Large brass devices on top of power amps ?

Most likely brass weights for Vibration damping.Vermontaudio.com sells a 3" brass damping disc..

Even though I am a fan of brass support BearPaws from edenSound and of Mapleshade's brass footers on their air dried maple board supported by isoblocks, any brass weight on top of amp or preamp leaves me cold.
The delicate harmonics are diminished leaving a more dynamic or forceful sound which is too stripped of shadings of sound character. Big and bold yet lacking subtlety.
Although this seems to be a minority opinion, keep in mind that the adding of damping weight should be tried with a return policy, just in case it is not preferred by you.

Listener57,
You raise an interesting point,is this theory or based on personal experince? is there some optimal weight/size that would dampen some component`s tendency to ring without harmonic supression? I agree that harmonic information is very vital and it`s absent is noticeable.

If you need to put weights on equipment to stop it from ringing,the equipment must not be designed very well.Just my opinion,nothing more.

Leave it to audiphiles to complicate a very simple concept. All the MASS is for is to dampen/reduce vibrations getting to the electronics. So use something that has a lot of mass (a baggie of lead shot comes to mind - don't eat/breathe it) and will couple well to the item it is sitting on.

You could even use a heavy statue or even a rock that has a flat broad base to accomplish the same thing. Dyna-mat type material or sorbothane will provide good coupling. Or just keep it simple and use felt.

Also, do what car audio enthusiasts do with stuff like dyna-mat to kill vibrations. You can line the inside of the chassis to accomplish this. Don't block the vents!

The use of small pucks and disks are for the psycho-acoustic crowd - they work great if you think they do.

And to think everyone said we shouldn't stack components;-)

I use edensound stuff from Vermont Audio - very well made and not to expensive - on the other hand I'm not at all sure I can hear a difference on my EMM Labs CD Player or Atma-sphere preamp - so either the gear is designed well, or I don't hear well enough to pick up any noticeable difference, but they look nice and offer proof of my audioneurosis bona fides.

I don`t know who`s complicating anything, some components are built with thin chassis tops that could possibly benefit from mass dampening. Listener57 raised a good point regarding the detriments of over dampening, just a factor to consider that`s all.

Chalres1dad, Tpreaves also makes a good point - should any well designed piece of gear require any additional external weight to improve its performance based on vibration damping? Or is it just another product niche offering audio benefits that equipment companies can't figure out how to provide the listener for themselves? Maybe, maybe not.

It is not possible to overdamp electronics. Its that simple.

However, it **is** possible to build a system around a certain synergy, and then when the electronics are mechanically damped (which reduces a phenomena known as microphonics, known to both tubes and transistors), then the synergy of the system is altered.

IMO, its not a good idea to build a system on synergies- like using a dark sounding preamp with a bright amplifier. You really want each bit of the system to stand on its own merit. You get a more transparent, easier-to-listen-to system that way.

For my system I just bought some 5 lb weights with rubber surrounds from a big box dept store and put it on top of my CDP. I may put one on my amp or preamp for kicks to hear if it makes a difference and maybe later I'll put some dynamat or other similar material in the cases of my gear as well if I'm bored. To me it makes most sense to put some kind of mass on a CD player or source unit that produces vibrations.

I've used brass weights from Mapleshade for the last ten years, and found them to be effective in reducing vibration induced microphonics--leading what I hear to be clearer, tighter sound. Granted, and not to cause any more crazy-making obsessing (guilty: an audiophile trait), do brass weights beg the question of whether or not we're "tampering" with the carefully considered "voice" of the component? I'd be curious to hear how audio designers would perceive any change (negative or positive) to their respective gear with any type of mass loading.

I wonder why someone would put an apple in every amp photo. What is the point there?

Hi 6550c

I believe the seller who puts an apple in every photo with the equipment they are selling is trying to show the scale and size of the item. I check a collectible website often and I find that with a new statue they always include a picture of it with an apple for reference. The last picture has an apple with the Luke Skywalker statue.

http://www.sideshowtoy.com/?page_id=4489&sku=3000131&ref=feature_3000131

I've seen audiophiles use cans of soda to illustrate how big a port on a sub is or the size of a capacitor in an amp. Quite funny sometimes what people do.

Jed,
putting something in a photo is a common way to show scale in a photograph.

for example, I may intentionally include a bit of properly lit white so I can adjust color better. In photographing small objects (macro) I may include a ruler or sometimes a coin.
In landscape photography of the 'here I am' variety...not necessarily for art, but simply for the vacation album, including something of known size always helps people relate to the photograph.

Sure, Everybody knows how large a soda can is. Good idea, no?

Krooney, since electronics cannot be overdamped, often designers leave the little tweaks like that to the end user, IOW, for the most part, they have no opinion about it, other than 'have fun and don't zap yourself' :)

Atmasphere,

Indeed, I like your response--good motto for this hobby--"Have fun and don't get zapped"!

I may use an 8oz. can of soda on my amp pics...the it will look like I have MONSTER AMPS!!

Pepe

Hi Magfan

Boy my foot in my mouth tastes great. This is what I get for typing late @ night and not doing Preview First.

After re-reading my post as well as yours it came to me that the last line I wrote didn't convey what I thinking. I in no way shape or form meant to put down or demean audiophiles who are sensible enough to include an object in their pics to show a sense of scale. It is in no way something silly. In my mind when I was typing that last line in my posting above I was thinking of my friend who took a pic of the new capacitors in his Phase Linear amp and used a can of Jolt Cola as a reference. Another pic I was thinking of was where an Elemental Designs Dual 13Av.2 Sealed DIY Kit owner had a match box forklift toy next to his subs trying to lift it. My favorite one is where one owner had his 4 yr old son making faces while standing in between a pair of large Tannoy speakers he refurbished to show a sense of scale.

Again my bad and yes including objects to show a sense of scale is not a silly thing at all.

Regarding brass weights on amps. I still haven't done that. I just put 2 5 lb weights on my stock Oppo BDP-83. I don't think I hear an improvement or any kind of difference in the sound of my system but I do know th Oppo isn't vibrating as much anymore.

I use one of these on my preamp, my CD player is dead due to the quality of the design. It was cheap and made a positive impact on my sound reproduction. They come in three colors. 

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