Good for you - I am glad it worked out. Not everyone is willing or capable of doing the work necessary to figure that stuff out. Fortunately there are commercial solutions that work well too. Did you do anything to damp the springs? If not, you might try encasing them with somewhat loosely shrunk, thin-wall, non-adhesive, heat shrink; or placing a chunk of soft foam inside of each spring. If you try the heat shrink, use a nail set to put a couple of small holes in the side of the heat shrink to prevent an air lock inside the spring. See my system page for a pic of the heat shrink casing with holes.
In praise of isolation.
Isolation as in components, not personal.
(although, that’s not necessarily bad either)
There has been much praise, and discussion on the forum with regards to spring isolation.
Well, all this praise, caused me to look into how to approach this for myself.
I like to try things before I pass judgment on an idea.
The whole coupling/decoupling thing has been of interest to me for a while.
I get the desire to couple (yeah, I know,,,) as it plants the gear firmly in the ground, and if the base is heavy enough and made of a material that absorbs vibrations, you should be golden.
Then there is the problem of 7.83hz. Nope, not audible, but that doesn’t matter. Anyone who has used a test record to check for tonearm resonance can see quite clearly how an 8hz frequency can make the tonearm shake like a belly dancers belly.
So, decoupling. Springs made logical sense. Except, there was the problem of vintage turntables with their springy/bouncy top plates/platters. That just didn’t seem right.
I made an isolation platform and put springs underneath it. Figured out the proper spring rate and ordered 4 springs to support the 90lbs sitting above them.
It’s crazy the clear and obvious difference it made. For the nominal price of $100 for the 4 industrial springs, the sonic improvements were off the charts! When coupling, and making changes to the materials used under the TT, and the types of feet used, there was a difference with the clarity of the highs, their brightness and with the bottom end being muddy or lacking depth.
With the springs however, the whole presentation opened up. Everything sounded better, clearer and more defined. Faster, less shrill and I could go on.
Not only am I divorced, but I’m a firm believer in decoupling.
(see what I did there?)
Damned 7.83hz…
(although, that’s not necessarily bad either)
There has been much praise, and discussion on the forum with regards to spring isolation.
Well, all this praise, caused me to look into how to approach this for myself.
I like to try things before I pass judgment on an idea.
The whole coupling/decoupling thing has been of interest to me for a while.
I get the desire to couple (yeah, I know,,,) as it plants the gear firmly in the ground, and if the base is heavy enough and made of a material that absorbs vibrations, you should be golden.
Then there is the problem of 7.83hz. Nope, not audible, but that doesn’t matter. Anyone who has used a test record to check for tonearm resonance can see quite clearly how an 8hz frequency can make the tonearm shake like a belly dancers belly.
So, decoupling. Springs made logical sense. Except, there was the problem of vintage turntables with their springy/bouncy top plates/platters. That just didn’t seem right.
I made an isolation platform and put springs underneath it. Figured out the proper spring rate and ordered 4 springs to support the 90lbs sitting above them.
It’s crazy the clear and obvious difference it made. For the nominal price of $100 for the 4 industrial springs, the sonic improvements were off the charts! When coupling, and making changes to the materials used under the TT, and the types of feet used, there was a difference with the clarity of the highs, their brightness and with the bottom end being muddy or lacking depth.
With the springs however, the whole presentation opened up. Everything sounded better, clearer and more defined. Faster, less shrill and I could go on.
Not only am I divorced, but I’m a firm believer in decoupling.
(see what I did there?)
Damned 7.83hz…
Showing 4 responses by mitch2
@henry53
With such a low mass load e.g. a turntable and such limited movement in micrometres, the springs will not act as springs but more like a solid piece of metal.That is why sizing the springs makes the difference between a successful isolation application and..."a solid piece of metal". Maximum spring capacity, spring constant, and even the spring height and number of winds make a difference. So do damping and preloading. For light gear, the springs need to be lighter so they are operating in the mid range of their capacity. Regarding suspended wood floors vs. concrete floors on-grade, the circumstances are different as the suspended wood floor is already somewhat damped from seismic vibrations that would have a greater impact on the SOG floor, but the wood floor is less stiff and more susceptible to local vibrations from footfalls and other activities. Resonant frequencies of the two floors will be different and the concrete floor may be more susceptible to ringing. However, I suspect decoupling with springs would be effective in both situations. I found springs under my main speakers and subs to improve sonics in my current situation, which has my system on a concrete grade slab. |
@rixthetrick - Of course you are aware that Robert sells Star Sound products, including Audio Point spikes. Their points, stands, and other products have many enthusiastic customers. I have owned several of their products and years ago Robert talked me into purchasing Audio Points to replace the hardened steel spikes (intended for Ramset anchors) that came with the Sound Anchor stands under my 100+ pound speakers. The Audio Points worked fine, as did the original Sound Anchor spikes, as did the edenSound Bear Paws I have also tried - however, I could never distinguish any sonic difference whatsoever between those three types of footers/spikes. It seems Robert is referring to an Audio Show demonstration by IsoAcoustics that might be similar to this one. This one from Credo Audio is also interesting in that it compares more conventional springs with spikes. |