction of interest. And when the component does move it is constrained to move at only one frequency - the resonant frequency of the isolating device. The low pass filter disallows motion in other frequencies, except for the ones below the Fr.

Tom also wrote,

"Your saying your springs don’t have a variable rate of rise and decay time in relation to the amount of force applied? If they do then they are in motion.

I’m not saying the springs don’t move. Of course they move. Hel-loo!

To which Tom added,

"Your saying your springs are immune to the rotational forces of some wave types? The soft spongy materials are only iceing on the layered cake ..the spring being as stable as a layer cake. Anything resting on either of these two transient surfaces will be in motion."

I’m not saying the springs are immune to rotational forces. As I said above it defends on how much lateral support the spring(s) provide. Usually multiple springs mean lots of lateral support thus less isolation in the twist OR other toe rotational directions. That what the degrees of freedom indicates. Most iso systems one sees around are not the full 6 degrees of freedom type, while are more technically challenging. The isolation that springs provide to rotational forces obey the same physical laws as they do for isolating in the vertical direction - they act as low pass mechanical filters. That’s precisely why I mentioned yesterday that mixing different types of iso devices can be rewarding in terms of performance. For example, springs (vertical) plus roller bearing assemblies (twist and rock and roll and some horizontal). So if it’s isolation in the twist or other rotational directions that floats your boat as it were then maybe just use roller bearing assemblies. My original Nimbus could move easily in the twist direction because it employed only a single air spring so it did not have much lateral support, which is both a problem for supporting higher loads and a bonus since the twist isolation is improved over conventional multiple air spring designs. The geometry of my air spring was also superior to the air bladders generally employed by iso devices.

To summarize my answer, the isolation is provided by the ability to move. If the component is resting on a stable solid base (no isolation) it will still move along with the floor and the shaking all over motion the house is forced into by seismic forces, including Earth crust motion (microseisms).

Cheers,

Geoff Kait
Machina Dynamica
"give me a string enough spring and I’ll isolate the world"