Best way to dampen a micro-vibrating Printed Circuit Board inside an amp? Thanks!


Please what is a recommended way(s) to dampen a micro-vibrating Printed Circuit Board inside an amp? Thanks! 

vinylfun
Post removed 

@devinplombier has made the statement:

" The question (asked more than once but not answered yet) remains, do these vibrations affect the sound quality of purely electronic audio components (say, amps or preamps as opposed to analog mechanical transports such as turntables)? "

In all my time working with TT’s and working towards a TT that is having a condition that protects the Stylus from not being in contact with the LP Modulation, where the environment the Stylus functions in is not optimised for the Interface to occur. I have never been involved in a discussion that suggests a component used in a electronic circuit is a cause for a concern and should be found and eradicated for the negative effect produced.

A component used in a electronic circuit has been made known to be responsible for a failing found in a Turntable, that has not been delivering an optimised performance.

My experiences are simplistic, End Sound being produced can be tidied up and be able to present with a increased attraction towards the sound, when audio devices are mounted on an Isolation that functions satisfactorily in the environment is is selected to be used in.

If the system user is looking for the only sound wanted to be heard, to be produced as a result of the Audio System being Operated. Where sound produced comes from an amplified electric signal tracking through a range of Circuits laid out to a certain Topology and in conjunction with Cables. What is being effected by the addition of Isolation to be referred to as a Tidied Up End Sound?

I have experienced external Isolation taken to within the Chassis and then focused on a few select Components and can only say from my having experienced the end result, discernible changes were detected and the improvement made was quite discernible.

I have not got any Objective Data to substantiate what I making known.  

@pindac 

I appreciate your post. 

Microphonics is a known and documented phenomenon, chiefly relating to vacuum tubes. Once one understands how tubes are made and how they work, it's not hard to understand why. But the effects of microphonics are bound to be more... subtle when it comes to SS circuits, including PCB-mounted ones per OP.

Hence my curiosity with regard to the actual electromechanical processes involved in the perceived sound degradation.

Again I ask: If vibrations, let alone micro-vibrations, have a deleterious effect on the sound quality of non-mechanical, non-vacuum-tube components, then why aren't speakers' passive crossovers externalized? At the very least high-end ones'?

 

The Individual who worded the following quoted description or approved the wording of the following, is with a substantial career training to be an authority and is many many years involved in R&D into Acoustics and Quality of a Produced Sound. 

There are measures described and which are also adopted to be used, that strongly suggest there is mitigation needed for the influence of local ambient energies and what is to be imparted on a selection of electronic components.    

 

 " The Chiara’s crossover is a masterful combination of minimalist theory and the highest quality execution. Not only is the bass-mid leg run wide open, relying entirely on the superior mechanical performance of the drive unit (and its superior mechanical termination by the cabinet) the high-pass element employs only the highest quality Mundorf / Dueland Cu Cast components, all hard-wired with highest quality silver alloy cable. The topology itself is unique, based on not just output level, but dispersion through the transition point. Once carefully hand built, the entire crossover is then “potted” in resin to protect its critical components from mechanical energy. But that’s not all. By including an EMI absorbent material in the resin, we significantly reduce RFI/EMI affects on the crossover, as well as creating an RFI sink to prevent the speaker acting as an entry point or aerial, allowing EM energy to contaminate the rest of the system. Finally, the potted crossover is coupled to its own dedicated acoustic labyrinth, thus preventing it from becoming a single resonant lump. "

Being in the profession I am in, I find this thread to be somewhat amusing. I started my career in the early 80's as a PWB (printed wiring board designer) then into Engineering Manager, then Director, and then finally where I'm at as a VP/GM of an aerospace/defense contract manufacturer. For over forty years I've been involved in building things which ultimately go into things that fly and/or blow up. We do quite a bit of shock and vibe testing on most everything we build. Big vibe tables that look like a huge woofer facing upwards with a plate on it to hold an assembly down while completely wired up to electrical test equipment. Beyond that we have ESS (environmental) test chambers fed by liquid nitrogen so that the circuit under test can be thermal cycled up and down from -30 degrees C to +150 degrees C. Quite a few of these circuits are very complex containing a plethora of cap's resistors, diodes, transistors, BGA's, and with RF content as well. These circuits have to provide communications, video, GPS, etc...all while bouncing off the deck of an aircraft carrier, or being dropped from the likes of a B52. A CCA (circuit card assembly) in a hifi system lives a much easier life, so that is why this is somewhat amusing to me. Then again My Naim ND555 DAC/Streamer has its main CCA's mounted to brass plates weighing over five pounds each which are in turn are suspending on springs. When I was researching the unit prior to purchase, I found that to be amusing as well. It does produce lovely music.