YES. Well , maybe. I am a dealer for Star Sound's Micro Bearings and this is a danger with them, they are exceedingly dense, much more than Atabits which I also handle. After I think about it you will probably not be able to get enough in to over damp it. I doubt if you will get enough gravel to do any good, I used cat litter for a while but abandoned it. I put 2 quarts of Micro Bearings in the target stands I use for my speakers [ one in each] and it works quite well, also have it is my Star Sound rack , I think it would work well in yours as it is very dense and heavy, think steel sand. But just start with a quart in each, they use to fill speaker stands full with it and I listened to one of them. it did "kill" the sound. Someone advised using steel blasting shot, I have never done this but it seems reasonable as the Atabits appear to be small steel shot and they work, but not as good as the Micro Bearings. I would give the gravel a pass. |
Thanks Stan
I found a Mexican stone mix 1/16"-1/8" in size not really a pea gravel. |
Stan what was the difference between the clay and the steel? |
Custom made to your specs Carbon fiber rods. Use a a fuid silicone teflon lubricant and a mallet to bang it in.
For extra ballast use lead pucks encased in something no one can bight into. To save weight use memory foam torn into pieces, then tamp it down some and place a myrtle wood weight on that. Or potted heavy steel rebar like some waxes or epoxies. Even sound proofing green glue should work but will shrink and need a couple of applications. Just pour it over the metal bars . I guess that potting stuff they put trannies in is good .
BTW anyone know where to get the audiophile epoxy in question? Its exactly the same as the non audiophile self hardening goo,but costs 900% more per unit. You know the R and D burn has to be paid some how. Get the metal shop to make it your own braid and geometry. Use as precious a metal as you can like brass and bronze or damascus steel. This will help justify the obscene cost.
Silicone might feel better if a bit stiff. |
Mechans
8 years ago I would have used some old gold coins and just filled the tubes but as they are the only thing worth anything today do you think some old GM stock certificates dipped in West Systems Epoxy and stuffed into the tubes would give adequate dampening. |
I used cat litter in my Skylan stands but didn't really seem to do much so I took it out. I couldn't get the Star Sound for a long time because their supplier went out of business suddenly and they had to find another. I have not done a scientific test because the Micro Bearings are so small I only want to put them in welded stands. Right now I have them in 15" Target stands I use with Spendor SP1/2s. I have the Atabits in a pair of 20" Atacama stands I use with Mini Utopia Focal speakers. I like the Micro Bearings because they seem to be the most effective is damping the resonance of the steel stands, VERY heavy for their volume. I was using lead shot but I thought it caused a coloration in the sound I don't hear with the MBs. Just my impressions. The MB seem even heavier than the same volume of lead shot, I haven't measured this and both are heavy. Lead is, of course, considerably heavier than steel but the MBs are much smaller than the lead shot so you can gat many more into the same volume. |
Stanwal my thinking was clay has no sound of it's own similar to lead(which I don't want to use) and that most metals have some inherent sound they bring to the mix. I thought clay with some stone mixed in for higher weight might be relatively coloration neutral. |
The basic question in my mind is how they act to damp vibrations. With very dense material of the smallest possible diameter the waves will be propagated to the smallest distance before being dissipated. I think that is how the "sound" of the material comes about. I did not think that that cat litter I was using was especially effective at absorbing vibrations so I quit using it. I would question whether the stone would be very effective either but the expense should not be too great if you want to try it. I have no problem using lead, did so for years and still have some but like the others better. I would check out the steel blasting shot if you are in an area where it would be readily available. Get the smallest diameter if you get some. |
The metal that is heavier than lead volume for volume , thus you mean higher specific gravity is ... Tungsten.
It is not cheap but denser than lead. I imagine that an alloy is used because Tungsten is costly.
I am cuurently thinking of making my own version of magnetic levitators strong enough to supporta pre amp. I think the magnet strenth must by definition cause interference and whatever electrical grunge is AKA EMI. but you can get strong neodynium discs easy enough at a price that is not all that much.
I had already planned a needed not just for fun real vibration isloation solution but...
My prepaid never made sandbox is stuck in the hands of it's maker . I hoped to use memory foam from an upholstery shop. I am being very serious here that stuff is incredibly effective. Add some Bear paw footers and you can set the whole rig on the foam . I was hoping to get some 2 inches thick and make a micropure ? tungsten shot? sandwich. |
I had put childs sandbox sand and buckshot in mine when I had that type of rack. |
Helvec1
How much did you find effective and not over dampen?
1/4 full 1/2 full or more? |
Samhar,
Sorry for delay.
50/50 is about what I ended with. |
Stanwal and Hevac sorry for the delayed response I've been trying different combinations of tubes in the Joules and the C/J(tubes kept going south) and haven't experimented with the cat litter and stone mix in the tubes yet. I'll post my results. |
Put 8" of mixed 50% clay cat litter and 50% 1/8" Mexican stone into the 33" tall ROS-4 posts. This amount dampened vibrations most noticeably in the bass but the highs did become slightly cleaner.
Added another 4" to the posts, the highs became cleaner and the bass snapper. So far so good!!!!
Tomorrow I'll add another 4" and hear what I get! |
Well it only took one year for me to be ready to move the CD player off the central rack and onto an adjacent rack and fill the tubes to the top!!! This cleaned up the sound from the TT especially the very low end.
Stanwal I will get some Micro Bearings/steel shot next now that I don't have to consider the CDP's sound!!! |
