As An Experiment I Stuck A Few Things Under My Pre-Amp And Am Now On A Quest

When I was younger I tried cheap isolation devices and never really noticed any difference outside of using various budget options underneath turntables. I bought some eastern world garbage off Amazon later in life when aesthetics started to mean something to me..as i bought them because I thought they looked cool. 

Couple years ago when I had some bookshelves on stands in my living room I could hear some resonances when I turned the volume up. Once I noticed those resonances I couldn't ignore them and I found it to be quite aggravating.

A retail store had sent me something in the mail about a big sale and I saw the Iso-Acoustic pucks. 60 day trial period so I figured what the heck..even though they were much more expensive then anything I had ever considered before. 

When I plucked out the little sorbathene balls off the stands and put the pucks between the speakers and the stands I really didn't know what to expect, and I can honestly say I wasn't expecting much. The difference was audible right away. I read were people said they could tell the difference in the bass but for me it was much more in the midrange and overall clarity. I could turn the volume up much higher without the speakers losing any composure. I could see the subtle difference when comparing sweeps on REW but to my ears it was huge. 

I now use pucks of various sizes under everything. One of my amps that I have on the floor I put one of those SubDudes under it. I think that's what they are called. My point being is that once a non believer I strongly feel isolation devices can make a difference depending on your situation. Obviously there are better and more expensive (and cheaper) options out there to choose from. I'd say give a well regarded brand a try before saying they don't do anything for electronics and speakers. Especially if you use tube gear. Just my opinion anyway. 

Isolation devices are not often so good ...

Springs are complex to tune and better used with damping load and way better when we use two set of springs one set UNDER and one set above the speaker under damping load ... the damping load may be tune with a few grams approximation by ears ...I did it ...

Coupling and decoupling work very well but ONLY with a sandwich mix of plates , I use oak, granite,sorbothane,bamboo, cork plates , all together with astounding results ... Cost : peanuts ...

Sorbothane alone, springs alone or metal feet alone are not so good at all ...These PARTIAL solutions are deceptive and hide the problem ...

Most people as it is the case with the acoustic control of a room or with the electrical high noise floor of a house , or with EMI interference , most people had no idea how vibrations/resonance plague all audio system because they never adress the problem really and at best bought some feet made of a singular material composition ...It is not enough and deceptive solution ...

When vibration are under control the impact is huge not small at all , including timbre experience, imaging and even soundstage in my experience ...

I’ve got the often mentioned Nobsound springs under the feet of a cheapie Pangea rack which has proven to be very effective a decoupling from my super resonant hardwood floor. Also placed my preamp (solid state SPL) over a set of the same springs. Thinking about doing this for the amp as well. Sorbothane picks under the dac - which is also on the same rack. But sm considering trying some different materials or some tuned pucks along he lines of some mentioned here. Since my rack is horrifically basic and resonant, I’m even considering getting a sheet of dynamat and attaching it under one of the shelves to see what that could do. 

If you have one grab a mini level out of your tool kit...that thing with the 3 tubes filled with liquid and an air bubble. Mine was about 10 inches long. Lay it across your dac or whatever and watch for vibrations in the bubble. 

Poor mans visual vibration inspector 

This weekend I located a set of the Chinese style mag lev footers, and placed them under the pre-amp. The Trinov has a sophisticated DSP program, and one function it has is a very precise EQ option. I decided to experiment with it. I did in depth reading from websites dedicated to studio/sound engineering work to get an understanding of what I wanted to achieve. 

I started with a 1.1 dB cut from 1K to 5K. I then added a 1dB boost from 200 to 400 Hz. As I understand it you should cut first and boost as a last resort. But I am a newbie, and in this case it worked for me. 

I then started listening to several reference discs and began to reduce my settings. The sound was a bit too smooth and a touch too warm or vague. I can reduce by .2 dB. My first cut was from 1 to 5K and I went to -.6dB from -1.1 dB. Then I started cutting by -.2 increments. I also worked in the 200 to 400 hz range with the -.2 dB amounts. 

My final settings are 

+.4 at 200 Hz

+.4 at 250 Hz

+.6 at 315 Hz

+1.0 at 500 Hz

-.4 at 1KHz to 4Khz

I zeroed out the 5KHz setting, so no correction there. 

My objective was to get to the point where the sound became harder and forward, and back off one click and see what I thought. I am listening to these settings now and appreciate the clarity and detail and have not heard any aggressive tendencies. 

So far this is an enjoyable presentation. What I find fascinating is that a .2dB change in equalization is clearly audible. 1dB is significant, and to think how easy it is to influence the sound should give a person pause when selecting associated equipment, cabling, room placement, and what goes on the walls. This hobby is amazing, and it fascinates me how the little details matter.