I recently carved out the better part of a week to try a new wave of coupling/isolation/resonance control options in both my systems, using Aurios as representative of bearings, Herbie's products for the damping camp, BBC large brass cones standing in for the mass & drain advocacy, and Yeil Spike Sound Will mag-lev feet for isolation. Mixes and single solutions were tried with shelf materials of glass, thick maple, thin maple, MDF and acrylic. I experimented with various permutations of support/isolation/coupling for turntables, digital, power conditioning and amplification. I haven't gotten to speakers yet since I don't have a problem there. My systems are in a slab house, so planted on wood over composite over thick concrete slab floor.
Once I sort out all my conclusions, perhaps I'll post a ranking, but to inform your project, a few observations stand out:
1/ Conclusively the best, most impactful change and improvement for supporting digital disc players is the Yeil Spike Sound Will magnetic levitators. http://www.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/cls.pl?accstwek&1269551550&/Yeil-M-C-Magnetic-Levitation
Cheap or pricey players will deliver startling gains in tone, naturalness, dynamic aliveness, bass extension and clarity, transient impact. Really, everything pertaining to more realistic musicality is yielded by these levitators under digital, with no downside. Further, the Yeil mag-levs minimize differences in shelf material. You'll get good sound on glass, maple, MDF...pretty much whatever. I don't place them under the sheet metal chassis but instead under the firm centerpoint of the player's feet. These mag-levs come in a choice of load capacities, so you have to choose accordingly. The benefits of mag-lev to digital were obvious regardless of player or brand.
Aurios were very good for digital, but not on glass, and only OK on MDF. They shine on maple.
2/ For power amps there are differences. For instance, one of my systems has Audion Black Shadow 845 monoblocks and the other has Audion Golden Dream 300B monoblocks. The chassis construction and layout is the same. Sometimes a manufacturer gets things right. The native Audion feet on both are a similar-to-Sortbothane squishy disk under each corner. None of the options I threw at them made a big difference and the stock feet were better in most cases. But the edge goes to Aurios under the 300B amps, and Yeil mag-lev under the 845s.
None of these options improved either my Audion Premier preamp or the Klimo Merlino Gold preamp. Again, the Audion pre has the same kind of feet as their amps, and that seems to have been a good choice for the way Audion builds their gear. The Klimo preamp has each circuit board mounted on a sprung & damped suspension at each mounting point, so it's pre-isolated internally.
3/ Analog: I have two Luxman PD444 turntables that weight over 50 lbs. each with arms and covers installed. The mag-lev option gives them a light and airy sound that floats nicely with a relaxed sense of drift as the sound permeates the room. It's ethereal and toneful. But not anchored. The mag-lev also presents some operating challenges when handling the turntable. In some systems, perhaps a bass-heavy system throwiing lots of low-end energy back to the source, mag-lev might be preferred.
BUT, the sensational improvement over every other option, including the well-designed-for-1975 stock feet is the combination of BBC large brass cones (almost a pound each, and height adjustable) attached to the turntable underside by double-side-adhesive Herbie's Grungbuster 2" dots, with the cones in turn resting on their receptors on Aurios Classic media bearings. That shebang sits on 3-1/4" of rock maple tabletop, to which the legs are mounted on BBC large brass cones sitting on the floor.
I've been using these Luxman PD44X turntables for 30 years. This was a larger and better difference than changing tonearms or cartridges. Aurios under turntables are cherry.
With mag-lev, the turntable can sound fine on glass. Not with Aurios. Acrylic makes a strong argument for itself, but maple wins.
I'll roll up more of this when I have time. Meanwhile, happy to watch this thread and answer questions.
Phil
