I've been using springs a couple months now, but the Townshend Pods only about a week. The Pods are much better than anything else, even better than after spending a lot of time fine-tuning other springs. They are just an altogether more highly refined product.
Its definitely the case that everything vibrates, and the way that is handled does affect the sound, both inside and outside. That is why for example I put a lot of fO.q tape inside things like the Herron phono stage. Put it on circuit boards and especially on the chassis around the AC power and RCA connections.
There's multiple sources of vibration. A lot of it is coming from the component itself. Alternating music signals make everything vibrate just from the alternating nature of the energy itself. So caps, wires, transformers, all that stuff is vibrating even if floating in space in a vacuum. The way that is handled affects the sound. Get some fO.q tape and try it you will see what I mean.
There's also environmental vibrations. We all know things sound better late at night. This is famously credited to AC power being cleaner then. Max Townshend has this theory that its really due to lower seismic activity. Something I thought was nuts until I saw the seismographs. Its not all earthquakes that shake the ground you know. Its also traffic, wind blowing trees sending vibrations into the ground, all of that. Seemed nuts but made me think, the very best times have been when everything's covered in a blanket of snow. When a lot of heating appliances and stuff are running yet it sounds better even in the daytime. So maybe it is seismic (ground) vibrations.
Plus of course the sound system itself. Rick told me to do the speakers first. Because not only will the speakers sound better, but eliminating a lot of that energy going into the floor means less going into the turntable. So its a two-fer. Which did indeed seem to be the case. Huge improvement- and remember they were on BDR Cones and Round Things not just sitting on the floor. Compared to ordinary spikes or sitting on the floor the improvement would be even greater.
Right now the field is pretty wide open. News travels slow. DBA was written up more than 20 years ago, people still thinking in terms of "a" sub. Max has been making this stuff almost as long, yet most are still thinking in terms of spikes. Which anyone who bothers to compare can easily hear are nowhere near as good as springs, let alone properly engineered springs like Townshend Pods.
Eventually designers will gravitate towards and start incorporating the best vibration control in their designs. Many have been doing something along these lines for years now already. Its just they usually just make things stronger and heavier instead of actually better. The good news is that leaves a lot on the table for guys like us to improve with springs and Pods and stuff on the outside and tape and stuff on the inside.
Its definitely the case that everything vibrates, and the way that is handled does affect the sound, both inside and outside. That is why for example I put a lot of fO.q tape inside things like the Herron phono stage. Put it on circuit boards and especially on the chassis around the AC power and RCA connections.
There's multiple sources of vibration. A lot of it is coming from the component itself. Alternating music signals make everything vibrate just from the alternating nature of the energy itself. So caps, wires, transformers, all that stuff is vibrating even if floating in space in a vacuum. The way that is handled affects the sound. Get some fO.q tape and try it you will see what I mean.
There's also environmental vibrations. We all know things sound better late at night. This is famously credited to AC power being cleaner then. Max Townshend has this theory that its really due to lower seismic activity. Something I thought was nuts until I saw the seismographs. Its not all earthquakes that shake the ground you know. Its also traffic, wind blowing trees sending vibrations into the ground, all of that. Seemed nuts but made me think, the very best times have been when everything's covered in a blanket of snow. When a lot of heating appliances and stuff are running yet it sounds better even in the daytime. So maybe it is seismic (ground) vibrations.
Plus of course the sound system itself. Rick told me to do the speakers first. Because not only will the speakers sound better, but eliminating a lot of that energy going into the floor means less going into the turntable. So its a two-fer. Which did indeed seem to be the case. Huge improvement- and remember they were on BDR Cones and Round Things not just sitting on the floor. Compared to ordinary spikes or sitting on the floor the improvement would be even greater.
Right now the field is pretty wide open. News travels slow. DBA was written up more than 20 years ago, people still thinking in terms of "a" sub. Max has been making this stuff almost as long, yet most are still thinking in terms of spikes. Which anyone who bothers to compare can easily hear are nowhere near as good as springs, let alone properly engineered springs like Townshend Pods.
Eventually designers will gravitate towards and start incorporating the best vibration control in their designs. Many have been doing something along these lines for years now already. Its just they usually just make things stronger and heavier instead of actually better. The good news is that leaves a lot on the table for guys like us to improve with springs and Pods and stuff on the outside and tape and stuff on the inside.