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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
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geoffkait's avatar
geoffkait
23,365 posts
 
theaudiotweak
1,396 posts
11-04-2016 11:07am
Geoff you are offensive. You called me a monkey and dense.

As I stated a spring is never in a static state even when loaded. Your example of saying a spring is self leveling proves they can never reach the level of stasis. Springs will rotate when in motion as they have poor rotational rigidity. Tom

Sorry, Tom, but you just don’t get it. I never said there was no motion. In fact I said there definitely was motion with springs. My company name Machina Dynamica literally means moving machines. Please do yourselves a big favor and Google mass-on-spring isolation. That will save us both a lot of pain. Especially you. And I hate to point this out but in fact springs have very good rotational resistance. Especially when there is more than one spring. And when the springs are very stiff...like my springs. Don’t be a donkey or a monkey.

Cheers and have a nice day

geoffkait's avatar
geoffkait
23,365 posts
 
dlcockrum
431 posts
11-04-2016 11:33am
Hi Geoff,

It seems that many manufacturers of spring-type footers have a range of loads for each offering. I understand that matching the spring to the exact load is optimal, but is there not a range for each spring that would deliver significant gains?

I also specify a range of loads. It wouldn’t make sense otherwise. Since the resonant frequency is a square root function of load and spring rate the iso device is not terribly sensitive to load for a given spring rate; of course one can add mass to obtain the desired load in the case a component is a little lightweight for a given set of springs, no? For example, if one were to use a maple board the mass of the maple board would be added to the mass of the component to get the total load. I have some customers with VERY heavy turntables, you know, big VPIs, Verdiers and Ravens, and monster amps circa with VERY HEAVY marble slabs on my springs for the isolation. In such a case the mass of the large marble slab is quite significant when coming up with the number of springs required. Which reminds me: the number of springs is another variable, spring rate is not the only variable. There are many ways to skin a cat.

mapman's avatar
mapman
22,756 posts
 
You got it. The spring loaded inner portion of my footers are the part that rotates. It provides the ability to level and provides stability compared to a spring alone.   I suspect this would help against those nasty p waves in particular should they ever beckon to keep the gear from rocking like a horse.   You rotate the inner portion to the height desired. These things work like a charm and would cost a fortune today. Who knew Radio Shack had it in them?
geoffkait's avatar
geoffkait
23,365 posts
 

mapman
13,893 posts
11-04-2016 11:49am
You got it. The spring loaded inner portion of my footers are the part that rotates. It provides the ability to level and provides stability compared to a spring alone. I suspect this would help against those nasty p waves in particular should they ever beckon to keep the gear from rocking like a horse. You rotate the inner portion to the height desired. These things work like a charm and would cost a fortune today. Who knew Radio Shack had it in them?

Getting back to reality for a second, the spring rate of the springs in those silly Radio Shack footers aren’t low enough to you know do anything. They are too stiff. In order to compete with the real iso devices the springs need to be quite springy, you know, to be able to get the resonant frequency down to an audiophile level. Let’s say 3 or 4 Hz shall we? Nevertheless I have a feeling Radio Shack sold a bunch. We all know about bliss and what constitutes bliss. Lol
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