Springs under turntable

I'm not about to argue with whatever one wants to try putting under one's turntable, but I think there is a "logical" argument against putting springs or anything spongy (e.g., sorbothane) under speakers.  The amplifier is putting energy into the speaker drivers.  Ideally you want all that energy to be converted into the motion of the drivers, so as to capture the nuances of the music signal as much as that is possible.  If the speaker cabinet is sitting on a surface that can move, then inevitably (as in Newton's Third Law of motion) some of the energy of the signal delivered from the amplifier is converted into motion of the cabinet, rather than into motion of the driver cone.  That can't be a good thing.

I’m not about to argue with whatever one wants to try putting under one’s turntable, but I think there is a "logical" argument against putting springs or anything spongy (e.g., sorbothane) under speakers. The amplifier is putting energy into the speaker drivers. Ideally you want all that energy to be converted into the motion of the drivers, so as to capture the nuances of the music signal as much as that is possible. If the speaker cabinet is sitting on a surface that can move, then inevitably (as in Newton’s Third Law of motion) some of the energy of the signal delivered from the amplifier is converted into motion of the cabinet, rather than into motion of the driver cone. That can’t be a good thing.

An argument that seems logical do not equal an experiment...

Have you ever try sorbothane in the right condition? No more than springs i think, no?

«I can state flatly that heavier than air flying machines are impossible.»
— Lord Kelvin, 1895 one of the greatest scientist of not only his time but of all time also ...

«It is apparent to me that the possibilities of the aeroplane, which two or three years ago were thought to hold the solution to the [flying machine] problem, have been exhausted, and that we must turn elsewhere.»
— Thomas Edison, November 1895




I will not add that i myself use springs under my speakers, and i will not confirm that this is a great increase in clarity... Nothing of the sort, because this is my opinion but after my own experiment indeed...

And someone will come with some concept only looking sound and will contradict reality....

I will keep silent and smile listening music....


«Opinions were for Plato entertaining illusions in a cave, is it not TV ?» -Groucho Marx

Right, lewm, and that was my objection as well. Problem is, the speaker is going to move and vibrate anyway. There's no stopping it. Its not just the drivers going back and forth either. The drivers create pressure changes inside and outside the cabinet, this gets the whole speaker cabinet vibrating like a balloon with air rapidly being pumped in and out of it. 

All this vibration is going on no matter what we put the speakers on. Even if we take the kenjit approach and mount them in 80 feet of solid concrete all that does is change the frequency and amplitude of the vibrations. Nothing ever really gets rid of them. Can't be done.  

But if the speakers, or anything else, is rigidly on the floor, well then those same vibrations transmit a lot more readily into the floor, and the floor gets excited and vibrates, and those vibrations go everywhere. Some of them come right back up into the speaker causing it to rock slightly. This produces the ringing you can see on the seismograph in the Townshend video. Some of it also goes through the floor, the rack, and all the way to the turntable. 

I thought no way this happens with my 750 lbs rack of solid concrete, granite, sand bed, and BDR carbon fiber. But it does. Proved that by putting springs under subs and hearing the midrange clean up. Only way that can happen is what I just said. 

So its like I've been saying all along, its about vibration control. We can control it one way with cones and mass and rigid solutions and that can certainly help sound a lot better. But we can also suspend things that vibrate in a way that lets each thing vibrate in its own particular way with less of it feeding into all the other things we have that are vibrating. 

All this stuff is vibrating. Put your hand on a speaker cable while playing music some time. You will be shocked how much it vibrates. Especially if there's any bass. That's probably why the rubber band trick works so well. Its free. Try it and see.

Correct, in this type of situation it is difficult to hand Q the record. This is one resaon the SOTA tables are so nice.

@mijostyn The springs have settled and my hand has become gentler after my initial comment on bounce. I can cue fine now!

Suggest reading Barry Diament research paper to start.

Seismic isolation is essential and often overlooked. Suggest Ingress cup and rollers/slate platform/vertical isolation such as metal spring or inner tube. Townshend products are good as well. Stay away from points and rubber of any kind. Any material change will alter the sound but not always in a good way.