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
@tonywinga - maybe try some softer springs under the amplifiers.  Run them in the mid range or maybe a little softer.  I had good luck with springs under my modified DNA-1s and only switched because I sort of fell into a nice pair of SRA stands that I had custom configured for the DNA amps.
My experience with springs begins to be optimal ONLY after heavy load damping of the speakers and the use of 8 springs boxes for each speakers under the very  FINE TUNED load, using  100 gram  weight variation   apoproximation at the end  for my ears ...
I have a tube integrated sitting on an Ethan Allen stand. It's in our living room and fits nicely. I placed Nobsound springs under the amp and tried the Oreas as well, both with positive and different results. My question after reading this is why add the butcher block to the equation? Why create another large surface area?
I have had limited exposure to isolation options; my amplifiers are on a concrete slab, and my components are on a solid walnut sideboard. At this point, I’m somewhat skeptical that isolation would make much of a difference, except for possibly the CD player/transport and turntable, which both have isolation feet built in from the manufacturer. However, in the interest of "science," I’m going to try mounting my amplifiers on hockey pucks, and see if I can tell a difference. . .
As a follow-up to my previous post, I installed the Gaia III footers with Gaia footer spikes on my speakers (sitting on carpet over a concrete basement floor).  I immediately noticed improved accuracy and detail in instruments and voices. Soundstage not so much, but I still need to dial in my speakers again. 

The SQ with Gaia products is noticeably better than with spikes alone. For my power amp, I thinking of installing Butcher Block Acoustics spikes into my Butcher Block Acoustics amp stand and sitting the amp on isoacoustics OREA Bordeaux footers.  For all other components OREA Bronze footers or ingress engineering level 3 rollerblocks.

Anyone ever compared isoacoustics OREA products against ingress engineering level 3 rollerblocks?