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How do you deal with vibration?

Greetings all,

Many of us work very hard to keep vibration out of our equipment. I was hoping we could share our experiences with each other. I was wondering what other DIY methods people are using?

I personally have had good luck with shipping open cell foam under plywood. I find that about 60-70 percent compression works best. I place the foam underneath some plywood (Using spruce 3/4 inch). Then I place the component on the plywood. However, I think this more isolates the component from outside vibration. I don't think it does much to drain internal vibrations, especially in a CD transport.

Also I can not find open cell foam in town any more. I am ashamed to say that I actually went to Wal-mart to buy some. Now they don't carry it any more. So I was wondering where else I can get some?

I am currently thinking about building a Sandbox for my CD player and amp. Then putting the sand box on top of some sort of isolation material (open cell foam or cork rubber etc.) My thoughts are the foam or cork or etc should help keep the vibrations from getting into the equipment and the box should drain the internal vibrations.

Also, what are peoples experience with different woods. I live in BC so I can get most wood fairly cheap. I imagine every wood has it's own sonic signature due to it's resonant frequency. What works best? Solid maple, birch ply, MDF, walnut, mahogany etc...?\

Anyways, feel free to through ideas and experience (both good and bad) out there. It would be good to know what works and what doesn't.

Happy tweaking,
Nick
nickway
pbb
1,140 posts
 
The component will operate with greater efficiency? What is meant by "efficiency" in this context?

This is a classic thread that shows that some people are mightily convinced that audio is a one-man thing since no one hears the same.

As a complementary question what does it actually mean when one says that we all hear differently?

Surely if this were true any research towards advancing audio would be in vain.

Great how everything has been reduced to a question of individual taste; it is surely a sign of the times where magic thinking is the order of the day.
piezo
304 posts
 
just my 2 cents on whether vibration control works; in some cases an unreserved yes.

I had a pair of silver/copper pro silway IIs that had some nice bass control and openness qualities when used with my CDP but they also had a horrific tiring glare. No getting around it. They sucked in that role to the point of being unlistenable.

I had some mixed metal chrome/sorbathane feet deals (about 1.5 in dia at the base) under my tube pre to help control vibration impacts to the tubes. I'm not sure if they really help out all that much under the pre but when i put them under the CDP the glare from the Pro Silways was gone and the whole shebang tightened up top to bottom. Points up vrs point down...no significant change that i could tell. would other vibration controls work better...can't say and don't really have time to try these days. However, controlling the vibration at the source at the macro level helped unquestionably. On a detail tweak side of things it did seem that the sound was a tad better with the cages off my amps than with them on but the arrival of toddlers ended that experiment.
newbee
4,771 posts
 
Eldartford, Re your testing protocol, do you think that generating a 125hz signal is sufficient or would it be more revealing if you were to do a frequency sweep? I've never tried what you are doing, so I haven't got a clue.

Pbb, re your comments on the "we all hear different". I think a good analogy to demonstrate that we do hear (and see) differently, involves our eyes and vision - we all look at the same scene at the same time and we will all describe what we see differently. Those differences will depend upon what our interests at that moment cause us to focus on, even though, apart from issues of acuity, our eyes probably can see everything there is to see.

Much the same thing for how we hear things - recall the old game of telling some one a short story and having him pass it on to the next listener, who then passes it on to a 3rd listener, etc. By the time you get to the last listener, the story bears no resembalance to the original version. If you haven't already tried this, do so. Its not about a process of the eyes or ears that is determinitive, its the brain. You would certainly have to agree that our brains are in fact different in subtle, if not gross, ways.

Can you learn to refocus your attention visually or acoustically to "hear" or "see" other things. Of course. Will you if you are closed minded or, for what ever reason, unmotivated. Unlikely. (I'm not implying that you are closed minded.)
rsbeck
887 posts
 
>>I had a pair of silver/copper pro silway IIs that had some nice bass control and openness qualities when used with my CDP but they also had a horrific tiring glare. No getting around it. They sucked in that role to the point of being unlistenable.<<

This is the kind of thing that fascinates me. What in a cable would cause "glare?" These comments treat the cable as if one listens to a cable that plays music through a speaker, like a guiatr string. No responsibility is given to any other component for music reproduction. For some reason, cable enthusiasts are very trusting of their other components -- the ones that have the toughest most complex job -- and endlessly suspicious of their cables -- which have the easiest job in the entire chain.

Cable advertisers have done a superb job of getting audiophiles to overlook huge problems in their speakers and rooms and to fixate on their cables, inventing problems where none exist.

It is easily demonstrated that rooms have glare, but no -- it must be the cable -- even though there's no evidence whatsoever that cables cause glare.

Okay, I know this is a vibration control thread, but I just had to comment.
theaudiotweak
2,801 posts
 
Pbb vibration control in a component will mean that it will draw less current than one with improperly implemented vibration control or none at all. It all starts with self induced losses within the component, even at idle.This is what I believe and hope to document..Tom
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