Made my own footers from a 1.5 square piece of corian 1/2" thick. I put a dimple in the top and set a Druzy stone in the dimple. Thw stone is kind of like lava. When you flick it with your finger its a dull click. You can put a piece of tooth pick in the bead and set it in a small hole in the dimple to keep it more stable. You can also put a tiny spot of blue tape on top for more friction and avoid any scratching. $1.50 footers each.
Best building material for vibration free shelving
I am building some built into the wall shelves for my VPI Classic 2 SE turntable, amp, preamp, CD player, and old Burwen TNE 7000A transient noise eliminator (that’s one for you old-timers to remember), as well as my DISH Network receiver box. The shelves must match in appearance the typical looking built-in wood bookshelves already in the room. The shelves will be located directly under my 45" wide flat screen television. They will be wide enough to hold two components side by side, other than the VPI turntable which will have the top shelve to itself due to its extra width. I will be building the shelves high and deep to allow for plenty of air circulation around the components. They will be painted.
My question is, what materials might you suggest building the shelves with to minimize vibration? If they were for books I’d normally build the sides, and top out of 3/4" birch sided plywood, the back out of 1/4 inch luan plywood, and the shelves out of oak to deal with the weight of the books without bending. I will be adding vibration damping feet under each component and am not looking for suggestions along those lines, only material and perhaps design recommendations to reduce vibration.
I was researching this last night online and on site, and saw recommendations to use four thicknesses of 3/4 inch High Density (HD) MDF, also to use granite or marble under the turntable, among other recommendations. I was wondering how birch veneered plywood would work too, as it’s ply’s, I believe, have their grains running in opposite directions. Maybe there’s some way to isolate the uprights from the horizontal shelves to reduce vibration transmission.
What would you think would work best for these built-ins. I’d appreciate any recommendations you have or your experience on this subject. Thank you for any ideas.
Mike
My question is, what materials might you suggest building the shelves with to minimize vibration? If they were for books I’d normally build the sides, and top out of 3/4" birch sided plywood, the back out of 1/4 inch luan plywood, and the shelves out of oak to deal with the weight of the books without bending. I will be adding vibration damping feet under each component and am not looking for suggestions along those lines, only material and perhaps design recommendations to reduce vibration.
I was researching this last night online and on site, and saw recommendations to use four thicknesses of 3/4 inch High Density (HD) MDF, also to use granite or marble under the turntable, among other recommendations. I was wondering how birch veneered plywood would work too, as it’s ply’s, I believe, have their grains running in opposite directions. Maybe there’s some way to isolate the uprights from the horizontal shelves to reduce vibration transmission.
What would you think would work best for these built-ins. I’d appreciate any recommendations you have or your experience on this subject. Thank you for any ideas.
Mike
Showing 8 responses by kingrex
N80, not taking a shot at you. IME, when your system gets more dialed in you start to hear small changes more readily. Also, all the little stuff adds up over time. Provided your actually keeping the good and removing the bad. That can be the hard part. We seem to gravitate to high frequency. We can easily make our systems bright and fatiguing when we think we are getting extension and resolution. That miss applied high frequency will mask true midrange clarity. I bought a preamp from a local builder and he spent 2 afternoon teaching me how to tune. It changed my stereo. At first I thought it was going flat. Then with a couple more changes it clicked. It was an astounding gain. I like the rack Skyscraper is building. I would just be careful of Sorbothane. It can suck life. An air gap can be better than coupling a hole with material. Spock on audipshark uses a thin silicon between his plate materials. He says he's getting good results. I do like the ASC wall damp. Never used it, but I am going to try it between my plates of corian and plywood. |
I did not understand this to be a air vibration transmission back into the signal. Think about where bass is strongest. Usually at the back wall and corners. Sure you could get some, especially through vinyl. My understanding is you have a large reflection in between your speakers messing with imaging and maybe smearing the timing. My gear is between my equipment but I keep my rack sides open, not solid. Friends of mine keep the amps real low to the ground, then a slender open rack between and as far back as possible. I have other friend saying 30 foot single ended interconnects may shave a little top end, but the staging and clarity outweigh the loss. As long as you don't get RF interference. If the long interconnect picks up radio, well? ???? |
BDP24 has some very good points. I hear pods pushed all over. Some like them, others do not. Its gonna be hit or miss. I have a friend with a full set of SRA stands. Huge and heavy. Vibration can be turned into heat and dissipated if done right. Electron microscope stands were the rage but kind of fell out. Of course people like Mike Lavigne use them, but they are rebuilt with linear PS and other mods. Far to expensive for the average guy. Build your stand. Try Isopods. Try my inexpensive feet. Make them with acrylic from tap plastic. Something will jump out as right. In all honesty, I don't know I could make the first big step on my own. Once your setup properly, the small tweeks become more apparent and easier to gauge as good or bad. I guess my best suggestion would be, if the music is strident and hard, you probably have to much high frequency. Rhodium power cords were a problem in my system. Try just plain pure copper. If the sound is flat and blotted, your stand will help. Try footers of different types. Spongy gel types will probably go the wrong direction. |
The use of beads to isolate the plates was a pretty big gain in reducing internal and external noise transmission. In my earlier models you can see a simple stack of acrylic on corian with 3 beads separating them. The TT just sits on top. It does more than you think. Way before all that I just sat it on a sheet of 5/8 quality plywood. My preamp still sits on just that. Plywood. My DAC and server are on a piece of corian with my isolating bead on a square of corian on a piece of loose felt. Not the sticky back type. I got the corian as waste from a second ha d reuse shop. The acrylic from tap plastic. A drill press helps to make good holes, but clamp the 2 pieces together and just drill 3 holes strait through. A small hole. Them take a larger bit and dimple the hole a little larger to hold the bead. If you screw up, reclamp it, drill another hole next to it. |
https://www.audionirvana.org/forum/the-audio-vault/diy/43633-rp6-hot-rodded-with-remote-motor-mount This is a link to my TT and its development. Its actually pretty darn nice now. Rivals my very nice digital setup. |