By the way, lose the screws! Metal fasteners transmit energy very efficiently from one layer to the next, undoing most of the good which constrained layer damping can do. Other fasteners connecting the two layers aren't much better.
Want to build a rack with sandwich layered dampening
Hi all,
I considering constructing a very basic, small, low two shelf rack to accommodate my somewhat compact components to replace my rather resonant Pangea rack. Lower, not as deep and a bit wider to accommodate access, but also keep it low to preserve stage between the speakers in my smallish listening room.
I’ve found some perfectly sized and precut maple (I think it’s maple will have double check). 3/4 to 1” boards that I’d like to sandwich together with screws, and place some sort of elastomer material between to control resonances. The legs would be basic but thick, and I’d probably just put spring isolators under them. Rack would be sitting on a raised hardwood floor.
My question: would using a sheet layer of sound absorbing butyl or some type of elastomer in between help or potentially harm sonics? Reason I’m asking, I’ve found sorbothane to actually have an adverse effect under components, with say stack audio pucks instead a purely delightful improvement. I know we’re talking about a different application, but still would like to get some experienced thoughts on anyone that has done - or purchased - something similar.
Big thanks in advance for anyone’s help!
John
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Another option would be to build bases for your equipment. I used the material that @bdp24 mentioned, and sandwiched that material between oak and granite from my local kitchen counter store. My amp and pre-amp and TT are sitting on those, which, in turn, sit on the stand. The TT is on its own supports on the wall studs. As someone else pointed out, constrained layer damping only works when you have two DIFFERENT materials - so I used granite and wood. YMMV of course. |
I took some 4 pound lead sheet and covered both sides with dynamat extreme. I have 10 of these on my rack under the shelves sitting on a layer of exterior grade mdf, it's called extera, a little denser and has epoxy resins or other waterproofing elements in it, it was free OK. The rack must weigh 350 pounds. I cant possibly move it, need to put wheels on it somehow. Im gonna use lead sheet again on a TT plinth. I'm not worried about getting lead poisoning because it'll be completely covered. |
Some interesting responses and certainly more than one way to skin the cat (no cats were harmed during the writing of this post). The gatorboard I recommended was a material used by some of us back in the day and patterned off of the foam used by Symposium Acoustics' constrained layer products such as this one and this one. I have made platforms with that material sandwiched between two layers of MDF and trimmed in oak that still support some of my front end components along with Zoethecus Z-slabs, another constrained layer product that previously came with Zoethecus audio equipment racks (no longer in business). The Z-slabs utilize multiple layers of materials with the top surface being aluminum. |
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