DIY Isolation Platform

Hi Nick,

Any rigid mounting of your Rega (such as a spike or cone) will allow vibration to travel in BOTH directions - down out of the player and up from the floor INTO the player. The same is true when placing a piece of any rigid material under the player (such as a slab of stone or wood). In addition, any unwanted ringing or resonance the slab of material under the player exhibits will affect the signal flowing through the component.

Decoupling the component will restrict floor-borne vibration from making its way into the component. The key is to decouple it effectively. Cork or rubber are only moderately effective as decoupling materials.

It is also important that air-borne vibration (traveling directly through the air from the speaker towards the component's chassis) and internally generated vibration (from spinning motors, humming transformers and cooling fans) be addressed. A well designed and comprehensive vibration control system will address the multiple forms of floor-borne vibration as well as air-borne vibration and internally-generated vibration.

Best Regards,

Barry Kohan

Disclaimer: I am a manufacturer of vibration control products.

Hi Jahaira and Psychicanimal,

Whenever a compliant mount is used under a component, the amount of compliance (how springy the mount is) must be optimized for load weight. A mount designed for a very heavy device like a large transformer or motor will be significantly less effective for a much lighter load weight such as a turntable or other audio component.

In physics it is called Mass Over Spring where the compliance of the spring must be optimized for the mass and weight placed on top of it. If the mass and weight of the load is significantly under or over the optimum range for the particular spring employed the ability to reject displacement (vibration) will be significantly reduced. The term Spring as it is used here does not mean just a coil of metal but refers to any compliant material that is placed under the mass.

Best Regards,

Barry Kohan

Hi Yioryos,

Thank you for your question and your comment.

I don't consult on DIY projects but I will say that squash balls, racquet balls or tennis balls are not nearly compliant enough to achieve the low resonant frequency your project will require. They also contain a very small amount of air which significantly compromises their ability to decouple. Lead shot is massive and damped but is also not very compliant so it too is not going to achieve significant decoupling. I would suggest that you assess how much vibration is being transmitted into each component from the structure of the main rack itself due to BOTH floor-borne and air-borne vibration. It is probably more effective to have the vibration control device under each component individually. Decoupling the entire rack at only the bottom or the top still leaves the components subject to a number of forms and sources of vibration.

Properly controlling vibration requires that one address all three main sources of vibration: floor-borne, air-borne and internally-generated vibration.


Best Regards,

Barry Kohan