Background vibration and your system.


I have been interested in vibration and its effect on my audio system for probably forty years. I remember getting some platforms with inner tubes that had to be pumped up with a bicycle pump very early on. Well, I think they may have helps a little... but pumping them up drove me crazy. Since them I have used pucks of all kinds, and Black Diamond Racing composite platforms and cones, springs, and the best has been the Silent Running Audio Ohio Class vibration platform that I had made specifically for my Linn LP12... which was well worth the price. 

I used to be a geologist. So, I have wanted to get a seismograph for a long time. About a  year ago I purchased one. It is on the Raspberry Shake network with thousands of others. They have confirmed the correlation between times of day and remote events being transmitted into the house. Evenings and especially Sunday nights tend to be the quietest. I have seen thunder claps, cars and trucks driving by being recorded as well as not too hard footfalls on my concrete floor.  

On the map below, you can see the Pacific Northwest. Each icon is a seismograph that can be viewed.  The red dots are small earthquakes which can be seen and correlated with the recording of any of the seismograph by clicking on a red dot and then the seismograph. This page has a tremendous amount of different functions if you just explore it. 

I recommend folks that are interested, move around the map and find one close to your house. You may be surprised how much activity there is. 

 

https://stationview.raspberryshake.org/#/?lat=45.65013&lon=-122.52066&zoom=8.511

 

ghdprentice

Many manufacturers take their own stab at resolving possible issues for their own gear. I say possible issues since every system location is different with different external influences, like flooring type, size and support of nearby speakers, rack and support conditions, nearby traffic, and more. The manufacturer can only do so much but some do try like SMc Audio and their gravity base (large brass plate with components anchored directly), and the many that use elastomeric stand-offs, applied damping materials, constrained layer damping, special coatings, and the wide variety of compliant footers.

For a time, I used spring supports under all my components and speakers.  I have found that paying attention to solid rack support, platforms like Z-slab constrained layer shelves and the black diamond shelf, and compliant footers has worked well in my system.

Fascinating topic and I checked my location very little seismic activity here in DC it would seem. That said I've had positive results from footers. Currently using Gregitek Aries footers under my preamp not much else. Amps are on a BBA ash board and that seems fine.

Nearly all new high end studio monitors are internally powered, clearly there is no vibration problems inside the speaker with the amplifiers and digital circuits. Why is there such a vibration problem later on down the line in the playback chain? Many new high end audiophile speakers have internal amps, DACs and other circuits there is no problem with vibration causing distortion in these units either. 
If someone is comparing tube equipment or microphonic unbalanced equipment sure vibration will affect the music. If there is a turntable in the room the sound itself at high SPL with cause problems. There are no magic feet that will take the power of direct sound waves out of the air. 

I have 2 DHT pre-amps.  I can tune my system by changing what’s under them.  It’s   Cheaper then rolling tubes but a little time consuming. I can add reverb which is nice with acoustic music.