What isolation feet to use??


Hi everyone,
Just aquired an Aethetix Rhea and would like to know what isolation feet are being used other than the stock rubber ones?? Thanks
Richard
rnadelman
Over the years I have used "seismic sinks", "brass points", "Aurios bearings", "stillpoints", and the latest Marigo "mystery feet". The "mystery feet" enhance the musical presentation better than all others. They are a must audition if looking for the ultimate in footers.
Sorry I was not clear. Whether a device subjectively improves upon your sound is up to experimentation. While maple blocks and such might physically "isolate" a component from ground, it does nothing to isolate vibrations (spikes are most efficient in -transmitting- vibrational frequencies by focusing all mass into 1 point... mass = weight / volume).

There are many devices that incorporate these principles, including Sorbothane, Sorbogel, Mapleshade's Isoblocks, and (my guess) maybe even the Marigo Mystery Feet. The point is to deflect vibrations as it is customizable to the weight of your components. Every isolation feet (size, material, etc.) has a different ideal load where it works to maximum efficiency.

I did not recommend Sorbothane for the Sorbothane material, but rather the science in plain English on their website, and most importantly (!), they have a program where you can plug in various numbers and it will show you the ideal shape and size if your goal was to isolate vibrational frequencies!

My hunch is that people who are dissatisfied with any of the decoupling technologies are using the wrong shape or size (once again, that depends on the load/weight of your components), as in theory, Isoblocks and Sorbothane should do exactly the same thing. And so using the program on Sorbothane's website, in theory, takes out the guesswork in figuring out which audiophile component best suits your equipment, since very rarely do any of them publish specifications.

I would encourage experimentation, since what subjectively sounds good to you is all that matters in the end, but it helps to get a working knowledge of how these things work.
I would add that the theoretical ideal is to lower the resonant frequency below 5Hz, so that it becomes inaudible, but some devices, for example, may purposefully tune the resonant frequency between 20-40Hz, which will produce an audible bass hump (improve bass, increase dynamics).
Rakuennow: Marigo provides a money-back home audition period. Perhaps you have the engineering talent to take one apart and let us know how they work!
Honestly it really depends on your rack and the floor of your listening room (shaking wood flood or cement slab) and how your electronics were tuned.

In my system in my room (cement floor) coupling equipment to the shelves (maple)with spikes and the ayre myrtle cubes works best.

My recommendation is to play with home brew things and narrow down what improves the sound to you and then go from there.

Bubble wrap or a memory foam pillow will test isolation and wood cubes or large metal nuts directly under the chassis will test coupling. I second Herbie's as a source for cheap things to try. A big ziplock with sand under a component is also a quick and easy tester for whether your rack it self is the problem.

Take your time as I have found that different footers more often produces a difference rather than an 'improvement'.

Rakuennow, can you give an example of how you use that Sorbothane program? Looks like you have to input the footer size and that is what I thought the output would be.

Cheers