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In praise of isolation.

Isolation as in components, not personal.

(although, that’s not necessarily bad either)

There has been much praise, and discussion on the forum with regards to spring isolation.

Well, all this praise, caused me to look into how to approach this for myself.

I like to try things before I pass judgment on an idea.

The whole coupling/decoupling thing has been of interest to me for a while.

I get the desire to couple (yeah, I know,,,) as it plants the gear firmly in the ground, and if the base is heavy enough and made of a material that absorbs vibrations, you should be golden.

Then there is the problem of 7.83hz. Nope, not audible, but that doesn’t matter. Anyone who has used a test record to check for tonearm resonance can see quite clearly how an 8hz frequency can make the tonearm shake like a belly dancers belly.

So, decoupling. Springs made logical sense. Except, there was the problem of vintage turntables with their springy/bouncy top plates/platters. That just didn’t seem right.

I made an isolation platform and put springs underneath it. Figured out the proper spring rate and ordered 4 springs to support the 90lbs sitting above them. 
It’s crazy the clear and obvious difference it made. For the nominal price of $100 for the 4 industrial springs, the sonic improvements were off the charts! When coupling, and making changes to the materials used under the TT, and the types of feet used, there was a difference with the clarity of the highs, their brightness and with the bottom end being muddy or lacking depth.

With the springs however, the whole presentation opened up. Everything sounded better, clearer and more defined. Faster, less shrill and I could go on.

Not only am I divorced, but I’m a firm believer in decoupling.

(see what I did there?)

Damned 7.83hz…
perkri
millercarbon's avatar
millercarbon
12,531 posts
 
Compare Gaia to Nobsound. Then compare with Townshend. What I think you will find, Nobsound gets very close to Gaia for a fraction of the price. Might even be better. Nobsound are just springs, no damping, and so depend a lot on tuning the load to the springs. Get it just right and you may find ordinary springs better than Gaia.  

Townshend on the other hand are precision damped to about 1%, just enough to eliminate a lot of instrumental tone being colored by resonance, while at the same time making them a lot less sensitive to loading. In other words they work the same under a wider range of components.  

Springs work beautifully everywhere I have tried them, including under cables. It seems logical they would work best under a turntable, but they work equally well under amps, etc. The one that really stands out as remarkable is Townshend Podiums under speakers. This is like a total system/room upgrade.   

I have tried a lot of stuff over the years. The most concise advice: springs beat all, and the best springs are Townshend.
jerryg123's avatar
jerryg123
3,429 posts
 
MC is also a dealer for Townshend.
henry53's avatar
henry53
280 posts
 
In my engineering degree we studied the effect of machinery vibrations on adjacent machinery and how it effected its performance, it can be very significant working with precision machinery, hifi needs to be ridiculously precise. Speakers are essentially the same, they vibrate, transfer those to the floor and therefor to the other speaker(s) and equipment. Isolation is thus necessary as is mass loading or inversely mass elimination. Wharfedale made a product called Aerolam to produce extremely lightweight speakers for just this reason. I have tried spikes, mass loading, isolation and dampening but have never found substantially differences, possibly because it is a multi dimensional problem. For instance if you use springs or dampers they let the speakers move, even minutely this can well produce a doppler effect to which our hearing is extremely sensitive. Thus allowing them to move may 'solve' one issue merely to introduce another?
perkri OP
909 posts
 
@henry53. 
What I heard at the show was very much a real thing. Eyes closed, 100% accurate when identifying the speakers and the difference in presentation. 
tonywinga's avatar
tonywinga
844 posts
 
I’m a believer now.  I just added a picture and a paragraph or two on my system page. I made my own speaker isolation platforms using hardwood butcher blocks and coil springs.  Imaging is more focused and the clarity much improved.  I am blown away by the improvement. Wow. Just wow.  A very big bang for the buck tweak.  
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