Vibration isolation or absorption?

Erik, have you watched all the videos Max Townshend made and put up on YouTube? Worth your time, at the very least.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OZxi1oZfvDA&pp=ygUNbWF4IHRvd25zaGVuZA%3D%3D

This is a very complex but important subject.

As others have pointed out, whether to absorb or transmit vibration depends on the floor, the equipment and personal preferences. After thirty years of experiments these are my findings:

On speakers. I have gone from spikes to Symposium Svelteshelves first flat on the floor, then on Final Daruma cups and balls to today end up with a cheap set of Chinese springs in cups

On electronic equipment I can’t even remember all the permutations: Sorbothane, then again Darumas, Symposium Svelteshelves, Black Diamond Rcing Cones and today Black Ravioli Big Pads on Gingko Audio platforms

On phono I have used a Townsend Seismic Sink for many years but now prefer spike mounting on a thick, wall mounted acrylic shelf (bearing the scratch marks with philosophic indifference).

In all this journey, two solution stand out: the springs under the speakers resulted in razor sharp soundstaging and lightning fast leading and trailing edges on individual instruments compared to all other solutions.

The Black Ravioli Big Foots are nothing short of sensational: the elimination of power supply as well as air borne vibrations resulted in significant ‘de-sludging’, i.e. an amazing increase of transparency on large orchestral works. It felt that the sound was much less ‘compact’ and closed in.

As always: Enjoy the Music

I'll second the Nobsound springs. I bought after-market springs for their bases. They take less than half the load of the supplied ones (same size). With those, I can fine-tune any component on three pods, using any number of lighter springs required. Now, everything literally gently floats, but no more than 1/8" travel.

With a combination of original and lighter springs all my subs float as well.

My speakers are a pain at 100 lbs (but a joy to my ears). Still, I'm designing a faux-Townshend platform that should utilize much larger 2-7/8" rate-specified springs. Anybody's guess but as prev mentioned, it probably can't hurt (unless the speaker falls over...ouch).

I used 2 set of Springs with damping load for each speakers ( rectangular  wood box type 2-way) ... The damping load must be fine tuned exactly by ears in few listening experiments arount + or - 100 grams or  less than 1/4 of lbs  over the speakers top with around  80 pounds in my case and the load is weighting on 4 springs which are located on top of the speakers on a granite plate (on sorbothane plate)  for better stabilty  and  i also use 4 springs under the speakers too .... The differential compression between the two set of springs, one set is compressed only by the load, the other is compressed by the speakers weight +the load, this differential  help resonance control of the speakers a lot by decreasing it ...

I also used a mix of granite plates between cork plate and sorbothane plate and Bamboo plate, quartz feet, under the  set of springs/ speakers/second set of spring/85 lbs of dense cement block as damping load on top...

Then it is not only about isolating the speakers from the room and other components and external vibrations isolation but also about damping  and decreasing  internal resonance effect ...three tasks instead of one...

The end result is stunning... It makes everybody understand that the mechanical control part of audio system matter at least as the electrical and acoustical embeddings control  parts...

But it is impractical to do it for most people with children in a living room the way i did it... I describe it for those without children in a dedicated audio room with box speakers because the cost is very low....

Anyway NO ONE know the huge negative effect of vibrations without and BEFORE  any experience with the rightful way to limit it... Even after experiencing it it is difficult to believe so much powerful vibrations affect S.Q.  Spikes alone  are no comparison at all....