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Is this Placebo or something real?

Recently I purchased three Nordost Sort Kones and put them under my Elite SACD player. When I first brought them home I spent a few days doing A/B comparisons and was convinced that I could hear a distinct different. One of the downsides to the Sort Kones was the fact that they are a metal on metal support that makes pushing buttons on the SACD player difficult. In an effort to make sure that it wouldn't fall off of the supports I put some foot corn pads (i.e. foam donuts) on the underside of the SACD player to give the kones a "bumper" to limit the possible movement. I made sure the pads were not touching the kones, but after installing them I was never convinced of the difference in sound quality when doing A/B comparisons. Today I took the pads off and it appears that the magic is back. I know that there is some level of vibration damping from the pads, but is it really possible for it to direct the vibrations around the Sort Kones or is this a negative placebo defeating a positive placebo? I won't be putting them back on anytime soon, that's for sure.
mceljo

Showing 3 responses by rakuennow

rakuennow
81 posts
 
I'm not an engineer, but this sounds like placebo to me. The concept of the Nordost Sort Kones is very simple and works exactly the same way as all other products of its class. The ceramic ball damps and decouples vibrational energy from within the system going out, or external energies going in.

The marketing literature seems to imply that the most harmful vibrations are internet; how then, would cones underneath the component affect vibrations within the system? Like I said, I'm not an engineer, but this sounds like snake oil to my 101 understanding of basic mechanical physics principles.

The only way a foam donut could affect this as I see it is if it prevents the metal piece on top of the dome to move freely. Minimizing its displacement minimizes its damping ability.
rakuennow
81 posts
 
Internet = internal. Sorry, typo.
rakuennow
81 posts
 
Mceljo: The ceramic ball might couple when it is sitting still, but it was definitely designed as a spring/damper along the horizontal axis. The ball will roll up the incline in the small "cup" given enough displacement, then gravity will act as damping. It's like a miniature version of this: http://www.earthquakeprotection.com/building_san_francisco_airport_terminal.html

I am still skeptical that an external component could reduce internal vibrations within the system (which is what Nordost claims the Sort Kones will do). Being an engineer, could you please explain that?
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