2. misc-audio
  3. 148161-115791

Does anyone use wood for vibration control?

What kind of wood have you found to be best?
bksherm
jerroot
104 posts
 
I built a custom rack with wood shelves using a vintage, heavy and stable welded iron frame I found at auction. The supporting brackets are simple 90 degree L bars welded to corner verticals. I needed to isolate all three shelves from direct contact with the iron frame which had a small but perceptible harmonic when hit.

The shelves are a layered concept consisting of a bottom layer of 3/4 inch Baltic plywood with an upper layer of 1 inch (finished thickness) tiger maple. The edges of the plywood cannot be seen as it is recessed into the L bars.

The two layers are isolated from the frame and from each other with Fat Dots from Herbie's Audio Lab. The decoupling is near perfect and there is little to no transmission of vibration to the maple. By using this "sandwich" design with two discrete layers of isolating/decoupling material I seem to have  eliminated the need for using 2+ inch wood stock.

Other than having to cover most of what is great looking tiger maple with equipment, I am super pleased with the results. The experiment paid off well.
geoffkait's avatar
geoffkait
23,365 posts
 
The oft mentioned analogy between an audio system and a musical instrument is completely wrong. A logical fallacy. The real analogy is between audio systems and electron microscopes. The audio system needs to be isolated from building structure vibrations for the same reason electron microscopes require vibration isolation in order to take photos of the specimen under the scope without the picture coming out all blurry. Unless you like your music blurry, gentle readers, better head on down to your local isolation store. The only good vibration is a dead vibration. RIP. And, no, speakers are not like guitars. Cabinets resonances are completely unwelcome in a high end system. Nor are the mechanical feedback from speakers welcome, either. I’m pretty sure we’ve known that since the 70s. Hel-loo! Wake up and smell the coffee, guys! ☕️ Go, ahead, give me your best shot. 
jburidan
803 posts
 
Isolating components from vibrations is an audio fetish IMHO that is exploited by charlatans marketing to the worst of the nervosa syndrome.

Each object has a resonant frequency, and it's going to resonate in the presence of that frequency, and there's nothing you can do about it. You can change the resonant frequency, such as by putting sand or lead shot in a speaker stand, putting a bag of sand on top of a component, etc.

Buildings vibrate at frequencies that are inaudible. Carnegie Hall vibrates, but it affects neither the performance nor recording of the performance.

   


geoffkait's avatar
geoffkait
23,365 posts
 

jburidan

Isolating components from vibrations is an audio fetish IMHO that is exploited by charlatans marketing to the worst of the nervosa syndrome.

Each object has a resonant frequency, and it’s going to resonate in the presence of that frequency, and there’s nothing you can do about it. You can change the resonant frequency, such as by putting sand or lead shot in a speaker stand, putting a bag of sand on top of a component, etc.

>>>>Actually, there is something you can do about. That’s the whole point! Let’s take a straightforward example, shall we? Tonearms and cartridges are designed to have resonant frequencies circa 10-12 Hz. The reason for that is so acoustic waves won’t excite those resonant frequencies, as they well below the acoustic output of most speakers. But guess what? The range of Seismic frequencies which is 0 to 100 Hz includes the Fr 10-12 Hz so can obviously excite those resonant frequencies. You agree that’s not a good thing, right? So, isn’t it logical to conclude that isolating the turntable from seismic frequencies will reduce vibration of the tonearm and cartridge. No one ever said isolation is perfect but it’s a lot better than nothing.


samhar
1,048 posts
 
I prefer maple butcher block under my Joule Musicwood amps and a harder material under the Joule Mk III amps.The rest of my shelves are Black Diamond Racing carbon fiber shelves under the TT, pre, phono and CD.
More to discover