Vibration isolation or absorption?


You see those pointy things at the bottom of a speaker that are very very sharp.  Arguably a weapon in the wrong hands.  And then you see those same pointy things inserted into a disk.

So the pointy things, aka ‘spikes’ , can Channel vibration elsewhere and away from the components and speakers, or they can isolate it.

Seems channeling vibration away from a component/ speaker, which I guess is absorption, is preferable.

Is this true? And why do they keep saying isolation.

 

emergingsoul

So much information herein.

I had come to believe that vibration that contaminates a drivers performance is not good. So if you’re speaker cabinet is vibrating and detrimentally impacts the drivers it makes sense this is not a good thing. So don’t you want to draw that vibration away and channel it somehow into a bottomless pit. Shouldn’t the pointy things, aKA spikes, funnel the vibration onto A disc pucky thing that will make the vibration go away.

Why would you want to isolate vibration and have a rebound back-and-forth all over the place within a speaker, or component?

I’m not sure that simple concept is discussed anywhere herein that I saw.

 

Many engineers, supposedly the arch enemies of audiophiles, identify springs as the best form of vibration control. I use springs exclusively on amps, CD players etc with good effect but have yet to find springs to use on speakers as they render floorstanders unstable.

I thought all the internal bracing and rigidness of the speaker cabinets was supposed to be vibration Control.  And now you need to do something additional outside of the speaker cabinet Beyond the feet?  Isn't this kind of redundant.

If you put vibration Devices at the base of your speakers, are you honestly telling me you can hear the difference?  

The 10 Misconceptions article linked in a previous post was written by Norman Varney, who owns AV RoomService, Ltd., that sells a variety of vibration control products based on decoupling speakers and equipment. No great surprise Mr. Varney doesn’t support spiking speakers to the floor. Here, and here are a couple of other articles written by Mr. Varney.

Their Equipment Vibration Protectors (EVPs) are isolation feet that "de-couple vibration transmission by converting the mechanical energy into thermal energy." These appear to be basically Owens Corning 700 series fiberglass with either rubber or felt covering the top and bottom.  The Owens Corning board is an effective acoustic insulation.  I suspect the softer version could make an interesting DIY constrained layer equipment platform project. Their RoomDamp2 also looks interesting.

 

Spikes couple the speaker or component to what it is sitting on. Generally not a good thing in my opinion and experience. The speaker should be allowed to vibrade at the driven frequencies. To do this isloate it on springs.

Same with components to isolate them from vibrations coming up through he rack. Soft rubbery or sorbothane feed are in between and generally not a good solution.

@mazian I'm both an engineer and a physicist  so does that make me doubly evil?  I recommend the townshend platforms for speakers.  Very stable and a game changer.

Jerry