Damping Vibration - Friend or Foe?

Hi Albert and Stehno,

Thank you for your questions.

Albert asked: “Barry, are your sand filled boxes as good a way as any for solving the vibration problems being discussed? I am aware they are a long time product of Bright Star, very popular and often imitated by various user and DIY groups. So, what about the question about the sand filled boxes you guys build? The best way to isolate equipment, or have you come up with something you like better?”

Stehno asked: “I'm not sure if it's ever been stated. Exactly what products does Bright Star mfg'er?”

I designed and built the first Big Rock vibration control platform in 1985. My turntable at that time was Micro Seiki BL-91 which I had inside an old Victrola reproduction cabinet. I upgraded to a Micro BL-91L (transcription size) but it no longer fit inside the cabinet so I placed it on top. Unfortunately, I started to have woofer problems as the result of vibration breakthrough to the turntable - I have the large Infinity IRS speakers (completely rebuilt and heavily modified) that have very extended low frequency capability. I thought about what I could do to solve the problem so I built up the top portion of the cabinet and created a high mass, high absorption section that was filled with sand as the absorption medium. Well, not only did the woofer problems cease but the turntable sounded MUCH better!

I didn’t think too much more about it until I decided to leave my position as the general manager of a chain of high end audio stores in southern California (after almost fourteen years) and become a speaker manufacturer – I had already been designing and modifying speakers professionally for a number of years. I created a pretty innovative full-range dynamic dipole speaker, booked an exhibit room at the 1990 CES and started to put together my demo system for the show. I had previously attended CES for a number of years as a retailer and always heard the exhibitors complain about the vibration from neighboring exhibit rooms. I decided to make a few portable versions of my sand base for the display system only – not really intending to sell them. Well, the first day of the show people came into my room and said “Nice speakers – WHAT ARE THESE BASES!?” They kept doing that all day long so later that night I realized that I HAD to make a product out of it. I thought up a name, figured out how much they’d cost to make and what the retail price should be, ran out to Kinkos to print up some literature and the next day it was an official Bright Star product!

The next CES was six months later in Chicago and I brought bases for my entire display system but also brought another dozen to loan out. That year Monster Cable requested my speakers to use in their show display so I also loaned them a Big Rock platform. Additionally, I loaned platforms to some very well known and established companies like VTL, Krell, Genesis, Versa Dynamics, Von Schweikert, etc. This gave my platform some credibility so the reviewers requested them for evaluation. Well, they loved them! Stereophile nominated it for “Accessory of the Year”, The Abso!ute Sound voted it “Editor’s Choice”, Bound For Sound gave it a “Component of Merit” award, The Academy nominated it for the “Golden Note” award, Fi Magazine voted it “Editor’s Choice” among many other awards from magazines around the world. My speakers were also quite well received having a major review in Audio Magazine and reviews many other magazines around the world, plus being called “a legitimate high end Best Buy” by The Abso!ute Sound and being voted one of the “Magnificent Seven – Best Sound at the Show” in Stereophile’s 1995 CES report, but Bright Star became more well known for vibration control products. I have also been issued patents on both the Big Rock platform and the Altair speaker.

In 1991 I started to think about vibration control much more seriously and realized that floor borne vibration entering a component’s feet was not the only contaminating source. Air borne vibration striking directly into the component’s chassis from the speakers and internally generated vibration are also major sources of contamination that compromise the signal flowing through an audio system.

My vast experience researching materials over the previous ten years in connection with speaker design played a significant role in the development of the Bright Star line of vibration control products. The next model I introduced was the Little Rock (which has also won a number of design awards). It is a high mass damping pod that is designed to be placed on top of the component. The mass of the Little Rock causes the component’s chassis to be much more stiff making it much more able to repel air borne vibration and resist sympathetic resonance. In addition, the Little Rock has the ability to absorb vibration and resonance out of the component and it provides EMI (electro magnetic interference) shielding. Another benefit of the Little Rock is that is couples the component’s feet much more firmly to the top of the Big Rock so that a very efficient conduit is created to transfer unwanted stored energy (vibration and resonance) out of the component and down into the Big Rock platform where it is converted very quickly to thermal energy (heat). The Big Rock has the ability to absorb a huge amount of energy and we want as intimate a contact as possible between the component and the Big Rock to facilitate the transfer of the harmful vibration and resonance.

As impressive as the Big Rock is at absorbing a wide band of energy it did not decouple from very low frequency floor borne vibration as effectively as I knew was possible. I then created the Air Mass pneumatic mount that could be placed under the Big Rock / component / Little Rock combination. The Air Mass provides excellent decoupling of the components placed on top of it and benefits from the high mass of the BR / component / LR combination to achieve an extremely low resonance frequency. Horizontal displacement is also minimized due to the high mass and resistive inertia of the system. There are multiple sizes of each Big Rock, Little Rock and Air Mass models. The original Air Mass 1 was only $99 and could hold 99 pounds so it was an instant hit with consumers and reviewers alike. It was nominated by Stereophile for “Accessory of the Year” and voted “Product of the Year” by The Abso!ute Sound. The Air Mass / Big Rock / Little Rock combination (which we humbly call the Ultimate Isolation System) has won a number of design awards including being voted “Standout Product of the Year” by Soundstage! Bright Star also has many products listed in Stereophile’s Recommended Components. Our Ultimate Isolation System TNT, designed specifically for VPI’s TNT series turntables has been nominated for “Accessory of the Year” and was also on the cover of Stereophile’s December 1997 issue.

In 1991 I also found very few equipment racks available which were capable of holding even one of the very heavy Ultimate Isolation Systems let alone the three or four required for a full audio system. I introduced The Rack Of Gibraltar at CES 1991 which I designed to be the strongest and most rigid equipment structure available. A funny story is when I went to the welder to pick up the first prototype he asked me what it was for. I told him it was for stereo equipment. He looked at me like I was from Mars! He thought it was going to be used at a car show to support a display car up in the air because the rack was so intense and strong! We rate the large size Gibraltar racks to hold over 2000 pounds. The Gibraltar series of racks have also won a number of awards including being nominated by Stereophile for “Accessory of the Year” and voted “Best Buy” by The Abso!ute Sound.

Over the last few years we have introduced a number of much more affordable vibration control products including the IsoNode anti vibration feet which start at only $12.50 for a set of four. The IsoNode feet were just voted “Product of the Year” and were included in The Stereo Times’ and PC World’s Holiday Gift Guides (people love them under notebook computers, multimedia speakers and subwoofers, and outboard digital drives). The IsoRock 4 and IsoRock 5 platforms combine multiple layers of high mass and absorptive materials and use IsoNode feet on the underside to decouple from floor borne vibration. The Little Rock 4 and Little Rock 5 provide the mass loading benefits of the other Little Rock models but do not include EMI shielding. Our Gemini platforms combine an Air Mass and Big Rock into a single model. Any of our models can be used individually with a component but best performance is achieved when they are used in groups of two or three. In addition, speakers benefit greatly when a Big Rock is used underneath and a Little Rock is used on top. Subwoofers show phenomenal improvements with this combination.

On the other end of the scale I have created our Reference Series. These components are the ultimate expression of my philosophy of vibration control and incorporate many cutting edge materials including heat-fired glass crystal, high density polymers, polymer adhesives, carbon fiber, solid brass and many other innovations. The new IsoRock 3 Reference platform was introduced at 2004 CES to provide many of the qualities and performance capabilities of our top Reference Series models at a more affordable price.

Please let me know if you have any questions.

Best Regards,

Barry Kohan
President

Barry, thanks for the update and congratulations on the numerous awards and recognitions for your ingenuity and designs.

-IMO

Barry,
Have you had any experience with Stillpoints ?
If so, what was or is your opinion on their
capabilities ? I use them under my pre-amp,
power supply, amps, and power wedge with
phenominal results to my ears.
Thanks
Thomas

Hi Thomas,

Thank you for your questions.

We either own or have the ability to borrow virtually all of the commercially available vibration control devices on the market. We have also experimented with hundreds of different configurations and devices that have not made it to market as well as the DIY devices that are discussed on internet forums such as Audiogon.

I will refrain from making a critical assessment of any specific product from a competitor but I do make more generalized comments about the various technologies or materials employed and their capabilities and limitations.

Because there are a number of different sources and forms of vibration and resonance that are present in an audio and video system that affect the signal flowing through a component the most successful vibration control device will address all of them. Devices that only address one or two forms or sources are only partial solutions.

It is critical that a complete vibration control solution eliminate vibration that can affect a component BEFORE the contamination is allowed to occur. Once the signal flowing through a component is affected by vibration no amount of "draining" or "dissipating" can reinstate the original pristine condition of the signal. A vibration control device that is placed merely underneath a component CANNOT restrict contamination from air-borne and internally generated sources of vibration. Any vibration control device that couples the component to the support underneath it CANNOT protect the device from floor-borne vibration.

The most successful vibration control SYSTEM will:

1) Decouple the component from floor-borne vibration.

2) Minimize as much as possible the contamination component from air-borne vibration.

3) Minimize as much as possible the contamination component from internally generated vibration.

I strongly suggest that people critically assess the devices they are now using or are contemplating purchasing or making themselves to see if they meet the minimum criteria and do address ALL of the forms and sources of vibration and resonance. It is also critical that the devices (whether commercial products or DIY devices) do not contribute their own problems into the component. Selecting materials that ring (granite, marble, glass, stone, Corian, steel, etc) or materials that are resonant (natural wood, wood cutting boards, Plexiglas, acrylic, plastic, etc) for use as vibration control will FURTHER contaminate the signal and take us further away from faithfully reproducing the signal that is contained in the recording.

The above discussion is not a criticism of the Stllpoints or any other specific product.

Best Regards,

Barry Kohan

Barry, I know we've touched on some of this before.

It would be wonderful if one's products addressed every aspect of a given issue. And perhaps this can be accomplished by some products in some industries. But I have my doubts that your products (or anybody else's in the audio industry) being capable of such things as you seem to be insinuating above.

Would you not agree that if your products were to properly address one type of vibration:

o say air-borne, then have you not just trapped the internally generated vibrations within?

o say floor-borne, then have you not just trapped all air-borne vibrations that continue to be captured by the components?

o say internally generated vibrations, then ..., well actually if you are making this claim for your products, I'm very curious how you think your products have accomplished this.

It is a fact that components in a music room WILL capture air-borne and floor-borne vibrations and they WILL generate their own internal vibrations. As far as I know it is physically impossible to completely protect a component from ALL vibration unless one were to remove the component far out and away from the room where the vibrations were occurring and/or the components were turned off.

It is also a fact that as one sits in their cushy(well-damped) listening chair feeling the vibrations from the music, one can bet dollars to doughnuts that their equipment is feeling pretty much the same vibrations regardless of whose vibration control system products are being used.

If you are claiming that your products have overcome this, then shouldn't I be able to use your products to also prevent my physical body from experiencing those same vibrations that are hammering my components? I would think this would be a relatively easy test.

I just don't see how anybody's vibration control system products can essentially be all things to all vibrations such as to kill them in their tracks BEFORE they contaminate the components like spraying bugs with a can of RAID.

-IMO