Butcherblock Acoustics "feet" effecting sound and isolation


Hello, general question here do you believe the feet being used under a Butcherblock Acoustics platform effects the overall sound? I'm using metal spikes resting on metal decoupling discs that I ordered from Butcherblock instead of the stock rubber feet it came with. I have maple butcherblock under my phono preamp (3 inch), all tube preamp (3inch), and amplifier (1.5 inch). 

Also do you think I could be over isolating with all that? I'm gonna do some experimenting this weekend but just wanted to see if anyone had thoughts or opinions on it. I've read good and bad things about isolation and over doing it. Thanks for any responses!

 

 

blue_collar_audio_guy

@blue_collar_audio_guy   I would pay attention to what carlsbad posted.  As an engineer, I can tell you that what he stated here is spot on correct.  

From what you wrote, you are not isolating, you are coupling in a significant manner.  Look at it this way, if you use spikes on a concrete floor, which is setting in the earth at least 6 inches, then the floor is reasonably solid and unmoving.  Using spikes to set a equipment stand on that keeps it from moving about since the floor is not moving about.   However, if you do the same thing on a wooden floor, say an older home where the floor joices are questionable, then you are coupling the floor vibrations into the equipment rack.  Back to the concrete example, if the earth moves, so does the equipment rack.   

When you decouple, movement of the floor, in my examples above, do not transmit through the equipment rack.  In order for this to happen, you need to have something that "does not couple" between the floor and rack and also between the rack and equipment on it.  Spikes couple, the flat disks they often sit on also aid to couple.   

Carslbad suggested rubber, sand, or springs for decoupling, do follow that line of thinking.  I can add to that a bicycle tube filled with air, Sorbathane mats and hemi-spheres.  Consider putting sand in a thick sealed plastic bag.  

Another option is layering.   For example, pick up four Sorbathane hemispheres, set them on a hard shelf such as Maple or Oak to make a floating shelf.  Set the floating shelf on your equipment rack shelf, then use four more Sorbathane hemispheres under your equipment that you set on the floating shelf.  What happens here is the vibration energy transmitted from the equipment rack into the floating shelf is reflected by the ratio of the density of the Sorbathane and the hard shelf, then what little transmits through to the next layer of Sorbathane is also reflected by the ratio of the Sorbathane hemispheres and the bottom of the equipment chassis, typically steel or aluminum.   The energy that is reflected back is absorbed by the Sorbathane hemispheres and covered into a small amount of heat, which is what you want.

If the equipment rack is also isolated from the floor, then you will have three layers of isolation.   It isn't too hard to get 60 dB of isolation by using multiple layers.   At that point, there is more vibration via the sound in the room than up through the rack.   

And, yes, you can isolate the vibration of the sound as well.   There are sheets of self adhesive materials, typically Sorbathane or something like it, which you can cut and stick on the insides of your equipment chassis.  Look for automotive damping sheets that attach to the insides of doors and car body parts.   Tube gear have high temperature O-Rings that you can buy to slide over the glass envelopes to squash the vibrations there as well. 

Lastly, you can't over isolate your equipment from vibrations.   What you can do is isolate so much that it becomes a waste of money to continue; money that can be better spent on better equipment, vinyl, or streaming sources.

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@carlsbad

@spatialking

+1 Excellent explanations.

I have a high end Silent Running Platform isolation platform under my turntable (the most sensitive component). I am using sandwiched elastomer / ridged platforms (Black Diamond Racing composite), with Nobsprings on my other components. Each change has improved the sound. As I can afford additional isolation platforms I will add to other components replacing the inexpensive Nobsprings..

Dang, I'm going to sound like Amir. The right way to do this is measure the frequency and amplitude of the device you want to isolate. The next best is to put your gear on solid bases and hope you are addressing the issue. I've been dragging a 200-pound piece of granite around for 50 years...not sure if it works but it makes me feel better. 

@russ69 Makes you feel better is key.   Your granite may be large enough mass that the noises in the room cannot affect it.  the natural frequency of a spring system (from memory to excuse me if I get a constant wrong) is sqrt(k/m) where k is the spring constant.   so your very large m makes the natural frequency so low that it will not get excited by sound.